Ford Powerstroke Diesel Forum banner

Need help, gas engine.

2K views 31 replies 10 participants last post by  Diesel Nick 
#1 ·
'01 PT Cruiser. Will bairly start. Runs very rough and if you dont keep on the gas it dies. Check oil light on. Oil is fine.:dunno:
 
#2 ·
#3 ·
I don't and I dought it would make it the 23 miles to the nearest one!
 
#4 ·
A lot of them have a loan a tool program where you basically pay a fee and take the tool home and get a full reimbursement when you bring it back. I just spent about $150 and bought me one, figured I’d need it anyways.
 
#5 ·
Is it a check oil level light, or an oil pressure light? Also, when you say "keep on the gas", how much are we talking about?
 
#6 ·
About a quarter pedal, and there is a slight tick from time to time but not constant.

Wondering if its a clogged fuel filter or something.
 
#7 ·
Sounds to me like a timing issue. With the oil light on.

Or cloged cat but with the oil light being on i would look more towards timing. The light being on might be due to the engine not getting up to good RPM.

How many miles are on it?
 
#8 ·
If it were a clogged filter then it looks like it would act worse with more throttle?
I don’t know nothing about that particular vehicle but I have seen some vehicles with idle control motors that when messed up will cause a similar problem to what you describe. My wife’s old 99 explorer had that problem, all of a sudden it got where it would not start unless I held it to the floor and would die with anything less than ¼ pedal. I removed the motor and cleaned it up good with carb cleaner and she worked great after that. But a code read might send you in the right direction and if not then a real scan might be in order.
 
#9 · (Edited)
When you said keep on the gas it almost sounded like a throttle positioning sensor of some kind, but those usually leave you nailing the pedal to the floor.

Couple possibilities:

Assuming you have oil pressure, it could be the sensor is bad and sending it to a limp mode of some kind. If you rule out computer, then you're left with basic fuel and air of course. Vaccuum, fuel pressure, etc. Like bad fuel pump (I did have one pump reduce pressure at load instead of dieing like the others did - very hard to diagnose), vacuum leak, etc. I've rarely had an OBDI or post with a timing issue? Throttle is compensating for bad balance in some way, mere act of opening throttle could have computer dosing extra fuel, or the other way around.

Does sound like code scanner is your best bet right now though.
 
#10 ·
-UPDATE-

Took for test drive........gutless!

Oil light gone, now check engine light flashing at me.

Ticks real bad with throtle, no tick without.

Heres the biggie. Pulled the #4 plug (only one I could get too). They are Bosch Platnum +4's about two yrs old. One prong broke off, all three others touching the core!
 
#14 ·
Ok so I took a new spark plug and reinstalled it (other three were good) and started the car. Engine ran great so I gave it a lil gas and it started knocking and died. So I repulled the plug and this is what I got. Two prongs gone (in the engine, F'ing great) and the other two push against the core.

So the piston is travaling to far. Guess I am pulling the engine!

 
#17 ·
I’m guessing rod bearing, would explain the low oil pressure and the clearance issue. Or maybe the low oil pressure caused the bearing which then caused the clearance issue. I guess it don’t really matter but you’d better check everything else out while you’re in there so it don’t happen again.
 
#18 ·
Put a new factory spark plug in to night and the cylinder doesent hit. Car still dont run. Pulled the plug and started the car and it ran great (all'be it on three cylinders) Plug is getting spark!
 
#21 ·
With what I'm reading so far, YES you definitely have a base engine issue going. And yes it is DEFINITELY time to pull the head at the very least.

In answer to the previous posting inquiring whether or not it is an interference engine, the answer is YES with 100% certainty. I know this is because I did my apprenticeship at a Chrysler store for four years from 1996 to 2000 before I started with wrenching on Fords.
 
#19 ·
So does the piston hit the factory plug? I hate platinum plugs with a passion, I've torn down three motors and all of them had pieces missing out of them. Check compression on that cylinder, maybe a ring? I don't see why timing would cause an oil problem.
 
#26 ·
Yeap I think if it was timing that was messed up the valves would be making some awful bad noises.
 
#28 ·
Well the guy I was talking to at Napa today says he thinks its the distributer powerpack thing. What do you guys think!
 
#30 ·
He thinks the power pack is shorting out and causing the plug to fire when its not supposed to.
 
#31 ·
Stupid question. But what the hell is a "distributer powerpack thing"? As far as I know, distributors haven't been used in production gas engines for well over 15 years if not longer. Do you mean the COILPACK assembly? And how would a spark plug firing when it's not supposed to, cause physical damage to the plug itself?:confused:

Someone else already posted a very good suggestion, which is to insert a borescope into the culprit cylinder to have a look/see before you tear it down.
 
#32 ·
lol thats funny m-chan68... I believe he means coil pack.. Hopefully? And like u said b4 he needs to check his timing marks pull the head and if he is hearing a tick I bet the timing jumped a tooth or so and the piston kissed the valve causing his ticking noise...
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top