Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Zetec Maintenance Running rich?

Any ideas to why my car is running realy, realy, rich? When I run car for a little then remove spark plugs, they're soaked with gas! Car has no power. I have checked voltage on top O2 sensor, it swings from 0 to .9 vdc spending more time at the high end than the low. Car will also backfire. Cat is getting realy hot! Probably because of all the unburned fuel.

Scan for CEL codes and post.

Sorry I can't get it out of the drive way. So I can't get codes from autozone. The dealer looked at this problem and said it was cat, they wanted $1100 I replaced myself for $300. that didn't fix the problem. I'm trying not to spend much money on this soo I didn't want to buy code reader.

Some reasons for running rich

From TSB,
The Adaptive Fuel Strategy continuously monitors fuel delivery hardware. The code sets when the adaptive fuel tables reach a lean calibrated limit.

Fuel System:
�· Excessive fuel pressure
�· Leaking/contaminated fuel injectors
�· Vapor recovery system concern

Base Engine:
�· Oil overfill
�· Cam timing concern
�· Low cylinder compression
�· Excessive engine wear

Powertrain Control System:
�· PCM concern

Induction System:
�· MAF contamination

I would suggest cleaning the MAF first and this is the cheapest thing to do.

MAF cleaning.
http://www.contour.org/mods/mods.php?s=howto&displayid=36
and
http://www.contour.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=zetecmaint&Number=989728&page=&view=&sb=5&o=&fpart=1&vc=1

and from Autozone. In addition, you don't need to remove the clamp next to the upper air filter housing. Just spray through the housing. You do need to remove the clamp between the MAF and Inlet Air Duct (accordian tube?)
http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBroker?ForwardPage=/az/cds/en_us/0900823d/80/1b/cb/25/0900823d801bcb25.jsp

Fuel pressure checked by dealer said to be ok.
Oil level is ok, checked by me.
Cylinder compression, 3 cylinders at 190 PSI and other 160 PSI, checked by me.
MAF sensor cleaned by me before it went to dealer. Dealer said they checked it out, ok.
Cam timing, Dealer checked and said its ok.
Engine wear, less than 30K mileage on new long block.
thanks for your input.

Originally posted by Tony2005:

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Some reasons for running rich

From TSB,
The Adaptive Fuel Strategy continuously monitors fuel delivery hardware. The code sets when the adaptive fuel tables reach a lean calibrated limit.

Fuel System:
�· Excessive fuel pressure
�· Leaking/contaminated fuel injectors
�· Vapor recovery system concern

Base Engine:
�· Oil overfill
�· Cam timing concern
�· Low cylinder compression
�· Excessive engine wear

Powertrain Control System:
�· PCM concern

Induction System:
�· MAF contamination

I would suggest cleaning the MAF first and this is the cheapest thing to do.

MAF cleaning.
http://www.contour.org/mods/mods.php?s=howto&displayid=36
and
http://www.contour.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=zetecmaint&Number=989728&page=&view=&sb=5&o=&fpart=1&vc=1

and from Autozone. In addition, you don't need to remove the clamp next to the upper air filter housing. Just spray through the housing. You do need to remove the clamp between the MAF and Inlet Air Duct (accordian tube?)
http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBroker?ForwardPage=/az/cds/en_us/0900823d/80/1b/cb/25/0900823d801bcb25.jsp

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The air intake temp sensor can cause your pcm to dump fuel. If it has come loose and is hanging in the engine bay it will be "sampling" the temp of the bay and not the incoming air stream.

Another thing to check is your spark. If your coil is going out or your wires are arcing then the fuel is not going to burn properly. This also accounts for stumbling and backfire issues.

You sound like you know what your doing but make sure you have the right plugs and that they are gapped right.

I don't know how you checked the fuel pressure but I would also swap the fuel filter. This is usually a cause of fuel starvation but it's a cheap replacement.

Update:
Changed spark plugs and wires. +
Getting good spark from old plugs just thaught that couldn't hurt. I check the air temp sensor it was in place and seems to be working fine.
Going to get PCM from junk yard this week will keep you informed.

Dude - check your ECT!

If it thinks it's freezing it will dump fuel.

High fuel pressure, bad MAF (not dirty - that causes running lean), and the ECT are the only reason it would dump lots of fuel.

Update II:
ITEMS REPLACED
fuel reg
PCM
MAF
both O2 sensors
plugs and wires

ITEMS CHECKED
compression
TPS
ECT
incoming air temp sensor
wiring to pcm from all sensors

None of the above have resolved the problem.
Looks like I'm going to tow it to the dealer again, rats!

OMG!!
Dealer has car for 2 weeks and can't figure it out.
There going to call a ford engineer to help trouble shoot, because they can't figure it out.
They said the engineer has a territory and that he goes to different dealers in the area to assist if needed. Has anybody ever heard of this?