Car Problem

[Root beer]

I have a 1997 Ford Explorer XLT. It has 183,700 miles. I'm looking at buying a new vehicle, but want see if I can fix my problem before doing so. 

 

I had the check engine light checked out and it saying my banks were lean. Cannot remember which one might been one and two? It had two lean banks and cylinder 3 and 6 misfired. The misfired could be directly related to the banks being lean. When I drive my car it kind of rides normal, but the idle is very shaky. Just like a misfired cylinder or two would do if not fired. The weirdest part is that it idles more roughly while in drive than in park. I suspected when it's idling it not getting enough oxygen or something, but when I acclerate I'm pushing more air and gas to make it run normal. I tried an engine cleaner in the gas tank few months ago when I had this problem. (Seaform) Few months ago it didn't idle as rough as it does now. I bought the same can and poured a half can into one of the intake hose (recommended by the guy at the auto store.) and white smoke came out of the exhaust pipe.

 

I'm still having the problem and I may pour the rest half of the can back into the engine then check all my spark plugs. All of my spark plugs and plug wires are 11 months old. The air filter is clean, I have yet to find a hole in any vacuum hose, I don't know what else to check. There got be an engine cleaner or something to flush out any deposit or build up that prevent air flow, or maybe I just need a new o2 sensor?  I'm just checking for a simple fix before I jump the gun. 

 

 

[deaknh03]

check the flux capacitor.

[Raider Nation Fisher]

Throw it in the gutter and go buy another.

Seriously trade it in and let them deal with it.

[Traveler2586]

When in drive the engine is under some load from the trans; when was the last time you had your plugs, plug wires, distributer cap, etc. serviced?

[Mr_Scrogg]

When in drive the engine is under some load from the trans; when was the last time you had your plugs, plug wires, distributer cap, etc. serviced?

 

 

11 months ago from his post.  If you are running lean, then there is obviously an issue with having more air than fuel.  This could be caused by something letting too much air into the mixture, or not letting enough gas (probably more feasible)  You can either start at the front, or the back and work your way up.  Fuel pump not pumping adequately, dirty fuel filter, gas lines dry rotted, fuel pressure regulator faulty, clogged fuel rail/injectors, or just faulty injectors.  190k is a ton of miles.  You could just say you got the most out of it and trade it in. 

 

Or start pumping money into it and possibly never figure it out, then trade it in and be out of that money. 

[clayton86]

It doesn't have coils does it? It's been a while since I was under the good of one but it might have coil packs not a distributor. 3&6 misfire sounds like a bad coil pack if it has coil packs as they are mated cylinders.

Also the dumb ass that told you to pour half a bottle of injector cleaner down your intake just made youu waste a bottle of injector cleaner. It just went in with the air and burned up that was it did absolutely nothing but give it a millisecond boost.

You might just have a bad O2 sensor though throwing the lean code misfire 3 and 6 sounds like a bad coil pack to me but could just be 2 bad plugs. Another thing to consider but unlikely i never seen it very offer maybe twice in my 11 years turning a wrench but the injector may just be bad all together. More common on a diesel then a gas engine though. Like I said maybe twice I've seen this be the case on a gas engine.

[Root beer]

check the flux capacitor.

It looks good to me.

[Root beer]

It doesn't have coils does it? It's been a while since I was under the good of one but it might have coil packs not a distributor. 3&6 misfire sounds like a bad coil pack if it has coil packs as they are mated cylinders.

Also the dumb ass that told you to pour half a bottle of injector cleaner down your intake just made youu waste a bottle of injector cleaner. It just went in with the air and burned up that was it did absolutely nothing but give it a millisecond boost.

You might just have a bad O2 sensor though throwing the lean code misfire 3 and 6 sounds like a bad coil pack to me but could just be 2 bad plugs. Another thing to consider but unlikely i never seen it very offer maybe twice in my 11 years turning a wrench but the injector may just be bad all together. More common on a diesel then a gas engine though. Like I said maybe twice I've seen this be the case on a gas engine.

There is a coil pack where spark plugs and wires are hooked too. That cross my mind, but couldn't lean bank prevent proper firing as well?

[deaknh03]

It looks good to me.

Great. Next your gonna want to check your jigawatt output. If your not getting the 1.21 needed, that could be your issue.

[Quitlimpin]

2 lean banks=upper intake leak almost every time. Either that or you have a gnarly vacuum leak(s) outside of the intake. That can make the truck run like absolute crap. I'd deal with getting those codes dealt with first--if the misfires are still present after repair, dig back in.

[clayton86]

The truck only has two banks the left ad the right

[Quitlimpin]

Guess I should've said both instead of 2. I promise I know what I'm doing....kinda(lol).

[clayton86]

Guess I should've said both instead of 2. I promise I know what I'm doing....kinda(lol).

in his OP he said it more like more then 1 or 2 I'm just saying there are only two. Its been a while since I've been under the hood of a gas car/truck I've been doing 99% diesel stuff for the last 5 years. I went to college for Automotive though at Baran Institute(now Lincoln tech) and its true if you don't use it you loose it because I have forgot quite a bit but it slowly comes back once I'm hands on I just stand there and look stupid and lost for a minute lol.

[kingkong85]

It can be anyone's guess as why your car is running lean and misfiring. Before you start replacing parts, I recommend finding the problem first. If you know people who are mechanics or who has access to car information, ask them to look up the check engine light (CEL) codes cause he/she can tell you or print out the steps needed to diagnose the problems.

[Bankbeater]

What is your fuel consumption like?  Are you smelling fuel?  My old car use to idle rough and eat gas like water.  Turned out the fuel mix was off.

[tbone1993]

I have a 1997 Ford Explorer XLT. It has 183,700 miles. I'm looking at buying a new vehicle, but want see if I can fix my problem before doing so. 

 

I had the check engine light checked out and it saying my banks were lean. Cannot remember which one might been one and two? It had two lean banks and cylinder 3 and 6 misfired. The misfired could be directly related to the banks being lean. When I drive my car it kind of rides normal, but the idle is very shaky. Just like a misfired cylinder or two would do if not fired. The weirdest part is that it idles more roughly while in drive than in park. I suspected when it's idling it not getting enough oxygen or something, but when I acclerate I'm pushing more air and gas to make it run normal. I tried an engine cleaner in the gas tank few months ago when I had this problem. (Seaform) Few months ago it didn't idle as rough as it does now. I bought the same can and poured a half can into one of the intake hose (recommended by the guy at the auto store.) and white smoke came out of the exhaust pipe.

 

I'm still having the problem and I may pour the rest half of the can back into the engine then check all my spark plugs. All of my spark plugs and plug wires are 11 months old. The air filter is clean, I have yet to find a hole in any vacuum hose, I don't know what else to check. There got be an engine cleaner or something to flush out any deposit or build up that prevent air flow, or maybe I just need a new o2 sensor?  I'm just checking for a simple fix before I jump the gun. 

did you use a car md or other device to check the computer?  

[derekxec]

could be o2 sensor...it helps regulate the air/fuel mix and if it gets clogged or goes bad it will give off faulty readings to the computer to mess with the ratio