Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
Ford Explorer Community - Maintenance - Modifications - Performance Upgrades - Problem Solving - Off-Road - Street
Explorer Forum Covers the Explorer ST, Explorer Sport, Explorer Sport Trac, Lincoln Aviator, Mercury Mountaineer, Mazda Navajo, Ford Ranger, Mazda Pickups, and the Ford Aerostar
Mine is a 96 4 door and the fuel filter is even with the front driver door hinge. The car has two C shaped beams running the length of the car. The filter is hidden inside the C on the driver side. The two C's openings face each other so you have to crawl under and look back towards the driver side inside the C channel to see it. I'll be changing that out next.
what codes do you have set? I'm pretty sure the coil took care of my misfire issues. I've been suspecting it since May or so but kept putting off the repair due to a temp disability and not wanting to pay/trust a shop with my car. The misfire could come back I guess since it was pretty random/intermittent but I think its fixed now. The fact that cylinder 3 and 4 were both missing told me long ago its a coil issue as coils usually have 2 cylinders tied together and 3 and 4 would be tied together on this ford.
Not quite sure what to think of the O2 sensors. STarting to think maybe the p0133 is telling me to change that sensor and that 1151 is a side effect of the computer trying to compensate for the poor readings of the O2 on the other bank. Are the two banks A/F ratio controlled seperate or would a bad sensor on bank 1 affect the A/F ratio on bank 2??? Anyone know?
I got the same O2 sensors codes awhile ago and have put off having truck looked at due to wife's disability.. she fell off a scooter at 20 mph... messed up her arm and knee pretty badly.
My o2 codes were one upstream and both downstream...I think it is running lean due to lack of fuel....
sadly, I havent gotten a proper readout yet...I will stop at auto parts this weekend. I am going to do the fuel filter then anyways. It has 50k on it
Well the coil didn't fix anything, codes p0300 and p0303 both reared their ugly heads on my drive home from work today. So back to the drawing board. Did stop and pick up an air and fuel filter along the way and will install those but I'm not very optimistic that they will improve anything. So I am open to suggestions. Oh I should also mention that I sprayed carb cleaner around the engine hoping to identify a leak but noticed no change in engine speed when doing so. Course the engine speed doesn't really seem to fluxuate much so not sure I would notice anything...
The filter is toward the front at about the middle of the driver door. Lean conditions are almost always caused by 2 things vacuum leak and/or low fuel pressure. For the vacuum leak check the obvious stuff, cracked lines, missing hose, gasket leaks (use propane). The fuel pressure must be tested, if you have a returnless system the PSI should be 62, if you have a return style system it should be around 35psi. On the returnless system there is no fuel pressure regulator on the fuel rail. It is located in the fuel tank with the pump, there is something that looks like a FPR however that is a pulse width modulator. The returnline system has the standard FRP on the fuel rail that has been known to fail regularly. So the causes for low pressure are, Clogged fuel filter, bad FPR, bad fuel pump, clogged injectors. The only way to firgure this out is to start methodically testing things to track down the problem.
I would start with the fuel pressure since it is the easiest to diagnose, then move on to vacuum issues if that checks out. Fuel flow can cause some very weird issues.
One thing I want to clarify, clogged injectors won't cause a low fuel pressure, but if you rule out fuel pressure and vacuum leaks, the injectors could be causing a lean problem if they are clogged. In my previous post I made it sound like they could be a cause of low fuel pressure. They are not...
what would you call low fuel pressure? I read 29/30-ish. I checked the pressure with engine off / key on and also with engine idling. Both read the same.
Turned out to be my spark plugs. I replaced them less than a year ago so I didn't want to suspect them but I should have. I put bosch platinum plugs in there less than a year ago. Turns out that two of the plugs were complete missing the center part where the electrode and ceramic should be. Just hollow plug ends. Weird stuff. The L shaped metal tab (the part you gap) was still there but the inner part was completely gone. I've never seen anything like that before and I've seen a lot of spark plugs in my years. Boggles my mind... Still throwing some O2 related codes but I managed to get through emissions testing and passed. With X-mas around the corner I think I'll put off further repairs until after the new year when money isn't so tight. Thanks for all the help and pointers.
I think I mentioned not using Bosch plugs in an earlier post.......if yo had told us earlier you used Bosch that would have been the first thing I would have suggested changing. Wait on the other repairs until the codes repeat.
Since doing this recent work, and the O2 codes, you should disconnect the battery for five minutes to clear the fuel trims, this will reset to 0 and may get rid of the continuing O2 codes.
I always recommend Ford fuel filters every 15K miles or so, they tend to clog faster than other makes of vehicles.
hello to every one, I have a 1997 SOHC with no O2 sensor and EGR system because was assembly in venezuela. Currently my engine was converter to use compress natural gas, when the system is activated the EFI system and all the fuel line is put in stand by and the gas enter thought the throttle body as a carburetor engine. the engine was rebuild, time and pistons except for the valves and valve seats. The past week the engine star misfire with no codes after engine warm up. I change the coil, check the sparks and wires, all in order but the problem persist. I am sure that nothing is not related to the fuel system since this problem is common for gasoline and natural gas. I found two screws not woriking then lower intake manifold and one missing in the upper intake, a vacuum leak can produce a random misfire with no codes only when the engine is warm? this happen every time after engine is warm. My mechanic says that the vacuum leak is the problem but i am not sure since the engine was working very good for 800KM after the engine was repaired. a faulty crank sensor or TPS can produce misfire with no codes? or MAF?
I'm also experiencing random misfires. It seems to be getting worse. Have only had the car since 4th of july. Check engine light is on and the code is random misfires don't remember which banks. What do you think.....what did you find out about yours?
Hello chriswestern, i solved my problem but my problem was related with my second fuel system, the natural compress gas fuel. The electronic module that emulate the injector signal after turn them off when the gas is injected to the intake had trouble and open again the injector and fill the intake with gasoline gave trouble because the gas require a delay in the spark time. but before figure that out I found that to avoid any random misfire you have to be sure that you do not have any vacuum leaks in the intake section. The coil send spark for two cylinders at the time even if one is not in the explosion stage, so unless you have a bad electronic module the Coil is not the problem and if you have a bad electronic module the ECM will tell you.
