Need some guidnance as to where to start. Car startedrunning rough about a week ago, finally read the codes today and they are asfollows; P0302, P0303, P0304, P0305, P0306, P1316 and P1000. P0302 thru P306are mis-fire codes ,note there was NO P0301 (#1 mis-fire code) and P1316 lookslike a "catch all" mis-fire code. I am leaning towards a fuelpressure problem or contaminated fuel, any ideas where and how to start.
Thanks in advance,
Ken

 

khsmith55, if you have a code reader, see what the fuel pressure is. It should be at 40+ PSI with the engine running and up over 50 psi with the key in RUN but the engine not running.

The other thing I would look at is behind the passenger headlight (US Cars), you will see where all the wiring for the coils has a common ground point. It is possible that you have some corrosion there and that is causing a bad ground, leading to a weak spark and your misfire.

Granted, it could be simply that you got some water in the gas and you need to get it out. A can of dry gas may not be a bad thing to try as it is a cheap thing to get and may resolve your isssues.

 

Be sure to make sure the ground above the alternator is secure, you want to also remove it and make sure its making a good contact at times the adhesive from the shrink tube meltes and under the ground eyelet casting a poor ground. Another thing to check is a major air leak the breather tube, booster hose check valve and imt seals would be a good place to start

 

Thanks for all the help. I cleaned the ground connection behind the headlight as Thermo suggested and it appears to have worked.
Thanks,
Ken

 

khsmith55, if you continue to have troubles, then I would say that you will next need to pull the intake (from the air box all the way to the lower half of the actual intake). You wll then need to pull each of the coils and make sure that you don't have oil and/or water in the well. As our cars get older, people have found that the coil wells fill up with oil (especially the 3 on the back side of the motor nearest the firewall).

 

Still having problems, cleaned ALL the grounds and checked the plug wells for water and debris but am still having problems. Some other "clues" that might help; the mis-fires are terrible when I first start the engine in the morning (I can also hear backfires under the hood), the mis-fires stop and the car runs smooth after 5 minutes of warming up then the car can sit for 4+ hours and starts up and runs great (no mis-fires). It seems it's only after sitting overnight that the mis-fires are really bad. Any other suggestions on how to procede.
Thanks again, Ken

 

khsmith55, ok, there seems to be a bigger issue here. I have a few checks that I am going to recommend to see what we end up with.

The first one is going to seem a little silly, but, I have also seen it work. If you open the hood of the car and look at the fuse box there, swap the fuse powering the coils with a similar sized fuse (or just replace it with a new one of the same rating). If you have a 02 to early 04 X-Type, then you are after fuse 92. If you have the upgraded X-Type (ie, made after March 04, this date is in the driver's door jam under "build date"), then you are after fuse F10. Also pay attention as to whether this fuse seems really easy to pull out or whether it has the same relative resistance that you experience with other fuses. It is possible that you have a loose connection on the fuse and once the engine bay warms up, it makes better connection, feeding full power to the coils and preventing the misfire from occurring. This may also be associated with a dark in color terminal on the fuse.

After the fuse check, if you have a code reader that you can look at the engine parameters, you will want to go to the fuel pressure reading and see what that does. This is best done if you can get someone else to drive the car so you can focus on the reading. What you should see is with the engine off but the key in the RUN position, the reader should see around 50-55 psi of fuel pressure. If you start the engine, it would drop slightly to most likely the high 40 psi (45-49 psi) range. If you are down around 40 psi or lower, then you may have an issue with your fuel pump. Keep in mind that these are being taken with a cold motor (ie, one that has been off overnight). You should also note what the pressure is upon starting the engine and then see if when things return to normal that you have the same fuel pressure. If you find that it is reading say 3-4 psi higher, you may have a fuel pump that is starting to go.

When was the last time you replaced the fuel filter? If it has been over 15K miles, then I would try that. It may sound silly, but this car can be picky. This would be noted by having fuel pressures low from the above check.

If you continue to have issues, I will recommend one more thing which is a 2 fold thing. The next time you fill up your car, go to a different manufacturer (preferably either Sunoco or Shell as these are Top Tier gas providers) than what you normally use. At the same time, also get a can of fuel injector cleaner to put in the gas tank. What this is going to do is clean out the fuel injectors to remove any gunk that may have built up over time. If you find that this helps out, but you still are having issues, there are some good "how-to" videos on Youtube on how to clean the fuel injectors using a home made cleaning rig.

In short, your problem tends to stem from one of the following reasons: Bad spark, bad fuel pressure, clogged fuel injector, stuck valve, or bad rings on the cylinders. We seem to have removed the bad spark issue with the cleaning you previously did. So, this is leaving us with either a fuel issue or a mechanical problem internal to the engine. If you want to do the mechanical diagnosis, let me know. In short, what you will end up doing is removing the intake and pulling all 6 spark plugs at the same time. You are going to then connect up a compression tester to a cylinder (screws in place of the spark plug) and with the fuse pulled to the fuel pump, you crank the engine for a few seconds. This will cause the tester to give you a reading. Should be in the range of 165-180 psi (if not higher). The exact value is not of concern (especially on engines with a lot of miles on them), but what you are interested in is whether all the cylinders have the same relative value (highest and lowest should be within 10% of each other). If you find that one cylinder is reading significantly different, then you have a cylinder that is causing what you are seeing. Not trying to make it sound like you have a motor that is about to die on you, but this is one of the potentials. If you have more questions about the compression testing and what else you can do, let me know. There is atleast 1 other test I can think of that will be a bit more pinpointing when it comes to a bad component, but it should be used in conjunction with the compression tester. But, this test requires you to build a special adapter.

 

Thermo; I replaced the #92 fuse (#92 was in the interior fuse box?) and it seemed to improve the problem 90% with only a little "rough" in the morning for a few minutes not the mis-fires from before. However this morning a "new" symptom came up (or unrelated?), car started fine but a little rough, then there was no power, like in limp mode (but no LM light) and when I hit the brakes to stop the pedal was really "hard" like there was no vacuum assist? After about a block the car was running well again with a normal brake pedal. You are a Godsend Thermo, any more ideas. P.S. Unfortunately I don't have/have access to a code scanner that will read the engine parameters.
Thanks as always,
Ken

 

Ken, if you have an android smart phone (does not need service), then invest into what is called an "Elm327". They are around $20 on e-bay and that will give you all the codes that you will want to see that relate to the engine. The other nice thing is you can also see live engine parameters too. The big thing to keep in mind is whether you have the improved X-Type or the original version (ie, upgraded wiring harness or not). If you have the first gen car with the viscous couple transfer case, then you are going to want the "V1.8" version of the Elm unit. Where, if you have the newer (revised) version, then you are going to want the "V2.1" Elm unit. It has to do with how the data is transferred and if you don't have the correct version, it will give you lots of grief. You can then download a free app called "Torque". The directions on how to connect everything comes with the Elm unit.

Worst case, disconnect the battery, reconnect it (this will clear all the codes) and then go for a short drive to your local auto parts store and have them read the code(s). They should be able to tell you what codes the car is experiencing.

As for the brake pedal and rough idle, it is sounding like you have a significant vacuum leak or your fuel pump is starting to go. I want you to try something that will help differentiate between the two. Get the car in the condition that will cause it to start rough (cold engine as I recall). Now, get into the driver's seat and insert the key in the ignition and roll the key to the "RUN" position (DO NOT!!! take it to the START position). Let the car sit there for a few seconds. You may even hear the fuel pump run and then turn off if you pay attention. After the few second wait, start the car. Does it start easier and not have the rough idle? If so, then odds are your fuel pump is starting to go or you have not changed your fuel filter in some time and it is clogged, leading to a slow pressurization of the fuel system. If it has been a long time since you replaced the fuel filter, I would start with that as it is cheap and has been known to resolve issues like this.