1998 Ford Taurus
128000
3.0/6cy

My engine light has been on since Sat, I was told I have a mis fire in cylinder 1 and a 02 sensor showing a lean issue. The engine light has been on solid, no blinking no nothing. Then today I was stuck at a turn light for a long time. After a few minutes of sitting at the light the engine light started to blink, but then when I excellerated to go through the light it stopped and the rest of the trip no blinking, not even when I stopped at other lights and had to wait did it blink. My car is running fine except for at idle when you can tell there is a slight misfire. I am taking the car in Saturday to have that cylinder checked, but just wondered if that long time at the turn light (had to sit through two complete cycles) was the reason. I was also told that if the misfire was really bad your gas milage would go down and I am getting good gas milage.

What were the exact code numbers that were set?




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They said that it was telling them a misfire in the first cylinder and a O2 sensor showing a lean mix. My plan is having the mechanic who put in my new plugs and wires, a new cam shaft sensor and replaced a fuel injector look at the first cylinder. The place that hooked up to my car to get a reading said that the O2 sensor could be reading that way due to the misfire. I am just wondering why the service engine light blinked while at a long wait (idle) but only then and not while moving at higher RPM's. Can a misfire occur say at an idle but not when the engine is at higher RPM's when you are driving?

The blinking indicates severe misfire. I'd be more interested in the lean codes but I'd need to know which codes it set.




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I didn't get the code, I should have but they just let me know what was wrong. With a sever misfire, wouldn't you lose gas milage or feel it in your engine? Since it only blinked when I was at idle and stoped when I excellerated, would that indicate the misfire is worse when at idle? This may be a stupid question, but can a misfire only occur when you are at idle? Could it fire fine when you are excelerating? Could the lean thing mean that it's not getting enough gas, and when at idle it is struggling to get the fuel but when you speed up it is getting enough? This may be a stupid question, but I know nothing about cars, I am just surprised at how well this engine sounds and runs, especially gas milage wise with a misfire.


(This post was edited by indy4192 on Sep 15, 2009, 12:08 PM)

Code numbers have very specific meaning and there are many different ones to mean different things. If you are getting your info from one of those auto parts stores that read codes for free, their interpretation of the codes is pretty worthless to me because they have no clue. I need the code numbers to get an idea how serious your lean problem is and whether it could lead to misfire or not. Don't dwell on the misfire code because it could be caused by something else.




78 Corvette Pace Car For Sale-18k mi orig-Florida

First off, thank you alot for helping me on this. I had taken the car to a certified mechanic who has worked on my other cars in the past and done a good job. When I dropped it off, there was no light showing and they could find no codes. When I returned and started the car, the light came on. Even though they were closing, they brought out this suitcase size devise, plugged it into the thing under the steering wheel and after about 2-3 minutes let me know that it was reporting a misfire in the first cylinder and a 02 sensor showing lean. Since they were closing they couldn't do anymore. This sat. I am taking it to the mechanic who has done all the work on it. He put in new plugs and wires and changed out a bad fuel injector and installed a cam shaft sensor. I am going to have him do some checking, I was kinda just baffled by the blinking at the light in idle, and it stopping as soon as I excelerated. Again thank you for your help.

The code is a 0301. But what baffles me is the service engine light stays on constant. However are those rare occassions that I am in say the drive through line or at the bank or a very long stop light it will start to blink but will go back to solid as soon as I excellerate. Why is this?