Banging my head... Please help me!!

Lincoln Luebbe

Lincoln Luebbe

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I have an 02 V8 LSE. 70000 miles. I have a hard start problem, it wants to crank for a long period of time. And then the fumes from the exhaust are extremely strong. i bought it at 67000 and it was doing it but I thought it was the coils due to random misfires at the time. Here is what I have done to the car, within the past month or so.
All new coils.
All new plugs.
2 new injectors.
It has been to two different Ford dealerships. The first one said "We don't know" in a round about way. The other said my injectors were the problem the changed the two that were bad, 6 and 8. I got the car home and the next day the same problem. Three weeks later I brought it back and left it three days. They said it fired up fine for them. Here is what they did...
Checked battery-fine
Fuel pump test-holding pressure fine
Injector test-fine
Vacumn hose test-fine
No codes
All fuses fine
My best hunch is that I have a leaky injector but it only leaks when it gets hot. If I drive the car and shut it off then turn it back on it fires up fine. After I drive it somewhere and let it sit for an hour or so it does it.
As usual Ford is no help, although they were glad to take my money to diagnose the problem.
Please tell me anything that I can do to try and isolate and/or diagnose this stupid problem. I love my car but I just want it to work properly.
 
I had this exact same problem on my LS. It is more than likely leaky fuel injector(s). I had three on mine that they had to replace. Once they replaced them I never had a problem again. My dealer basically let the car set over night and put some diagnostic machine on the car to see which injectors were leaking.

Now, they first suspected the fuel pump(s) and did replace them but the car still acted up. I'd say be persistant with them. This is a problem that can be fixed.
 
You might want to try the Oxygen Sensor and cleaning the MAF.

Please let me know.
 
Would the O2 sensor be giving a code if it were having a problem? Also, I will keep everyone updated. So far no luck. By MAF what exactly do you mean? The air filter?
 
Ken suggested it might be another faulty injector. I read in a post somewhere that there is a chance of one leaking only when it gets hot. This would make some sense...
I am seriously considering just replacing them all since two different Ford dealerships and two independant shops can't find the problem...
 
Just to let you know what I went through when I had my hard starting problem below is a post I made a few years ago about my ordeal.

I think after the fifth time must a charm. This has been a long and drawn out issue I've had with my LS dating back since last April. You can my original post on this in April 2003. Well, I'll summarize what has been done to combat this problem:

1. Dealer replace the failed COP (coil on plug) on #4(still hard to start)
2. Dealer replaced PCM with new PCM and updated software.(still hard to start)
3. Had the IAC valve replaced(still hard to start)
4. Replaced the internal fuel pump(still hard to start)
5. Replaced 4 leaky fuel injectors(all is well so far)

I'm happy to announce that I haven't had the hard starting problem since the leaky fuel injectors were replaced. It's cranked every time with no problems. The dealer replaced the fuel injectors after four of the injectors showed leakage. They performed a leak down test and replaced #2, #4, #7 and #8 injector. It seems that the #4 port has had the most issues. Note above the replacement of the COP.

The hard starting issue has been a drain on my mental state. I was very close to yanking all my stuff off of it and trading it. But now there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel. I was fortunate enough to have a 2004 LS V6 loaner the past two weeks while my car was in the shop. I have to say the 2004's are a nice car BUT....when I get in my car I quickly forget about the new car I just drove. The only thing on the 2004 had that I'd love to have is the cooled seats. That is NICE! However, I feel more connected to the road in my car. The 2004 road real nice but the drive by wire really took some getting use to.

Anyway, I'm happy now that I feel like my car is repaired. Jimmy Cox at Neill-Sandler has be absolutely wonderful to deal with. They have made my service experience a lot more pleasurable. They were just as concerned in fixing my car as I was. They could have just thrown in the towel and said there is nothing more than we can do but they didn't. I'm impressed everytime I step foot in that dealership. Let's keep fingers crossed and hope this fixed the problem.
Click to expand...
 
Can a repair shop perform an injector test? The dealership that I had my car at said I had a failure in #'s 6 and 8. They "claim" they re-tested it and couldn't find any problems. However they dealt with my aftermarket warranty company for 6 weeks to get paid for the injectors and might not want to deal with it anymore. The service manager pretty much told me that after dealing with my warranty company they will no longer accept aftermarket warranties.
Before spending hundreds on injectors is there anything I can do to test anything myself?
It only seems not to want to fire after it had been warmed up and then setting for a couple hours.
Here is a strange observance-if the car sits for two or more days (Friday night til Monday morning) it fires up fine.
 
Or warmed up in the evening (driven to work, home, school, etc) and then in the morning cranks a while too. Any thoughts on the extreme fumes?
 
Lincoln Luebbe said:
Can a repair shop perform an injector test? The dealership that I had my car at said I had a failure in #'s 6 and 8. They "claim" they re-tested it and couldn't find any problems. However they dealt with my aftermarket warranty company for 6 weeks to get paid for the injectors and might not want to deal with it anymore. The service manager pretty much told me that after dealing with my warranty company they will no longer accept aftermarket warranties.
Before spending hundreds on injectors is there anything I can do to test anything myself?
It only seems not to want to fire after it had been warmed up and then setting for a couple hours.
Here is a strange observance-if the car sits for two or more days (Friday night til Monday morning) it fires up fine.
Click to expand...
Well, I'd find another dealer if they won't work with your warranty company. I have never heard of such laziness!! I don't know if you can perform the leak down test. I know if you were in Knoxville I'd send you to Neil-Sandler FLM but since that isn't the case I'd suggest finding a 5-star Service Dept. in your area. If you are smelling fumes in the morning when it cranks that is telling me that there is gas in the cylinder chamber. That will cause it to be hard to start. Kind of like it is flooded. Now, this was my experience and you can see what all I went through to get my situation fixed.
 
You had the strong exhaust smell when you fired yours up as well?
I found a very good shop (buddy owns it) who will install all 8 injectors for $100.00 in labor. Judging by your experience does this look like my best bet? I truly respect your opinion, and think it is by best option. What do you think?
 
Lincoln Luebbe said:
You had the strong exhaust smell when you fired yours up as well?
I found a very good shop (buddy owns it) who will install all 8 injectors for $100.00 in labor. Judging by your experience does this look like my best bet? I truly respect your opinion, and think it is by best option. What do you think?
Click to expand...
I did smell a gas odor when I cranked it up in the morning for the first time before the repair. You problem is eerily similar to mine. Can that shop perform a leak down test? I'd hate for you to replace all 8 injectors when there is probably only one that is possibly bad.
 
Well, I don't know. Here is the thing... Townsend Ford said my 6 and 8 injectors were bad and they were replaced with remanufactured ones. The problem did not change. I brought it back they said there was no leaks. I think it is either one of the "remanu'ed" ones or possibly one that only does it when hot. If I pay this shop to diagnose, it could be pricey. I can get injectors for around 50.00 a piece. 100.00 to install puts me at about 500.00 for the problem (theoretically). Believe me I don't want to spend anymore than I have to but if there is only the leak down test and Ford says there is no problem i don't know of any other way?
 
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