02 explorer 4.6l Rich Codes bank 1, overheating, misfire history HELP!!! | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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02 explorer 4.6l Rich Codes bank 1, overheating, misfire history HELP!!!

superdad123123

New Member
Joined
May 15, 2019
Messages
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City, State
wilmington, nc
Year, Model & Trim Level
2002, explorer xlt
Okay so I have a long story with my 02 explorer and i feel like i get close to a solution and something else happens.

2002 Explorer 4dr 4x4 4.6L
152000 miles
engine replaced before I bought unknown mileage.
Bought this in january.

replaced all the plugs, coil packs,serp belt, egr valve,egr tube(broke the old taking off the rusted egr), egr backpressure sensor, 02 sensors, oil pressure switch, thermostat, pcv valve, air filter and the oil was changed yesterday may 14, 2019.

smoke test was done and came back with no vacuum leaks.

main issue-

check engine light comes on and started flashing, shooting p301 misfire cylinder 1 and rich bank 1 intermitantly. codes would come on and go off until the plug in cylinder 1 stopped firing all together and needed replacing, I cycling through this 3 times, cylinder 1 is on its 4th plug. no other cylinders have coded as misfiring. There is a loud tick that comes and goes in the front in somewhere around the passenger valve cover or bank 1.

I replaced the upstream bank 1 02 sensor and immediately got a rich code and a idle at 2000 rpm in park and 1500 in drive,same day engine overheated(however I recharged the ac same day and it is the third time it has overheated when I recharged it), figured out I put a downstream sensor in the upstream so I swapped it to the back(opposite side to verify it wasn't the sensor) and installed the other 3 new sensors. Upon start after hard resetting the computer(disconnected the battery) the engine ran very smooth, the click click click smoothed out and all seemed good. Then after it got warm the engine got a little rougher and shot a rich code bank 1 again and the clicking returned.

I took it to get an oil change as the oil had turned black from all the misfiring, I had them replace the oil pressure switch because my gauge has been going from normal to low(lighting up 'check gauge'), also had them replace a quart with lucas high mileage oil stabilizer. after the oil change the engine has been much much quieter with the tick only coming back once so far but shortly went away after heating up. no overheating and have driven about 30 miles since the oil change. Still have the rich codes, but it is idling normal at about 700 750 and not shaking barely at all, just a normal shimmy for a 17 year old vehicle. Also has been holding coolant this time(when overheated the last two times the water boiled out of the reservoir-possibly cracked my radiator)

I am at a loss on this thing and it is my only vehicle, my goal is to get this rich code to go away and sell it, I have 3 kids and need something more reliable. Can anyone shed some light on any of this?
 






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