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OK, so I just finished the infrared thermometer check on the Fusion.
Coolant temp at 180°F, fuel system in closed loop, and engine turning at about 2,700 RPM.
Inlet side reads 580° – 590°F outlet reads 620° – 640°
I’m condemning this cat as not working. At that kind of inlet temperature, I should be seeing at least 690° – 700° at the outlet. Right?
Fuel economy is dropping by the day now, and I’m getting more and more sulfur odor from the exhaust. I’ll be installing a new cat sometime next week.
Also worth your time to check the purge and vent solenoids. Briansmobile has a good video on that.
All you need to test them is a set of jumper wires. Pull them off the vehicle carefully and connect them to 12 volts DC (your car battery)
The purge solenoid is CLOSED when not energized. You should not be able to blow through it that way. Also try sucking a vacuum on it with your mouth. It shouldn’t leak down at all. When energized, it should give a little kick and open up. You should then be able to blow through it.
Your vent solenoid is OPEN when not energized, and CLOSED when energized. The process for checking it is the same.
These are the only two moving parts in this system. They have a tendency to not seal perfectly as they get old.
hope that helps.
With all that new rear brake hardware, it seems unlikely your problem would be in the rear. It doesn’t sound like anything out of the ordinary as far as the rear rotors. The cross hatching from the machined surface of the rotors should start to disappear fairly quickly. That’s probably what you’re seeing.
I know I have a tendency to feel funny about work I’ve just done and I definitely feel hypersensitive to noises and things after a job like that. If the brake pulsation was present BEFORE you did all that work and it is still there now, I’d say the signs point toward your front brakes.
If it worries you, safely lift the van, remove the front tires, remove one of the caliper pins on both sides, flip up the calipers and inspect the pads/ rotors. If theres still plenty of pad material and the rotors don’t have deep grooves (some grooving is OK) I say leave it be. No sense in replacing brake hardware over minor pulsation if it’s otherwise still OK.
Those vans are notorious for eating up front brakes. My folks had an 07 Caravan, and I regularly drive a 2013 caravan for work. The company van needed new front brakes at 37,000 miles, but it was driven hard in the city all the time.
Hope this helps.
Thanks. I just wanted someone else’s input to make sure I’m not overlooking something. That’s pretty much what I concluded, but my family and I have collectively put millions of miles on vehicles of all different makes and I’ve never come across this once. All our vehicles live lives into the 200,000 mile range and beyond. I guess we’ve just been fortunate. I’ve logged enough hours fixing thier Fords to know I don’t want one myself, ever.
I considered that. I scoured all kinds of online parts warehouses, and can’t find just the piston and rubber seals from Bosch. The whole caliper is available from Bosch, but I’m not paying what thy’re asking.
Thanks for replying so quickly. I replaced the water pump (cam driven, pain in the a##) and filled/bled the cooling system about a year ago, but I’ll do that and get back. I noticed the car was running slightly warmer than usual even when the fans were working but figured he new pump just had slightly different performance. Steam pockets would make sense.
Thanks again, and nice profile picture, BTW.
Sounds like a good place to start. I’ll give that a try and go from there. Car was also apparently in a minor accident at some point. I’ll check all the wiring I can get my hands on.
Thanks for replying,
I know that was bad, but I didn’t disconnect it on purpose. I wouldn’t do that to someone else’s car. After we moved it one afternoon, I popped the hood to look at a few things while the car was still running. I tugged on the battery cables to make sure they were tight, and didn’t expect the positive one was so far gone it would pop off completely in my hand. I put it back on after a second or two. By disconnected completely, I meant the positive terminal was removed completely and the car didn’t so much as stumble. Ground remained connected, but that is still bad I know. I should have stopped the engine before I touched the battery cables to begin with. I checked all the fuse blocks for popped fuses, and didn’t find any. After replacing the battery terminal clamp and going for that short drive until the battery light came back on, the car appeared to be unharmed.
Ill clean the battery and drop it off with some instructions to charge it and record test results. After that Ill have the alternator tested too.
Thanks again.
One more thing I’ve replaced on half a dozen of these vans is the metal pipe that extends from the bottom of the water pump to the lower radiator hose. It corrodes and starts to leak if you live anywhere near where they salt the roads in winter. It hides because the coolant just pools in the plastic splash guard that covers the crank pulley and accessories. Usually the radiator goes at about the same time, but My roommate who lives near Rochester NY went through three of them before we replaced the radiator.
The valley pan gasket also goes regardless of what you do. Most people opt not to fix it because it usually only leaks a tiny bit, or it pools on top of the gasket itself and just makes the car smelly after you get out and walk past the hood.
Its been a pretty good car for what it is. Ours was a rental fleet vehicle before we bought it, and Im VERY surprised at how well it has done for us.
Would you happen to know where I might find that part? I’ve scoured the internet and can only find parts from junkyard wrecks. I’m going to check the dealership but I’d bet my hat they only sell the whole pump assembly for $400+ I want to go down to the drag strip sometime and I just want to know that my fuel filter is clean.
Thanks!
Would you happen to know where I might find that part? I’ve scoured the internet and can only find parts from junkyard wrecks. I’m going to check the dealership but I’d bet my hat they only sell the whole pump assembly for $400+ I want to go down to the drag strip sometime and I just want to know that my fuel filter is clean.
Thanks!
Well you definitely have spark, so I suspect it is a fuel delivery issue. Start with the cheap parts. Change the fuel filter first, and if that fails, check or replace your fuel pump. I don’t think this is a fuel injector issue, but that may be worth looking into as well. There is also a chance you may have a bad electrical sensor somewhere, but if there is no OBDII code, then this is pretty unlikely. Good luck!
Well you definitely have spark, so I suspect it is a fuel delivery issue. Start with the cheap parts. Change the fuel filter first, and if that fails, check or replace your fuel pump. I don’t think this is a fuel injector issue, but that may be worth looking into as well. There is also a chance you may have a bad electrical sensor somewhere, but if there is no OBDII code, then this is pretty unlikely. Good luck!
Thanks for your suggestion! I really do appreciate it, but my problem is that most of the lug nut is now a pile of little shavings on my driveway, and there really is no way for the helical flutes to bite because the metal is very cheap and very soft. I started with a 19mm Bolt out, and am now down to 15mm. I have no interest in saving the wheel stud, and I planned on replacing it anyway because It’s taken a nasty beating with all the hammering and stuff. I think the next step is to drill the stud out so its as hollow as I can get it, then I can just break it off. If that doesn’t work, ill have someone cut it with a torch and find a junkyard alloy wheel. You definitely had a solution that would have worked though!
Thanks for your suggestion! I really do appreciate it, but my problem is that most of the lug nut is now a pile of little shavings on my driveway, and there really is no way for the helical flutes to bite because the metal is very cheap and very soft. I started with a 19mm Bolt out, and am now down to 15mm. I have no interest in saving the wheel stud, and I planned on replacing it anyway because It’s taken a nasty beating with all the hammering and stuff. I think the next step is to drill the stud out so its as hollow as I can get it, then I can just break it off. If that doesn’t work, ill have someone cut it with a torch and find a junkyard alloy wheel. You definitely had a solution that would have worked though!