I put mine away for the winter and went to start it last week and got that code. I waited a couple of days and tried again. Code gone.

 

My first thought for this issue is always residual moisture finding its way into the throttle body....

 

I guess it could be cold making old gaskets hard, so not air tight. Or damp almost anywhere that matters to fuelling / ignition. Don't rush to panic but also don't get complacent.

 

I get the light & message randomly! Sometimes when flooring it, the other day on cruise control at 70kph (1200 rpm) it came on and off several times in 1 minute. I don't get any MIL on or misfire codes and the only code it once gave me was a knock sensor. All since gone! Hot or cold makes little difference. It goes away for a week or so and then comes back once or twice.
How on earth does one track such a random occurrence?
I think the 03 is a coil pack rather than individual ones - could it be a sign the coil pack is going bad?

 

Bad gas?

 

Maybe you girl is on the rag and just moody.....

 

Could be an air leak from a split hose (leaks when temperature or vibration is right). Or a coil. Both are common faults on the 3.0. Obviously you need to be using the right gas.

As the hose leaks are so common I'd just strip down and replace them. Do the IMT O-rings too if not yet done. I might buy 3 coils and swap those that are exposed during the other work. Save the 3 taken out. If fault stays, I'd swap all 3 with the other 3.

It's probably doing it a lot more than you think, you just don't feel it much. OBD might help but swapping the obvious stuff seems attractive.

 

I have the same message on cold weather (Below 50 degrees F). After full warm up car runs fine. While I have not tried it yet I have seen on another site a suggestion about the coils. If you live in the US go to Autozone, they have the ignition coils (they are a direct match to the Lincoln LS ones at roughly $49.99) they will test the coils and replace if necessary or at least tell you which one is bad. The user went on to say that it takes about an hour for a first time person to replace one.

Mine is intermittent after warm up and severly hampers freeway performance unless roll on throttle is gently used. A two gear kick down resulted in bucking and misfires. A gentle acceleration caused no noticable performance change.

Once I have had a chance to have mine checked I'll repost the results.

Hope this helped.

 

After fitting a very big capacitor across my battery several months ago now, I still have not once had the "restricted performance" syndrome which I would get every couple of weeks or so. Not a scientific proof of anything of course, but I'm not complaining, it was a cheap and easy fix, my favorite methodology. My car is S-type 2.7D.
Leedsman.

 

Check for OBD mis-fire codes.. The computer should have stored them even if the MIL lamp is not illuminated constantly...

Mine did something very similar and it ended up being a failed Catalytic converter...The "clue" from the codes is that it only recorded mis-fires on one bank....

The Cats may also be worth looking at for the other posters as well...They all seem very similar to what I experienced..

 

If a check shows a coil is faulty then you can be sure it's faulty. Most coil problems will not show up when checked, though, leading you wrongly to believe the coil is OK

However, you need to see what OBD codes are stored as coil faults, though common, are only one of many things which can cause misfires. Air leaks are another and are also common (and mostly cheaper to fix).

 

I am hoping it is an air leak myself. What hoses are checked? I have only checked fluid levels so far. ( I have recently moved and have been involved in more cardboard than I care to think about. )

Also does anyone have a suggestion on where to purchase a code reader? How expensive are they? Where is the connection to check?

I still haven't had time to figure out how to get under the aero cover in the engine bay. (That's this weekends project.)

 

There's at least an elbow on a PCV hose that tends to fail on the 3.0.
Search on
elbow

or on
leak

or
hose

may find info. (Search tends to ignore very short words, sadly, like air and PCV.)

 

Just an FYI, I'm real selective about the fuel I purchase. I avoid ethanol like it's poison. Besides lowering your performance, mileage, and causing odd quirks with higher performance cars, they charge the same as non-ethanol.

 

car was driving fine when i went to work, when i restarted the car, the indicator light displayed " restricted performance", the car felt weak with no power. after quick review on this forum there are many causes to this issue. the problem is that i don't know where to begin, if there is anyone who can help please reply to my post thanks.

 

There's a good chance there will be codes stored and any cheap OBD-II tool will read them (or AutoZone). Then look them up - file is in the forum FAQ and see what it says. Bear in mind a code is a hint not a diagnosis so thought is required.

Good cheap tool: elm327 ebay about $20.

 

Is there anyone in the forum who knows where in the greater Tampa Bay area that doesn't sell ethenol added gas? I think with the tax incentives given by the government there are almost no stations in the US that us 100% gas. If that is the case, is there a fuel supliment that anyone has used for an extended period of time that has overcome the mixed gas negatives and has not caused added technical issues to the engine and fuel system?

 

http://www.fuel-testers.com/state_gu...anol_laws.html

Lucky for you, according to this site, Florida is one of the states that requires a label on the pump if the fuel contains ethanol. Now comes the sticky point since I started reading up on it... I guess ALL fuels in the US contain some ethanol. The secret is to find out what % is used...

Unfortunately for me, Ohio is not one of the states that requires labeling...

So, the Shell station that doesn't have the label may just be a waste of money for me.. Crap!

 

As a quick note, in that websites information it detailed that a vehicle registered as a collectable would be able to be fueled with non ethenol blended fuel. However Florida no longer offers a 'collectable' tag. I wonder if a class action lawsuit against the state is possible? Surely there are enough owners of 'high performance' engines that mandate the use of premium fuel and are incompatable with blended fuels. According to Florida DMV figures for 2008 (the most recent year tallied), there were in excess of 16 million cars registered in the state. I think it would be fair to state that at least 160,000 of them are powered by engines that require premium non blended fuel. It may be something to talk about.