NEED HELP - Ford failure.

[JHarris1385]

This is not my failure but I always come to you all for help. My dad has had alot of issues recently with his Ford Escape. I tried to sign on escape-central.com their forum but I am in dire need of immediate help. He has a competition tomorrow for one of his dogs that is about 2-3 hours away.

Currently the car at start up is best described as bogging down. It can go about 40mph untill it reaches issues and makes noises like the car is going to blow up. Dont get me wrong it still struggles and makes horrible noises at 40. Uphill it can barely 20 twenty.

I have a ScanGauge II and was suprised to see the LARGE amount of codes.
We have noticed one perisistent thing. This mainly happens or has happened to this extent twice - both of which when it was raining or heavily misting.

The codes are as follows. The failure descriptions are hopefully correct. I complied them from various sources online.

Please help me find a way to fix this ordeal. He took it to the dealer when this first happened. He was about 3 hours away from home on his drive back. They did some tranny work in the amount of about $500 and it drove home ok. But the drive home was not rainy.

I believe it has something to do with the MAF(P).

P0001 Fuel Volume Regulator Control Circuit/Open
P0004 Fuel Volume Regulator Control Circuit High
P0008 Engine Position System Performance
P0010 "A" Camshaft Position Actuator Circuit
P0110 – IAT Sensor Circuit
P0204 – Injector 4 Malfunction
P0305 – Cylinder 5 Misfire
P0304 – Cylinder 4 Misfire
P0302 – Cylinder 2 Misfire
P0400 – EGR Flow Malfunction

All help is much appreciated.
Thanks.

- John

[Joe_Black]

Judging from the provided codes, their respective location on the engine harness and the mist/rain condition I would venture the idea of water intrusion into a harness bulkhead connector. Ford will typically mount them around the area where the steering shaft comes through and if not sealed or jacketed properly, perhaps even damaged, then moisture can wreak havoc with sensor communication to the ECU.

Might want to get in touch with corporate and see if there's any recalls or TSB's issued as the stealership won't likely volunteer any info that keeps your money out of their pockets.

[JHarris1385]

Thank you for the guidance.
So far I have cleared the codes, disconnected the battery for 30minutes, shot the ecu plugs with electrical cleaner and the IAT that is connected to the throttle cable, sprayed carb cleaner in the egr.

The escape has a slightly less buck at start up and continues untill about 12-15mph with a consistent rattle. Now sometimes it bucks hard between 15-40mph but sometimes it is fine. But sure enough it literally will not go past 40 unless you get lucky. Which I did once and was able to drive it at 65mph. It struggles uphill and will barely hit 20mph. Keep in mind that 25% of the time it drove almost fine - but still had a rattling noise.

This car sits alot. It is a 2001 XLT Escape with 137k. These problems are honestly only consistent when it has sat for a few days in rain and then was started. At least we believe that is the cause of evil. About 2 months ago, the EGR was replaced, and the cats, the mech said the tranny looked fine after dropping the pan. We can not find the invoice to see what exactly happened. This occurred about 3-4 hours from home and my dad was just more than ready to get home and on the road.

Any advice?

[kodiak]

Have you replaced the fuel filter?

[Cobrajet]

Bad gas?

[JHarris1385]

The fuel filter was replaced.......Bad Gas? I dont think so. Considering it is happening after rains I dont think it is that.

[kodiak]

It might be mynock chewing on the power cables.

[tom4bren]

Similar problem with my TLC a few years ago. Luckly I started with the easy/cheap first (plugs, wires, distributor cap & rotor). One or all fixed the problem so I never investigated further.