01 2.0L dead cylinder.

[tjc transport]

one of the neighborhood kids asked me for help today with his girls car. 01 Escort, 2.0L. it has a dead cylinder, with cylinder #3 misfire code. new cap, rotor, wires plugs, because it has 118,000 miles on it and the last tuneup was done about 40k ago. then the car sat for 4 months because it still has the dead hole. i did a compression check, and have 175 lbs on all 4 holes, put air to the cylinders through the plug holes(about 80 lbs) looking for a burnt/bent valve, and i can hear no leaks through the intake or exhaust. . when i put the battery to it and fired it up, it fired on all for for about a minute, then i shut it off to put the valve cover on. put it together and fired it, and it is back to 3 cylinders with sucking through the exhaust when the dead hole hits. no popping through either the exhaust or intake at higher revs to indicate a worn cam lobe either. i am a bit lost when it comes to these newer engines. anyone have any ideas?

[Lazy K]

Good one. When running on 3 did you check for spark at the dead cyl plug? Did you check for excessive side play in the distributor shaft?
Maybe need a real time data enabled scanner on it to see what is happening.

[tjc transport]

no, not yet. i did not have the laptop with me so i could not use the auto enginuity.
i used the autoXray scanner and everything with that checked out ok. with the exception of no codes because it sat so long with a dead battery.

i will try plugging it in to the laptop tomorrow, and put the spark plug adapter on it to check for spark between the wire and plug.

[Ford_Six]

I have seen Ford injector connectors break, so make sure that it's actually clipped on tight. If there's any doubt, use a zip tie to hold it tight to the injector.

[55 f350]

maybe a broken wire in the injector harness ??? my ih straight truck had this issue every once in a while and it was a broken wire ......... maybe a bad coil on that plug too ??? i'd imagine they act much like the coils i'm used to on all my old stuff , and they get hot and go kaput , but it cools down it works again till once again a little heat ?????????

[tjc transport]

Originally Posted by Ford_Six

I have seen Ford injector connectors break, so make sure that it's actually clipped on tight. If there's any doubt, use a zip tie to hold it tight to the injector.

Originally Posted by 55 f350

maybe a broken wire in the injector harness ??? my ih straight truck had this issue every once in a while and it was a broken wire ......... maybe a bad coil on that plug too ??? i'd imagine they act much like the coils i'm used to on all my old stuff , and they get hot and go kaput , but it cools down it works again till once again a little heat ?????????

i actually thought of a bad injector at around 2 am. i am going to do a buzz test on it later to rule out injectors.
this engine still has a distributor, not COP technology.

[tjc transport]

well, i am still at a loss. it fired up and ran on all 4 for 1/2 hour today. then lost a cylinder again. let it sit for 20 minutes and back to all 4.
i am going to let it sit for a while and swap injectors and see if it follows the injector or stays at #4.
at this point, i am thinking it may be an overheating ECM.

the other head scratcher is excessive vacuum to the PCV valve. if it is in the valve cover, it will collapse the line. if the PCV is out, it is fine. the line from the valve cover to the air box is not clogged, so this is another one cornfusing me.

[Ford_Six]

It's probably a degraded PCV hose rather than excessive vacuum. It's going to get manifold vacuum regardless.

[tjc transport]

put a new hose on it, and it still collapses if put in the valve cover.

[Phinxter]

I've had a couple cars with a similar problem, though not Fords. I found leaking intake gaskets, it would either start and run like poop or would start and run fine until it got hot then run like poop. When it is acting up try spraying carb cleaner around the intake gasket and see if it changes.