Mystery Diagnosis Challenge - one Van one Sedan

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Feb 11, 2014
Messages
1,980
Location
Upper Midwest by the Lakes USA
#1- 2001 Ford Windstar V6 van, not my car, but I will likely hear back the results of repair. Problem- misfiring in 2 cylinders as described to basic handheld scanner, the owner "Black Betty" says it inly goes
30mph up hills LOL.

#2- 2001 Kia Rio Auto 1.5L, used to be my car now sold for several years to a friend, let's call him Sloppy Joe. Car had regular oil changes and timing belt at 100k, I took good care of it and he hasn't it has had 10k conventional oil changes from the idiot. Currently has 140k and intermittently kills when coming to a stop only dies in the last bit of coasting deceleration in 1st gear (auto tranny) from 7mph to 0 mph as when coming to a stop or stopping to turn in a median. Doesn't chug down, doesn't give any warning , doesn't choke or sputter, doesn't misfire, no codes,.... Just goes silent to a stop. Does it once a month in general , no correlation to weather temp rain etc. Restarts instantly afterwards on command and drives away perfectly normally. I personally experienced it, thus have a more detailed description. I will not hear back on this car as he is selling it as is. Has done this for two years, doesn't worsen or improve.
 
#1 Coil pack is shot. That van will have DIS coils so two cylinders run off the same coil. The coil pack has three coils total to run six cylinders.
#2 Idle Air Control valve or whatever Kia calls it. Its intermittently sticking so when the throttle is closed the engine can't get any air, and quietly dies.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Colt45ws
#1 Coil pack is shot. That van will have DIS coils so two cylinders run off the same coil. The coil pack has three coils total to run six cylinders.
#2 Idle Air Control valve or whatever Kia calls it. Its intermittently sticking so when the throttle is closed the engine can't get any air, and quietly dies.


Pretty slick Colt45ws!

Right on with the coil packs, since I don't know much about Kias, I'd take your word for it.
 
Last edited:
I don't know much about kias either, but before drive by wire, there had to be someway for the PCM to control engine idle. It just bypasses air around the throttle plate with a variable valve. Sometimes it gets gummed up and sticks.
 
I've known 2 people with those minivans both I had to replace the coil.. no fun with the duratech.

But removing the wipers and wiper cowl helped immensely ..just have to do it by feel. since you cant see the back of engine and work on it

Also extremely easy to get the wires mixed up if you are also replacing wires.
 
Having owned a 2001 Ford Windstar 3.8L, there's several other very common issues that can cause misfires on this particular vintage. One being bad seals for the bolts that hold the plastic upper intake manifold to the aluminum lower manifold. These seals shrink, allow air to suck in, causing lean conditions and misfires. Another common problem is plugged EGR jets in the lower intake. IIRC, there's a jet for each of the 6 intake runners. If several plug, excessive EGR is forced to the ones that are still open, again causeing misfires.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top