anyone want to take a shot at this? these may be totally unrelated but i have had a small antifreeze drip coming from up high around what i have been thinking was the water pump gasket. i have not pin pointed it exactly though. for the last 3 days i have been getting code po 174 and now added po 171 to that list. also have something going on with my fuel fill vent or something as for a while now i have had to slowly squeeze in fuel to keep the pump from auto shut off on me like its full already. i have tried cleaning out that vent tube by spraying in carb cleaner even blowing on it but it seems to be a check valve, not able to blow in. i am thinking tonight that antifreeze leak may be related to those codes too. any thoughts? its on my 2003 ranger 3.0 flex fuel.

 

Seems to me you've described 3 seperate problems.

The P0171 & 174 are lean codes for both cyl banks, which suggest a vacuum leak, or maybe a fuel delivery, or a fuel trim problem.

The coolant leak speaks for itself, if your lucky just a loose fastner, so maybe try retorquing the water pump fastners to spec & if you find a loose one that stops the weep, you're lucky.

On the fuel fill troubles, look for some problem in the fill tube, maybe its kinked inside, or maybe if you live in cold country its iced up inside from snow melt or condensation????

Any of these problems come about suddenly, after some event????

 

As always, good feedback from pawpaw. I've got something to add to that, maybe. Do you use the same fuel stop and same pump/nozzle every time? I ask because, we have three fuel tanks with their own nozzles. One of them when it's cold out, less than 20F, the bloody thing kicks out when filling . It only happens when it's cold out. Even squeezing the trigger by hand it does it, so we all avoid that one if possible. Just a slim possibility. These are diesel tanks, but we have no gelling problems, so thought has it, it's something to do with the nozzle.

 

I will check vacuum lines this weekend. Coolant leak started just after I flushed the radiator about a year ago. Noticed very small spot at first.now its about a half dollar size a day. Fuel is everywhere I go.I have been running 100% gas for the last 4 or 5 tanks but this time I used local quick trip chain 10% ethanol. Its oklahoma so not terrible low cold. I have changed 3 in tank fuel pump and dropped the tank on 2 of those. What i can't remember is if the vent hose should be clear to blow in the tank if you take it off the filler neck? I was assuming it would but to get at the top of the pump I either pull the bed or drop it. Cleaned my air filter out last night. I had neglected it pretty bad. Spectra washable type. Also changed my oil.had 7k on mobile 1 synthetic and I was down 2 qts. Can't believe I did that. It's a flex fuel vehicle but i never used e85 in it.a friend said he cut a whole in his bed and made a cover plate . I dont know about that. Thanks for the reply's

 

Since your using a washable air filter, add removing & cleaning the MAF sensor, with a non residual spray cleaner, like CRC or Valvolene MAF Sensor Spray Cleaner, as oiled cotton gauze or foam air filters are known to foul the MAF sensor by passing more dirt, or from over oiling the media & having it migrate to & foul the heated MAF sensor & thus corrupt its calibration & PID to the computer about true air flow into the engine & that can corrupt fuel trim.

If the upstream/before cat converter O2 sensors have 75K or more & haven't been replaced, they belong on your suspect list, as O2 sensors switching speed slows over time, so thay get slow/lazy doing their job of telling the computer about exhaust O2 levels & that can cause the computer to be behind where it needs to be in controlling the fuel injectors, so it can result in corrupt fuel trim, all a vicious circle.

Good idea to check for vacuum leaks.

If the flex fuel sensor isn't doing its job of sensing ethnol levels in the fuel, it too can corrupt fuel trim by affecting fuel injector squirt time & ignition timing, so be sure your trouble code scan is up to date & that you've posted All code Numbers, as they can offer up good trouble shooting clues.

More thoughts for consideration, keep us posted on your trouble shoot.

 

well i found what was setting those 2 codes 171 and 174. i had a split in a hose at the vacuum ball by the radiator. that turned out to be an easier find than expected. also changed out some that were looking pretty oxidized as well to save grief later. i put a wrench on the water pump bolts and gave them a little more and i didnt see the drip this morning so i am hopeful on that. Here's the one thing that didnt turn out for me and still on the hunt to this problem.. i went to the advance part store and took a look at an intank fuel pump for the ranger and checked the port that the vent hooks up to just to see if it was free to blow thru and it was. it has a cannister looking piece on that port inside the tank so i figured it must be clogged up. i pulled off my truck bed this time to get to it and after thoroughly disassembling that cannister and finding out its a spring loaded check valve and then"drilling out the port orifice" the line hooks on to, i could then finally blow thru that line freely enough i thought it would take gas at the pump better.... but no.. NOW i am looking at another vent line off the rear of the tank going in to what looks like a black plastic, 6" or so cylinder, about a foot and a half long, mounted right above the spare tire. it has a wire connection as well on it.I have no clue what you call it or what its function is. anyone seen that? know what it is and does? thanks for your reply's and assistance

 

Sounds like your refering to the vapor recovery tank.

 

Give us a little more information about your truck, such as: what year, which engine, how many miles are on it, and is it up to date on maintenance items like plugs, wires, etc.

 

today i found the problem after a lot of searching. i took some pictures of what i found as it was pretty unbelievable but very logical. maybe it will help someone else. i checked every vent line coming from the tank first. checked to see if that vapor recovery tank was clear too. took the vent line off the tank at the gas pump thinking i would be able to pump then, but no! finally pulled the fill tube off the vehicle and found a bottle cap seal from a bottle of fuel additive that must have stuck to the bottle as i poured it in! the filler tube has screen wire at its outlet and that's where it stopped and blocked my fuel filler. glad to have this one done. i spent 2 days working on just this. taking the bed off and getting to the fuel pump in the tank, everything i could think of. someone remind me of how to post a picture on this and i will follow up.

 

OK, thanks for closing out your thread & good find, fix & feedback doing so & to hear all seems well & your on the road again. Those reading this will know how important it is for us to be careful when pouring anything into the fuel tank!!!!!
Maybe some one will chime in on how to post photos.