prmirage
New Member
- Joined
- August 2, 2025
- Messages
- 1
- Reaction score
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- City, State
- Las Vegas, NV
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 2016 Ford Explorer 2.3L
Hoping someone can help out with this problem I'm chasing.
Vehicle Specs: 2016 Ford Explorer XLT 2.3L Ecoboost
Problem: About 2 mo ago vehicle threw up a P0303 code. Slight "rough" idle on start up that went away very quickly then no more idle issues during driving whether in park or at drive idle at red lights and stop signs. Drove just fine.
Troubleshooting:
1. Swapped coils 3 and 4. Code did not jump, stayed on 3.
2. Went ahead and changed all 4 plugs to OEM Ford Moto Platinum. Rough idle on startup was still there so I kind of had a feeling I hadn't found the issue. Cleared code but it returned a few days later.
3. At this point I felt strong that I was dealing with an injector issue. The vehicle is hovering at 120k miles so I didn't think it was a bad idea to change them anyway, so I did. 4 Ford OEM injectors. Rough idle at start up disappeared completely and the vehicle ran like a champ.
I purposely did not clear the code this time. I wanted the ECM to, sort of calibrate to the new injectors, if you will, if that is even a thing. Sure enough the code disappeared after about 1.5 days. After another 2 days, boom check engines back. Scanner tells me P0303.
So now I'm at a loss. Can't be coil because the problem didn't jump cyl. New plugs rules them out. New injectors rules them out too.
Am I looking at a wiring to that specific cylinder? If so, how do I even troubleshoot that?
Vacuum problem? But wouldn't that be throwing multiple cylinder codes even random?
Intake issue? Again, wouldn't I be getting random cylinder codes and/or multiple, not just the one so consistently?
So I'm open here to any suggestions or hopefully someone has had this same issue and were successful in repairing it.
Thanks ya'll!
RV
Vehicle Specs: 2016 Ford Explorer XLT 2.3L Ecoboost
Problem: About 2 mo ago vehicle threw up a P0303 code. Slight "rough" idle on start up that went away very quickly then no more idle issues during driving whether in park or at drive idle at red lights and stop signs. Drove just fine.
Troubleshooting:
1. Swapped coils 3 and 4. Code did not jump, stayed on 3.
2. Went ahead and changed all 4 plugs to OEM Ford Moto Platinum. Rough idle on startup was still there so I kind of had a feeling I hadn't found the issue. Cleared code but it returned a few days later.
3. At this point I felt strong that I was dealing with an injector issue. The vehicle is hovering at 120k miles so I didn't think it was a bad idea to change them anyway, so I did. 4 Ford OEM injectors. Rough idle at start up disappeared completely and the vehicle ran like a champ.
I purposely did not clear the code this time. I wanted the ECM to, sort of calibrate to the new injectors, if you will, if that is even a thing. Sure enough the code disappeared after about 1.5 days. After another 2 days, boom check engines back. Scanner tells me P0303.
So now I'm at a loss. Can't be coil because the problem didn't jump cyl. New plugs rules them out. New injectors rules them out too.
Am I looking at a wiring to that specific cylinder? If so, how do I even troubleshoot that?
Vacuum problem? But wouldn't that be throwing multiple cylinder codes even random?
Intake issue? Again, wouldn't I be getting random cylinder codes and/or multiple, not just the one so consistently?
So I'm open here to any suggestions or hopefully someone has had this same issue and were successful in repairing it.
Thanks ya'll!
RV
