car wanting to stall on cold start

ESP J

ESP J

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ok i been very pissed at my car since i got the coils and plugs changed out, because the engine light came right back up the next morning, (yes it has been about a month or two)

the mechaninc adviced me to run seafoam and see if it made the car run any better , they mentioned that it may just be the fuel filter,and that sea foam may make a difference which it did for a bit but not much, but quite frankly im tired of "it may be this" "It may be that" , recently here in my neck of hell , i mean Texas, the temperature has gone from about 75-80(yes this is normal winter weather on an island) to 35-40 , meaning the car decided to go stuttering on me every morning ,(the best way i can explain is it runs like if their were water in the gas) for about 10 minutes after that it fine atleast until the engine gets cold again (parked for a few hours at my job)

since it takes it a while to warm up i do use the remote start to get it warm and i dont have to deal with the stuttering of the car, but on a few occasion the car just stalls it will run for about 2-3 minutes like this ([video=youtube;dcZed968_Ag]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcZed968_Ag[/video]) and then just stop, i took this video today and because i noticed that only one side of the exhaust was releasing fumes then both and then back to one, dunno if this is normal or not but just decided to come and ask

at about 15 seconds in this vedeo ([video=youtube;hNWATUnM8O8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNWATUnM8O8[/video]) you can see what the car does when i press on the gas it sputters then kicks in

guys i am truly sorry if this sounds like a rant , but i love this car and im just truly heratbroken that it has had all these probs, i know not all cars (LS) wise are bad , i just got unlucky

any input would be greatly appreciated

P.S Plugs and coils are good , had them individually checked

P.S.S the guy suggested a charge ( pressure clean the fuel lines or something like that , but he said try seafoam first , in his words "why waste 150$ when i 10$ bottle might do the trick"

again thanks guys
 
Sounds like the classic V6 PCV elbow issue to me...
 
how do you know that the coils are good? I noticed that you still have the check engine light on. Leaving that light on for a long time will do harm to your car, who knows that problem is killing your catalytic converter.

What's the code?
 
so knowing what i know about the car..i dont suppose that would be a simple fix would it?

@lincolnelite

the light came on about 5 days ago (when the cold kicked in)after beign off for about 2 weeks , the code is the same misfire cyl 1
 
ESP J said:
so knowing what i know about the car..i dont suppose that would be a simple fix would it?

@lincolnelite

the light came on about 5 days ago (when the cold kicked in)after beign off for about 2 weeks , the code is the same misfire cyl 1
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Replacing the elbow requires removing the top half of the intake manifold. You would be wise to replace all the coils and plugs when you do this. After all, it might still be a coil issue. Unless you had them stress tested, you did not "had them individually checked." The only way to tell with these is to do a stress test. That costs about as much as replacing them, so just replace them.
 
so the car decided to go in limp mode both yesterday and today , last time it did that i had forgotten to plug the MAF sensor , so i pop open the hood and lo and behold for some weird reason the MAF plug was unhooked , plugged in but somewhat loose, while i was at it i checked the sensor and it was a little dirty
MAF.jpg

got some MAF cleaner and this was the after MAF2.jpg, so right now im waiting for it to dry good and then gonna go for a drive, hopefully this helps *shrugs* also replaced the filter

MAF.jpg


MAF2.jpg
 
I'm having the exact same problems as the OP. I've replaced all 6 Coils, Sparks, Egr, PCV Valve and elbow (was kinda ate up). Still having the same issue, others are saying pointing towards iAC or MAF.. So i'm gonna go ahead and do those tommorrow. I will let you know the outcome !
 
well cleaning the MAF helped out a little, it quit trying to stall and has yet *knocks on wood* to go in limp mode , it quit its horrible shaking and now just sounds and feels like a misfire but very very subtle, i quess i can change the fuel filters next see if thhat helps,
 
If its 3.0L have you checked to see if the Intake manifold tuning valve O rings have failed? Mine did and would cause a rough idle till the engine reached operating temp. Mine failed during a cold snap last year and caused rough idle till the tuning valve changed position. Good Luck
 
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Sounds like IAC to me. Happens to my truck about every year lol. I clean it out and it idles great after that.
 
Where are the o ring for tuneing valve located ? Under the intake? Dont have a light but rough idle cold start and about 10 blocks, til warm.
 
Ive replaced PCV Elbow, All coils, sparks and EGR Valve still having the shaking/knock and reving randomly ( rough idles ) ... Please help im stumped.
 
paul milam said:
Where are the o ring for tuneing valve located ? Under the intake? Dont have a light but rough idle cold start and about 10 blocks, til warm.
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Located on intake plenum pass side. External part of valve is round black plastic with electrical connector. If oil is leaking out of bottom O ring is bad. My vac. leak was found by the mech using a stethoscope. My car was showing a lean code . These are a pretty com. failure on the 3.0L.. Good Luck
 
thanks red bed, got your answer a little late as I have replaced cop plugs etc. it already back together,but I was dreading takeing apart the intake.its so easy I wont mind taking it down again. it was leaking oil from where the black plastic tuning valve,and I didn't know what it was. thank again
 
You dont have to remove plenun to remove IMT valves, but the bottom one is a PIA. Worth spending $10 for O rings because it will leak oil on manifold and stink up the cabin and also to prevent a vac. leak from a part that is known to fail. Good Luck
 
thanks again,red bed. I think I got it covered,now I"ll know soon as I get the 0 rings.
 
redbed replaced the o ring you posted about,ford calls them something else. it was more easy to remove plenum than to beat your head against the fire wall. started taking apart at 10.15 this morn.back together at 12.10 pm. run better,but will have to wait over night to see if it stopped cold rough idle. thanks again.
 
its going to run like crap until you clear that code...
how many miles on the fuel filter?
had similar problems until i replaced my fuel filter... even after doing all of the other replacements/cleanings that have been thrown out (coils,maf,imtv rings, pcv, seafoam, throttle body cleaning). collectively they all are causing the problems. the pcm will adjust itself to keep running with the dirty/failing parts. replacing/cleaning each will incrementally 'chip away' at the problem.

by the time you do all of that crap you probably need to clear the keep alive memory (kam) to get the thing to run correctly. disconnect your battery, follow the procedures to reconnect it, and then put it through the drive cycle procedure (search). reason being is that the pcm has adjusted itself to all of those dirty and broken parts in need of maintenance or replacement. if you drove the car with bad parts for say 300 mi and then dumped in new/clean parts its still going to be adjusting to the out-of-spec dirty/broken parts.

also want to make sure you are running the correct fuel, 92+ only. problems associated with lower octane fuel will be exacerbated by the cold
 
jrand said:
also want to make sure you are running the correct fuel, 92+ only. problems associated with lower octane fuel will be exacerbated by the cold
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91+...... 92 is not available everywhere; especially here in the People's Rebublik where it's not available at all. I did notice a slight decrease in performance (and knocking right before a shift when at WOT) when we went from 92 to 91 in July, '01.
 
car has been starting and running smooth for about a month , went up to Dallas during christmas and well was pleased that no stuttering or shaking or even stalling on cold start even when it was close to freezing , so for now very happy, i switched out 2 coils since i was getting the misfire on 1 , i switched 4 and 1, no misfire code so far , im alot happier now thanks everyone for the input
 
as I stated before I replaced everything,turned light out. drove a couple of days light came back on and stayed off for 7/8 days now. still runs ragged when cold start,could fuel filter be the cause? runs great hot. I should say came back on and went out by it self. it 5% here kinda stalled my mind.:cool:
 
LS4me said:
91+...... 92 is not available everywhere; especially here in the People's Rebublik where it's not available at all. I did notice a slight decrease in performance (and knocking right before a shift when at WOT) when we went from 92 to 91 in July, '01.
Click to expand...

whatever the gas cap says.. its either 92+ or 91+. i only run 93 bc its whats widely available here. i only notice subtle changes btween 91,92,93. a ton of the sensors end up affecting each other when it comes shifting, idling, initial warming. so a sudden drop in octane can end up affecting all kinds of operations, especially if more of the previously mentioned parts/sensors are dirty/need replacing
 
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