Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Vacuum leaks/cold start bugs - what fixed it?

doh! Well I should have just shut my mouth. I had my car idling and tried to recreate last sunday morning so I turned on highbeams, defroster, and rear defroster. Car is running fine, then da der! CEL 174 and 171 Top end is lean. Car sounds fine, smells a little bit but always did when it was cold.

I replaced my IAC and cleaned the MAF sensor 2 weeks ago and the idle improved alot, but now I have a CEL for lean! I don't get it!

I also have my trubendz on for a little over a month. My tour has a shorty CAI as well, but it has been on for over a year!

I might try putting back the old air filter(ugh) and resetting and see if the code returns. I remember a zetec on a dyno run ran horribly lean from a shorty CAI. So maybe new IAC + Clean MAF + CAI = LEAN! I don't know!

Years ago I used to get lean outs when the MAF was dirty. I had a K & N at one time that used to gum it up. Cleaning mine now makes no difference. I have an extra one I tried out and it did nothing - unless both are bad from age or something? If the MAF was cheap I would try one.

Well I made a small fix and came up with another question:

First I took off my duratec cover and bam found a PCV problem. The Hose that connects to my shorty CAI from the original ford tube was loose enough to hear creaking when I moved the hose. Simple fix was to put on a hose clamp.

My question now is, under that rubber peice attached to the Valve cover, is there a PCV valve or is just an empty hole? My rubber connectors can probably be replaced, but where can I get new ones, and I want to get new PCV valves at the same time.

The rear one is going to be a PITA. I'll probably have to take off the IAC again...but fore now with the hose problem clamped I might reset and go for a drive to see if the CEL comes back.

how can I check plastic vaccum lines for cracks? I might have cracked one in the process of replacing the IAC.

Edit: images removed, will be resized and reposted

Here are some pictures:



These are a definite solution, but I did find an issue.

I'm attacking this problem head-on. lol I went to advanced and picked up a new EGR gasket and a new hose clamp for my intake to insure no leaks. (I found that one of the Hose-clamps on the CAI needed to replaced as well, on and its the one right after the MAF Sensor )

The new EGR gasket was 4 times as thick as the old one! And swapped on a new hose clamp for the intake. I let it idle for a few minutes turned on the defroster, headlights, and no rear defroster, ran the car 3 miles to where I work, and then drove home. No CEL and the car runs fine. wooo!


Oh a down note, our water pump for our house just bit the big one 2 hours ago and we have no water...hence the lateness of my post. Just one problem to the next.

I'll post again tomorrow to let anyone intersted know whether my CEL came back on or not.

All went well today. Even had to let the car warm up for a long time and no CEL.

But ice on the windows is PITA! argh and I found out when I put on my new hood I did not align the sprayers...doh.

Good fix on your vacuum leaks. The PCV valve is under the throttle body area, stuck in a rubber grommet. How's the well pump?

It was done and overwith before I was hope from work. I almost railed the wheelbarrow someone left in my driveway...They rewired the pipe since it was out of the ground. So 280 feet of wire was in a wheel barrow in the middle of my driveway and I almost bought a new bumper.

Water is back though!

I had problems with the PCV intake tube causing hesitation when it had a split at the elbow. I got a new one OEM one - they wanted me to also buy a new plastic cover. The opening by the TPS sensor is a little small, but I modified it and saved the $$. I think Ford should make a retrofit kit for these engines because it seems that everyone here is experiancing the same problems!