rickycal78
New CEG'er
Ok, I recently had my 2000 "Mystake" Zetec V4 ATX (about 73,000 miles), show a check engine light. I had the code checked and turns up P0171 too lean bank 1. After checking the forums here I got a pretty good idea how to start out so I changed the air filter and breather filter, changed the fuel filter, sprayed the MAF with electronics cleaner, and cleared the light. A day later it comes back on.
Now I've noticed that when the engine is still fairly cool, and before it gets really hot in the day, it sounds like it runs fine, and idles around 1k. After the engine is warmed up it starts to idle around 750 rpm or less when I'm at a light, and it sounds as if the engine is kinda sputtering almost.
From reading the forums further I gather the next few things to do are checking for vacuum loss(pcv valve), and checking the IAC. Now I'm kinda new at working on cars and not sure how to go about some of this. Do I spray the carb cleaner near the PCV valve and listen? I also read several different variations of how to change out the PCV, one of which involves moving the cat out of the way and one that doesn't.
I also read some stuff about checking and cleaning the IAC. Now I've never done either of those things and have no idea what the PCV or the IAC looks like and I was wondering if theres a resource online that may have pictures or maybe a better description. Any help would be appreciated
Now I've noticed that when the engine is still fairly cool, and before it gets really hot in the day, it sounds like it runs fine, and idles around 1k. After the engine is warmed up it starts to idle around 750 rpm or less when I'm at a light, and it sounds as if the engine is kinda sputtering almost.
From reading the forums further I gather the next few things to do are checking for vacuum loss(pcv valve), and checking the IAC. Now I'm kinda new at working on cars and not sure how to go about some of this. Do I spray the carb cleaner near the PCV valve and listen? I also read several different variations of how to change out the PCV, one of which involves moving the cat out of the way and one that doesn't.
I also read some stuff about checking and cleaning the IAC. Now I've never done either of those things and have no idea what the PCV or the IAC looks like and I was wondering if theres a resource online that may have pictures or maybe a better description. Any help would be appreciated