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3L issues, Intake backfire/No spark

J

JnCsvt

CEG'er
Joined
Oct 29, 2006
Messages
215
Location
Lancaster, PA
My mechanic finally got everything installed, ran the car friday and said it was backfiring from the intake, stalls at idle, but gets better with higher rpms. He sprayed ether in the intake and said it caught fire a little.

Well atleast it was running. Saturday he said he cant even get a spark. He told me he is going to give up on it soon and have me take it to ford. We all know you cant take the 3L to ford.

Anyone have any insight or a helping hand... anything?

svttour helped him troubleshoot some of the simple things and the mechanic said that they were all ok, coilpack, wire orientation things like that


Edit: Plugs and wires are brand new.
 
Mechanic said it would not start for awhile.. but finally did and it only ran at high rpms.

Sam assured me it WAS timed correctly and it was checked more than once.

But he did say it ran.

Now it wont because he has no spark and does not know why
 
Got the car home now, spark issue resolved, but i have a vacuum leak somewhere that i have to find.. car is bogged down terribly and has a rough idle.

No more reverse backfire though :cool:

Just REALLY rough idle.
 
Brian timing is good!!!!!!!

Unfortunately I only have this pic saved. Timing is set at 11o'clock position and marks all line up. Other side was done at 3 o'clock as stated in the manual.

IMG_0374-1.jpg
 
Definitely sounds like a major vacuum leak. Interesting that a mechanic can't find a vacuum leak. Get it running and have someone listen for the leak in the engine bay.

Check EGR connections, PCV hookup, connections under the 3L intake (if running full 3L), etc.
 
I was thinking it was going to be a vacuum leak, ill check it out tomorrow.

The only thing is, i have a P0175 and P0171 code, so one bank is running rich and the other is running lean:shrug:

Im going to swap out the MAF tomorrow and see if it helps anything..
 
Yeah i know, but noone wants to touch a 3L let alone diagnose one.

Atleast its installed though, i have this site to help atleast - or if anyone wants to come over and help

todras said:
Great mechanic. Have to pay to have him do it and then you have to fix it. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
 
JnCsvt said:
I have oil in my accordion tube, and sitting in with the MAF...any ideas?
Click to expand...

Check the PCV Valve and the hoses running from it. Also check to make sure your EGR is working properly and check the track along the UIM for the EGR, make sure it's clean.

For the vacuum, Put some soapy water in a spray bottle. Mist it around all the vacuum lines and intake, you'll see tiny bubbles from a leak
 
Thanks for the reply,

Tomorrow if it isint raining I'm going to take the intakes off and inspect everything 100% if I can. 2 questions though... 1- how do you make sure the EGR is working?
and 2- what would cause blow-by strong enough to push oil up the breather hose from the valve cover into the accordion tube?


SVT Loki said:
Check the PCV Valve and the hoses running from it. Also check to make sure your EGR is working properly and check the track along the UIM for the EGR, make sure it's clean.

For the vacuum, Put some soapy water in a spray bottle. Mist it around all the vacuum lines and intake, you'll see tiny bubbles from a leak
Click to expand...
 
JnCsvt said:
Thanks for the reply,

Tomorrow if it isint raining I'm going to take the intakes off and inspect everything 100% if I can. 2 questions though... 1- how do you make sure the EGR is working?
and 2- what would cause blow-by strong enough to push oil up the breather hose from the valve cover into the accordion tube?
Click to expand...
In response to 2 I had a lot of oil in my intake from a faulty pcv valve (but no backfire).
 
It is no longer backfiring, that stopped after the first day of it running, probably ether and carb cleaner combusting in the intakes.

But I am going to tear the intakes apart and inspect the PCV system and vacuum lines today hopefully
 
We'll thats it, i tore it down couldnt find anything wrong.. changed the IAC and the PCV.. no change.

I guess the car is going to just sit until i can get more ideas..

$5000 paperweight
 
Its port-matched, and I took the intakes off yesterday to make sure the LIM was seated on the gasket properly, everything seems ok, and i sprayed the hell out of everything looking for a vacuum leak.

Hey Turbo_fox, did you ever get the struts&springs i mailed awhile back?
 
JnCsvt said:
Its port-matched, and I took the intakes off yesterday to make sure the LIM was seated on the gasket properly, everything seems ok, and i sprayed the hell out of everything looking for a vacuum leak.

Hey Turbo_fox, did you ever get the struts&springs i mailed awhile back?
Click to expand...

yeah i got them, and they are installed.

did you try doing a compression test just to see how things looked?
 
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