Misfire after overheating...

[johnsmellsalot]

I got a call today at work from a friend. He said his cousin's truck was leaking coolant. I went over to his house after work to see where and it was a plastic tee on the heater hose. I went to AutoZone and O' Reilly's but they didn't have it. So I went to Lowes and found something similar in the plumbing section. It was a brass tee. I'm not sure what it's used for. I put it on and went for a test drive and it started misfiring. I don't think it's the spark plugs or coil pack because it was running just fine before all the coolant leaked out. I'm thinking that he warped the cylinder heads when he let it overheat and it blew a head gasket. The exhaust also had a sweet smell. The same smell my car had when it blew a head gasket.

I told him that he should take it to a mechanic to have it diagnosed.

I also want to mention that a month ago, he called me because he kept adding coolant to the resevoir but it kept going down. I came over to fill the radiator and bleed the system. He said that it would overheat at stop lights but would cool off after he got moving. I said that the radiator should only be topped off by the resevoir but if it's empty, fill up the radiator first.

BTW it took me over 3 hours to find the parts.

 

[bdcardinal]

I would guess head gasket as well. Without proper combustion chamber sealing, there will be no compression, causing misfires. What type of truck is this?

 

[oilboy123]

Smell coming out the exhaust sounds like head gasket for sure.

 

[johnsmellsalot]

It's a 2002 Ford Ranger 3.0 liter.
Originally Posted By: oilboy123
Smell coming out the exhaust sounds like head gasket for sure.

 

[01rangerxl]

A plastic tee on the heater hose sounds like the heater control valve. That shouldn't cause misfiring though. I am betting the truck was overheated and there is head damage.

 

[johnsmellsalot]

The 2 heater hoses had a tee going to the PCV valve. I don't know why Ford would do that. I've never seen that before. I found a picture of the PCV valve on Google. http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/996692-pcv-valve-connected-to-water-pump.html After reading that forum, I guess it's to keep the PCV valve from freezing in cold weather. Anyways that tee broke and let the coolant leak out. That's probably why the radiator was empty in the first place.

 

[johnsmellsalot]

It wasn't a valve.
Originally Posted By: 01rangerxl
A plastic tee on the heater hose sounds like the heater control valve. That shouldn't cause misfiring though. I am betting the truck was overheated and there is head damage.

 

[01rangerxl]

Yeah, it uses a heated PCV valve. It's pretty unusual for that piece to break. It would have had to have leaked a long time to run out of coolant.

 

[The_Eric]

Did you leak some coolant on the plug wires while changing the tee?

 

[Trav]

This is an all iron engine except for the intake so blowing a head gasket isn't as likely or easy as on an engine using dissimilar metals for the block and head.

Find the offending cylinder(s) and remove the plugs and wires, wash the wire end off with distilled water and dry, clean or replace the plug as it maybe fouled from misfiring.
Look for any electrical connections nearby they may have taken a bath in coolant, disconnect and flush with distilled water and blow dry.
I use distilled water as some tap water is high in minerals and can also cause problems later.

I have no idea about that "T" or if that part has anything to do with the PCV but if its connected to the PCV it may have leaked internally also sucking coolant into the cylinders as it was running.

 

[01rangerxl]

The fitting he is talking about just wraps around the top of the PCV valve to warm it.

Is the truck throwing any codes?

 

[johnsmellsalot]

Ya there's a check engine light but that's all I saw. All of the shops were closed after I got that peice in there.

 

[Trav]

Probably a P030X for misfire, this should be pretty straight forward.

 

[johnsmellsalot]

Just took the car to AutoZone today to see what codes there were. The entire right side of the engine was misfiring. That's all the info I need. There's no doubt that it's a head gasket. I told him it won't hurt to have it pressure tested, but I wouldn't bother.

 

[Lyman]

My Daughter had the same thing happen to her Ranger. She got it a little hot with a stuck thermostat and it blew a head gasket. She told me that as soon as the check engine light came on she pulled off the road. It was to late. She traded hers in.