Has anyone had repeated trouble with their check engine light coming on in extreme temp change? i have been told that ford makes their intake(or head) gaskets out of high temp plastic, and that when ever you cold start your engine on a cold day, then the next day its hot and you cold start your engine that it trips your computer. it does this because the gasket will expand and contract changing the air-fuel ratio for the engine.

does anyone have any feedback on this?

 

In my years owning 2 4.2l v6's.. I've never had a problem and I live in Central NY.

 

i guess it must be a thing with the texas weather then, cuz we change so much from cold to hot that my truck is probably like, "What the heck is wrong here!?"

do you think i may have a small leak or anything like that?

 

You might.

 

any idea where to start looking? cuz i have literally begun to carry a codereader under my driver seat because it happens so often now. also is it normal to hear your rocker and lifters when you are next to a wall or another car? mine seem etremely loud...

 

That could be alot of things. Injector pulse, a leak in the exhaust, thats only 2 but you get the point.

 

well i had the exhuast up near the cats and manifolds checked for a leak and the guy didnt find anything, but its not as loud as it used to be...it sound like a faint clicking noise? is that the injector pulse?

 

Now that you have your code reader under the seat, have you used it? Well? What codes do you have?

 

i use it like 2 a week, and everytime it says either P171 or P174 which is system to lean or too rich....

 

For those that don't want to search.


DTC P0171 or P0174
Fuel Trim System Lean


Have you done anything to fix the problem.

 

im not sure where to start looking. im not sure if its the intake gaskets or maybe the fuel pump is screwing me over, beacuse i dont know if the fuel pump has ever been replaced. i got the truck used in 04 w/ 75,000 on it and it had 111,560 on it now. my dad is still kinda confused about what it is.

 

Those codes are usually caused by a vacuum leak.

 

My wife owns an 01 Windstar with the 3.6L V6. Saw that you had the 4.2L. I'm sure the manifolds are made out of the same materials. We just had the same problem last year and was told that the plastic manifolds warped overtime showing a lean code because of the vacuum leak. I believe the lower intake maniflod gasket was replaced first with no fix. Then the upper (or vice versa).The problem was able to be fixed the second time. This was the cheapiest route to go but was told that it may not fix the problem because the manifold may have to be replaced. It's been a year and no more problems.

 

Problem solved. 98 windstar upper intake. Egr needs to be adjusted if you plan to keep it for emissions, Tb needs a bracket, and hoses need to be reran. Puts more power in the Higher RPM's though.

 

It is in fact a very common problem on the 4.2 and there is a updated gasket kit for this issues.