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2006 Taurus Engine problems no Trouble Light or Codes

All,

I have a 2006 Taurus with the 3.0L V6 Engine, autotrans. Lately (past few months) the gas mileage has dropped from about ~300 mi per tank to about ~200 mi per tank (it works out to be around 20mpg down to 13mpg) with no change in terrain, load or driving habits (just me). Also, the idle is uneven, not rough but surges up and down erratically. Occasionally I smell raw gas on hot start but that is not reproducable. Anyway, I took it in to Ford today to get the AC Fan fixed under warranty and ask that they check the engine.

They fixed the fan, road tested and checked the computer for trouble codes (none found), found no TSBs on this issue and patted me on the head and told me the uneven idle is normal when the AC kicks on and off. The fact that it does it even when the AC is not cycling did not sway them. (You can hear the compressor kick in so its pretty obvious when that happens). They ended with logical fallacy that "there is nothing wrong with your engine since the Check Engine light is not on" and left it at that.

I am happy to report that they atleast did not charge me for the engine diagnostic but I am somewhat disappointed in the passive attitude that nothing is wrong when clearly something is wrong. Any helpful hints here? Do I just wait (wasting gas and $$, all the while) until the computer finally thows a code? Anyone else experience something similar or might know of a failing component that would cause these symptoms without generating a code? TIA

Regards, David

Reply to
DMF
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since the diagnostic found nothing wrong, you need to replace your ECM and the oil pump to get the gas mileage back up to 20 again.

Reply to
Arnie Quarry

Why the oil pump? Oh wait; Chevytough, MSN, spam. . . never mind. I forgot that's how chevy's are fixed- throw out all known good parts, then sell the POS.

SC Tom

Reply to
SC Tom

What does the ECM and oil pump have to do with it?

If you smell gas, your probably got a leak. You need to localize the smell to under the hood or the rear by the gas tank.

You could have a leaking fuel injector that bleeds down into a cylinder when the car is not running. You should be able to attach a fuel pressure gage to the fuel rail and see how fast the pressure bleeds down.

I would at a minimum run some fuel injection cleaner through the gas, maybe take it to a shop and have the good techron clean or such.

have the fuel filter replaced. maybe have the gas tank inspected to make sure your filler neck is not leaking or such.

Also, make sure you don't have something like a stuck emergency brake or caliper haning up.

bob

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Reply to
bob urz

I think Arnie is a troll.

Actually, its more like a puff of raw gas smell on hot start. Doesn't happen every time.

That makes sense if a leaking fuel injector would not cause a failure code. Could it also be the source of gas smell on hot start?

That is a good idea. I'll talk to my independent (non-Ford) mechanice about that. As mentioned in my original post Ford has no interest in troubleshooting this until the check engine light is on.

Gas smell is definitely coming from engine area. Brakes seem okay and were recently inspected.

Thanks for your reply Bob.

Regards, David

Reply to
DMF

Update. New symptom -- last week failed to cold start in the morning. It finally started after 4-5 tries. Took it back to Ford who had it for TWO DAYS to .... drum roll... replace a plugged fuel filter. Okay, to be fair they ran a bunch of other diags as well but did not find anything. Later I realized the plugged filter is a result of the low gas mileage. This car has a low-fuel warning that chronically beeps at you and you have to push a button to clear it. And it kicks on WAAAAAY too soon, usually when the tank has more than an 1/8th of gas. (what was wrong with a low-fuel light?) When I was getting ~300 miles to the tank I almost always filled up before the buzzer kicked on to avoid the irritation. Now that I am getting ~200 MPT I am required to run the tank all the way down to E to get decent range. Running to E sucked all the crud off the bottom of the tank that has been building up since the car was new. This plugged the fuel filter and thus caused the cold start issues (it also has stalled in traffic which I forgot to mention in the original post).

Anyway, I emailed the service manager and advisor and explained the above and have not heard back from them. The idle is still bad and I haven't run a full tank through yet but I can tell that the gas mileage still sucks. I will probably have to take it back again next week.

Regards, David

Reply to
DMF

Well, I'm certainly glad you didn't need to rip out the oil pump and the ECM, LOL!!!!

SC Tom

Reply to
SC Tom

"DMF" wrote

Your "main" fuel filter is external. The fuel first has to make it through the fuel pump's "sock" in the tank, then through the pump itself, which also has a screen inside it.

We recently did a Contour with complaints of stalling in turns when the fuel was at less than 1/2 a tank. The pickup screen on the outside of the fuel pump's plastic housing/reservoir was half plugged, the pump's sock inside the housing was half plugged, the pump had a pile of crud in its screen, and the external filter had some crud in it too.

Did your shop only change the external filter, or did they pull the tank and check for blockages everywhere?

Reply to
MasterBlaster

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