Greetings,

I hope someone can help me here, and at least start me in the right direction to get this issue resolved. Anyways, I have a 2001 Ford Escape we've had for about 5 years, and we had nothing wrong with it. I've done basic maintenance and tunes up as we've had it.

For about a few months now we've had some really rough start up where the car shakes, and struggles to stay alive.Even during this time I have no power brakes, until it warms up. When coasting, it appears the car won't slow down, but actually speeds up. All of this is starting to scare me pretty much, and this just started the other day (I was waiting for our windy season to end look at it better)

I've done spark plugs down to oil changes to see what the problem is. Easy inexpensive possible fixes. So the other day I took it to Autozone and had them look for the code since the engine light came on. EVAP System, and there is a small hiss, but I haven't located that yet (Work), but it sounds like it's coming from near the air filter.

So, I was curious if anyone can help me with this issue, or lead me in the right direction that would it could be, and I have a feeling this is going to a very expensive mess, but if I can do it myself to save a few dimes that would be awesome (I do own a repair manual).

Thanks!
-Ali

 

I'd check your vacuum lines on the back of the manifold.If its a v6 when you did your plugs did you change the lower and upper intake gaskets?And only other thing is the IAC valve are known to mess with the start up idle.

 

I am going to lean towards vacuum leak. I'm suprised you don't have a check engine light.

 

Spray where you think the hiss is with starting fluid and if RPMS pickup you have a vacumn leak in that area. Look what gaskets may be giving your problem.

 

Hello again,

Thanks for the fantastic responses (I did look for leaks, and saw a few, and planning on replacing), and I finally spent sometime on it today (Finally some freetime to get myself a little dirty) it appears it's the IAC that is hissing really loud. So I unplugged it, and it appears to be running a bit better on start up, despite the hissing is still there.

Am I onto something here?

Thanks,
-Ali

 

The IAC can get dirty and its a pretty cheap part to replace. You might try cleaning it with carb cleaner and see if the helps. The hissing sound must be important but it stumps me.

 

The gasket for the IAC valve is just a small rubberized seal that goes around the IAC connection point to the intake manifold (I can't recall the specific name for this material) but it's a very small gasket that fits in a groove to seal the IAC. You may be getting a hiss from this seal. Take off the IAC see if part of that seal is missing, or it's crushed and won't hold a seal anymore. When I bought a new IAC from AutoZone it came with a paper, cardboard type of gasket. If that gasket is leaking you may see a area of dirt around part of that gasket, if it's failed and letting outside air into intake from that point.

 

Hello again,

All right, I went to Auto Zone to get some new codes, and update it so we know more of what we are working with. This is what I end up getting:

P0171 - System to Lean (Read Cylinder Bank)
P0174 - System to Lean (Front Cylinder Bank)
P0455 - EVAP Control, Big Leak
P0457 - EVAP Control, Leak Detected
P1504 - IAC Circuit Malfunction

So, it appears the gasket and the firewall have died, and make sense of the big leak, along with getting crappie gas mileage. The only bummer is that cost me 280 bucks. =/ Unless anyone else has some ideas before I order it by tomorrow?

Thanks,
Ali