Idling problems

[celticfdguy]

I got back from vacation yesterday and hadn't driven my truck in over 6 days.

The rain was bad so I didnt want to drive the Shelby. I decided to use my 2001 Ford Expedition Eddie Bauer. I was running late to work and saw I had 50 miles to empty. It is about 15 miles to my job. I decided i would fill up on lunch. The truck felt fine going into work.

I started my truck up before while on my lunch break. I was parked in a spot that was on an angle, the front of the truck was higher in elevation then the rear. My truck said I had about 70 miles to empty. Meanwhile, I had 50 miles to empty when i started it this morning.

I didnt think anything of it. I drove about 5 minutes to Wendys and I noticed a vibration I havent felt before. It felt like the motor was moving more then normal on the motor mounts. Things inside of my truck were shaking a little. I decided to put in 20 bucks worth of gas (gas stations near my job are a lot higher due to being near a highway) and would fill up later on. The vibration continued.

The vibration was felt the most when stopped but in drive. When I put the car into park or neutral it is not as pronounced. I opended up the hood and saw the motor was moving more then normal (shaking wise).

Did I screw something up by not filling up soon enough? Does anyone have an idea as to what I should do?

EDIT: The check engine light does not come on

I would really appreciate the help!

 

[Thermo]

Celtic, odds are, you didn't do anything abnormal to the motor by letting the gas tank get so low. I routinely run my truck down to 10 miles or less. No issues.

What I would tell you to do is to find a highway entrance that you can do a long, hard acceleration. Ideally if you have to go uphill for most of it, all the better. What you are attempting to do is to force the motor to throw a code. But, based on what you are describing, you have a COP that has cracked and you are getting a misfire on a cylinder. If I had to take a guess, you are most likely looking at either cylinder #3 or #4 (passenger side, rear 2 COPs). Granted, I have also seen a lot of #7 cylinder issues (the one under the EGR tube).

Look at the top of the COPs and see if you spot a white line in the clear top of the COP. If you see a white line, replace the COP. It has more than likely gotten water in it and it is grounding out the COP. If you can do the long, hard acceleration, you may get a code out of it which will help narrow down your bad cylinder.

 

[celticfdguy]

I will give that a shot. I only drove it about 3 miles on lunch. Will I do damage to my truck driving it in this state? My paranoia level is high!

Also - COP means coil over plug? You want me to look at the black top and see if I see a crack?

 

[mindgame]

I will give that a shot. I only drove it about 3 miles on lunch. Will I do damage to my truck driving it in this state? My paranoia level is high!

Also - COP means coil over plug? You want me to look at the black top and see if I see a crack?

Nope.. It's not going to damage the car.. Infact if you over heat the car, all even or odd cylinders will not spark and inject fuel. They will be used as air cooling... Or something of that nature.. So I doubt one cylinder with issues will be damaging..

COP - Coil over plug

 

[celticfdguy]

Check engine light just came on! Going to get it on a computer tomorrow. I'll keep you posted...

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2

 

[Exia]

I will give that a shot. I only drove it about 3 miles on lunch. Will I do damage to my truck driving it in this state? My paranoia level is high!

Also - COP means coil over plug? You want me to look at the black top and see if I see a crack?

I drove with 2 bad for 2 weeks, its just annoying, also MPG will drop other than that you shouldnt do any damage. If it is a CoP I would highly suggest, buying a full set of 8 off of Amazon for $72 instead of paying 50 for 1

 

[celticfdguy]

I drove with 2 bad for 2 weeks, its just annoying, also MPG will drop other than that you shouldnt do any damage. If it is a CoP I would highly suggest, buying a full set of 8 off of Amazon for $72 instead of paying 50 for 1

Yeah - I heard they are like 50 for each...

Do you have a link to what I should buy? I should be finding out soon what the root cause is.

Is this what I would need to buy? http://www.amazon.com/Denso-671-8110-Coil-Over-Plug/dp/B000EQ95X8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346861885&sr=8-1&keywords=2001+ford+expedition+coil+over+plug

 

[celticfdguy]

I found out i need to replace the 4th COP. Which one is that and is this a difficult task to perform? Any write-ups on it?

 

[Thermo]

Celtic, re-read my post. #4 is the one on the far back on the passenger side. Replacing is not difficult per se, but don't be in any rush. You will want your 8mm socket, a 6" expension, your 1/4" socket driver and I recommend laying on top of the radiator (so, do this when the motor is cold) to prevent torturing yourself. Because I have done the e-fan mod, I can slide my feet down between the radiator and the motor, so, accessing the back of the motor is much easier since I just sit on the radiator and lean forward some. You may also need the same socket to loosen the fuel rail to give yourself some room to slide the COP out. If you do end up moving the fuel rail out of the way, spend the extra $5 and get yourself a set of fuel injector o-rings. Don't ask how I know that the o-rings love to slide off of the fuel injectors and end up in the well of the engine and are a real PITA to get back. Save yourself the heartache.

But pulling out the COP is pretty straight forward:

-undo the 8mm bolt holding the COP in place
-gently lift up on the COP, trying to bend it around the fuel rail (this works on some trucks, not on others).
-if needed, undo the 2 bolts holding the fuel rail in place and wobble the ends of the fuel rail up and down as you are lifting up to get the fuel rail off of the injectors, allow the fuel rail to remain in the raise position
-finish removing the COP and then undo the plug to the COP

Install is just the reverse process. The only thing I will caution you on is to be gentle with the connections at the back of the motor/firewall for the heater assembly. You will want to look at this anyways, especially if you are loosing small amounts of coolant. These are known for getting bumped when doing work in that part of the truck and they will start leaking if they get messed with too hard. This will lead to a failure of that COP in the near future if you don't catch is soon after it starts.

 

[celticfdguy]

I replaced the COP and still have the same issues. I pulled the plug and it was pretty gunked up. I cleaned plug and sanded it clean... still have the issue. I am goign to replace the plug all together.

As for the plug lineup, I have it correct right?

FIREWALL
4 8
3 7
2 6
1 5
RADIATOR

 

[celticfdguy]

Well, dopey me replaced the wrong COP last week. I did #3, not #4. I went to do #4 last night and the COP had oil caked onto it and the spark plug was caked up in new and old oil. I was told I had a broken seal and the valve cover would need to be replaced to resolve this. Being I am no mechanic I dropped it off at my fathers friends house to get fixed. Hopefully he doesnt find anything else wrong!