Mark,
This is just my opinion, but if her Escape is running fine now, I'd just let it go for now and not worry about the rear plugs, coils, or lower intake manifold gaskets. With only 50,000 miles, none of these should be a problem. The plugs should be good to 100,000 + miles. You probably won't have a problem with the lower manifold gaskets until well over 100,000 miles, mine didn't give me problems until last year with 127,000 miles on it (2001 Escape). And at 50,000 miles the coils should last for quiet awhile too. I completely understand that you want to keep your daughter safe, but I think at this point this would be overkill. If any of the above things did start to fail, none of them would leave her stranded on the side of the road, run rough, but that's about it in the short term.

If it were me, at this point I would just let her drive it and see if that code comes back in the next week or two. I also have a 2007 Fusion with 76,000 miles on it, and it's basically the same engine, I haven't had a single problem with it, and it's been the car I let my daughter drive back and forth to her Mom's 72 miles each way on the highway, and I don't a single worry about anything failing on that car and leaving her stranded.

Anyway just my 2 cents on that, but if doing the plugs, rear coils, lower intake gaskets gives you "a piece of mind", then go for it. I completely understand where your coming from when it comes to taking care of and protecting your daughter!!!

Take Care!

Scott

 

Mark,

One other thing, if this shop that sold you the Escape said they did all this work on it. Why don't you go by there and "Nicely" express your concerns (for your daughters safety) that the work was done and ask to see the work order on it. I used to be a service manager of a independent shop and we had copies of every work order we ever did, because we had 90 day warranties on the work and the parts we replaced. The key is to approach them in a way where they don't get defensive with you, (tell them you need their help, and the Escape's been great). Maybe all, some, or none of the work was done, but if you can see the work order than it would give you a better idea of what work you do, or don't need to do in the future.

I was surprised when I read they replaced the water pump. With the pulley and belt for it coming off the camshaft there is very little tension on the water pump bearings. You can actually change the belt on it by moving the tensioner by hand to get the old belt off and the new one on. It was the easiest belt I've ever replaced in my life. A really great parts guy at the Ford house I use, said he has never ever had to order a water pump for an Escape at this dealership! That's pretty outstanding considering the Escape has been out 10 years now. Wish those Japanese Toyota's could be that reliable ;o)

Hey, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays!

Scott

 

Scott, now you are appealing to my lazy side but I think I'll still change out those rear plugs and the gaskets, weather permitting. It will give me a chance to look the engine over a bit closer at the same time.
After closer inspection, I would say that the water pump was not changed, which in a way is fine with me since it would indicate there was no problem. From dirt/road grime accumulation on cover, it also appears the differential lube was not changed as I was told it was. I believe the previous owner may have been duped by this shop and I will approach the vehicle as one requiring a full service as required of the mileage. The Carfax report showed nothing unusual. The car looks great and is running fine at this point. It is fun to drive, first tank around 23-24 mpg., great visibility and handles rough roads and fast corners very well, if daughter ever tires of it, the little car is mine...Mark

 

No matter how I drive my 03 v6, I can't get over 19.5 mpg.

I do about 60 miles a day, mostly highway, kept my speed at 60 mph (while other cars passed me by like I was standing still) and still could not get over 19 mpg. Vehicle is tuned, runs great, has 123500 on od. MPG still stinks. The only thing I can think of is drag with the tires I am using. They are All Season Highway tires. Can't figure out how others with same vehicle are getting MPG in the 20's???

 

Mark,

Your thinking is sound to go ahead and do the plugs, coils, lower intake manifold gaskets, and get a good look at the engine. BTY, it's the blue (neoprene type, slick and shiny) gaskets that mate the lower intake to the block that leak, never heard of the upper intake manifold gaskets leaking, of course replace all of them, but leave the fuel injection O-rings alone, the way they fit in the injector don't think they would ever leak, mine looked perfect and was a waste of time replacing.

Also here's a good tip, when you remove the intake manifold there are many vacuum hoses connected on the back of it. On mine the ones that were not covered with that corrugated black plastic wire sleeve (with the slit down the middle) crumpled in my hands. The ones that were covered with the wire sleeve looked brand new. Your vacuum hoses should be fine at 50,000 miles but go up to the auto parts store and get a package or two I think they come in 6 foot lengths, and cover all the exposed vacuum hoses with it. Will save you from a possible vacuum leak way down the road and is cheap to do. I guess the sleeves help a lot in protecting from heat, and the environment in the engine compartment.

Tonyford,

I get about 19.6 miles per gallon my Escape too (V6, FWD). Maybe slightly better if it's straight highway driving, and that's all we have in Texas STRAIGHT boring HIGHWAYS ;o) Maybe your right on the tires, mine has P235,70R-16 tires. I do see a lot of Escapes with 15 inch rims that run P225,70R-15 tires. Although those I think are all XLS models with mostly 4 cylinder, not the XLT models like we have. I've looked at everything can't figure it out. Maybe it's because we never had our wheels aligned like you stated in another post (he,he) Oh well, still a fun vehicle to drive!
Scott

 

Going off on a tangent here. Scott, no I have an 03 XLS with a
V6 and 4WD to deal with the snow here in Northern Jersey. And yes the vehicle has on it P225 70R-15 tires on it. Just put on two General Grabbers Highway All Season, the H something. Not that this made any difference, mileage still the same. I tried to get the same tires I have always bought, UniRoyal Laredo Cross Countrys, but it seems UniRoyal has stopped making them in my tire size and many other tire sizes. Guess UniRoyal is going to discontinue this great tire. No, don't think it has anything to do with the wheel alignment. My tires wear evenly and vehicle will travel down the highway with no pulling to either side. It's not as easy as you think to knock your wheels out of alignment.

 

I agree, my Escape travels straight down the road, no uneven tire were, no alignment in 145,000 miles. Wish them Japanese cars were built as well (spoken in a Texas twain). Maybe the gear ratio's are different in later years. I've always thought I've been a little short changed on the MPG. Last year we had a lot of snow/ice here, not like yous guys gets (spoken in a Jersey twain, Ya don't say twain though) but there has never been a time that I haven't been able to get around in my Escape. Kind of like driving it better than my Fusion, and the Fusion is pretty cool!

Sorry Mark, sidetracked your thread. But hey were your daughter and you live, Out there Younder (Texas twain) ain't it good to know how well an Escape handles the elements that mother nature can through out ;^)

 

Just a few quick responses, the factory Continentals (50k miles) were worn/cupping and made a terrible vibration and noise in cockpit. Had I not read about this here I would probably have passed on car purchase. The shop I bought Escape from installed Michelin 235/70-16's LT M/S2's at my request, night and day difference, smooth and much quieter. Front aligned also but by my reqular guy. Escape is XLT 4wd v6 and I did accurate fill at start & end of 200 mile round trip at Thanksgiving, freeway 65mph mostly and calculated 23.6 mpg. give or take. The next morning is when the MIL light came on prompting my original post. I'll do another fuel calculation someday now that I've heard from you guys but at the time I told my daughter to use 20mpg for factoring, maybe I goofed but don't think so.

Scott, the main reason I bought the Escape was from talking to people who really liked how their Escapes handled the snow and such and how few problems any of them had.
Knock on wood...Mark

 

Well, knocking on wood doesn't seem to work for Fords, thought I had this licked till now. Daughter has only put about 1100 miles on car since 1 new coil, all new iridium spark plugs and all new manifold gasket seals and no problems till 2 days ago. We got together Saturday for a snow trip to Sierras and at about 50 miles into the trip, right at hitting 70mph, bam..engine running rough and instant MIL...backed off a few mph and smooth again, it did this a couple more times in the next 20 miles or so then stayed smooth. Got to hotel, looked for anything obvious and decided to see what happens in the morning. Next morning starts right up and idles fine, get gas and as I leave the station a rough burble then smooth, against better judgement I hit the freeway and no issues for next 200 miles & all the way back home. Scan code and the same as before PO356, pull coils and plugs on front bank, all the same resistance and plugs clean. Now here's the part I'm not sure about since I did not clear the code with scanner last night. I unplugged the pcm and removed it from the firewall so that I could get its p/n etc., upon reinstall I went to clear the code and it & MIL were already gone, none stored. Will just unplugging the PCM clear the codes and erase MIL? Could pulling the PCM plugs and reinstalling have improved a poor connection from PCM to coil pack #6 or am I still at square one? I also loosened and tightened grnd wire from pcm harness to firewall...any ideas? I'll take it out for gas and a freeway run tomorrow but it'll probably run just fine, for now...Mark

 

OK, so after searching more posts with same symptoms, reoccuring PO35x code on same cylinder with possibility of PCM harness wiring fault, I went on ebay and ordered an '06 PC/ED manual to help me diagnose this problem. I'm also going to stop by dealer and ck TSBs and see what they say about this and how or if they can help me without spending a ton of my money...I'll post back with any info since there seem to be a few Escapes with this same problem...Mark

 

From a previous Oaklander and Dubliner, I would check the fuel filter. The 356 code may be just the 'weakest' cylinder as far as fuel delivery. I don't know if the 3.0 has EGR from the intake, but the 3.8 used to get misfire codes caused by too much EGR to a given cylinder, causing unburnt fuel, leading the O2 and computer to go nuts trying to lean down all the other cylinders. The solution was to clean the bottom of the intake EGR ports that were directly in front of the intake valves.
I think I would check fuel pressure and delivery before condemning another COP and or plug. The description was of running fine.. and whammo.... after/while running at a good clip, with a long -term demand for fuel at cruise speed. The gas demand increases significantly above 65 from fuel consumption experience. You may be at the limit of filter or pump delivery capacity. It could even be the gas tank cap not venting.
tom

 

Hmmm, thanks Tom, now I've even more to contemplate, drats! Ford dealer didn't want to help me yesterday since it was running fine and no MIL but did say that if it was any of the related Calif. emissions warranty stuff it would all be covered for the 8/80,000 period. So I'm going to go and do a freeway run down the 280 and see if it will reoccur.
Tom, I believe the fuel filter is built into the pump and non-serviceable. Anyway, once the MIL tripped and car immediately recovered from stumble we went the next 200 miles at same sustained speeds of 60-70mph with no problems. Total tank burn of 11.7 gals and 264.5 miles including crawling through Berkley area to toll plaza at 5 mph.
I'll look into the egr location and plumbing and ponder that but when I had the manifolds off, I had a good look at ports and right down onto intake valves and all looked good carbon wise and all.
Since my PC/ED manual isn't here yet I've taken the time to trace the COP wiring from cyl. #6 back to PCM, I pulled all plugs apart and cleaned with contact cleaner and acid brush then blew dry and replugged with liberal use of dielectric grease. I secured the wire bundles where they exit the plugs at the PCM, since the factory doesn't. I then ran the car and sprayed water from a mister on the front 3 coils, wire plugs etc. all the while tugging and pulling on wiring back to PCM with nary a burlbe. Time to go for a high speed run and to look up another Ford dealer near my daughters school in case this happens on my trip to return car. Thanks, sorry my posts are so long winded but hoping this will help me as well as others. Thanks, Mark

 

Phase of the moon? Dream catcher on the fritz? Aromatherapy not working quite right? Heh. I remember the Bay bridge hurry up and wait. Back when the toll was 50cents.. They built that bridge in ~2-3 years, and have had since 1989 to futz around with the cantilever section touching Oakland and YBI and are STILL not done. Way OT, but sort of apropos.
If you have good plugs, good COPs and good wires from the ECM, it ought to fire all the time. I find it hard to believe that there is not a replaceable fuel filter somewhere in the line from the pump to the injector galleries. I understand it is a 'dead head' system that does not return fuel back to the tank, and thus DOES NOT KEEP IT COOLED, but it still should have a fuel filter. But I only thought of being an engineer and never finished up...
tom

 

My fuel filter is located under the rear seat area I think on passanger side on my 2001.I believe the newer Escapes don't have serviceable fuel filters.

 

Well, now that it is narrowed down to spark, fuel or air, we must have it licked, no? Chuckle. I don't think a burned or sticky valve would allow it to run well for so much of the time, so I think it is spark or fuel related, not mechanical.
The driver transistors in the computer are 'sinks', in that they just shunt the electricity to ground to energize the field in the COPs. There is juice at the COP all the time when the key is ON. The COP will fire when it has its juice interrupted and the field collapses. That is done by the PCM opening the connection to ground, so the juice stops flowing. If the wires are flaky, or the transistors marginal, esp #6, it might misfire, or fire at the wrong time. But, one would think the silicon is the silicon, and would work the same all the time. The same sort of relationship is made between the injectors and the computer. The injectors flow when the transistors in the computer provide a ground to energize the solenoid in the injector.
The fact that there is a trouble code for a particular COP/wire/driver combination should point to a problem in one or more of those three components. Unless there is a problem with the current source, but that should apply to all COPs.
Unless there is a weak injector, it doesn't make sense to be looking there, or to fuel delivery after some thought, as all the injectors have the same fuel source.
Why not remove the ECM and inspect for loose or cold solder joints on the board connecting the stuff near where #6 COP wires connect? Then inspect the wire loom, checking for connections that make/break with jostling. It wouldn't hurt to look at the pins inside the loom that connects the #6 COP. I am thinking that there is a problem with the wires or driver transistor, as the COP has been changed and swapped with no change in problem.
The intermittent nature indicates something 'moving' to interrupt electric flow. If there had been a bad spark plug or COP in the #6 slot, it could have damaged the ECM. I have read of a bad COP taking out the computer. New spark plugs are a lot cheaper, keeping the load on the COP under control, and thus the load and back EMF to the ECM circuitry. A bad plug can cause the COP to try to dump its EMF wherever it can, and it is possible the ECM can be the recipient. It has happened, and I saw a picture of a well-cooked driver transistor on another Escape site. All of which translates to taking a look at the circuit board. I think.
tom