2005 Ford Escape - 4Cyl Engine Mystery
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2005 Ford Escape - 4Cyl Engine Mystery
Hello, I have a 2005 Ford Escape with the 4cyl/5spd manual transmission that we purchased a few years ago. We got it as a running/driving car but was running rough (fuel related was the thought) and was priced accordingly (under $1k) We started replacing everything we could think of to fix the issue. Went through the fuel system, ignition system, all sensors, etc but nothing was working. We settled on it having a fuel/air mixture issue and replaced the air intake manifold. We noticed a lot of sealant around the rubber gaskets/cylinders so we assumed some air leak previously occurred. New/used air intake manifold and new rubber gaskets- no change to the rough running.
Side note: no check engine light had ever turned on.
Up to this point all the diagnostics/fixes were performed by my father. From this point I took over because the car had been sitting for awhile and I wanted to have an SUV. I quickly noticed cylinders 2/3 did not appear to be firing but new plugs/coils had been put in. From some online research I found that the computer controlling the engine ignition has been problematic for others so we replaced it with a new one from an online company based on the VIN number (came pre-programmed).All of a sudden check engine light came on and the cylinders seemed to all by firing. Unfortunately the engine was still running rough. At this point I started circling back to previous work and quickly gave up and took it to a shop. I went thru everything we did on it with the lead mechanic and he started by giving it a smoke test to check for leaks. What do you know - the air intake manifold appeared to be leaking quite a bit. We assumed warped intake manifold and ordered a brand new one. Installed new one and more air leaks!!! WTF. At this point we began questioning what engine we really had here and the mechanic settled on it being a 2.5L - 4cyl, not the original 2.3L. Apparently this is a common swap people do. They make an aftermarket intake manifold adapter plate to accommodate the slight difference in cylinder intake dimensions between the models. With the adapter plate the engine finally would idle nicely without dying - air/fuel mix was good - no more smoke test leaks. At this point there was an issue with low power. Another couple hours of diagnostics revealed the positioning of the crankshaft position sensor was causing the lack of power. The harmonic balancer/timing ring thing was in good shape. He adjusted the position sensor around and it now has enough power to drive normally.
Unfortunately the engine is still a bit "throaty/coughy" between 1500-3000rpm when revving and will jerk around a bit during normal driving when not accelerating and in that rpm range. Mechanic thinks it might need a new timing cover which doesn’t really make sense to me so I'm trying to see if anyone has any thoughts on how to proceed here. I've spent too much on it at the mechanic so I'd like to see if I can finish the job. My first thought is to figure out exactly which engine it is to make sure I buy the correct parts moving forward. It looks identical to the 2.3L from online photos so I think it’s the duratec 25 - 4cyl used in the new models. I can send photos if anyone wants to see it. Appreciate any help here!
Cheers - Nick
Side note: no check engine light had ever turned on.
Up to this point all the diagnostics/fixes were performed by my father. From this point I took over because the car had been sitting for awhile and I wanted to have an SUV. I quickly noticed cylinders 2/3 did not appear to be firing but new plugs/coils had been put in. From some online research I found that the computer controlling the engine ignition has been problematic for others so we replaced it with a new one from an online company based on the VIN number (came pre-programmed).All of a sudden check engine light came on and the cylinders seemed to all by firing. Unfortunately the engine was still running rough. At this point I started circling back to previous work and quickly gave up and took it to a shop. I went thru everything we did on it with the lead mechanic and he started by giving it a smoke test to check for leaks. What do you know - the air intake manifold appeared to be leaking quite a bit. We assumed warped intake manifold and ordered a brand new one. Installed new one and more air leaks!!! WTF. At this point we began questioning what engine we really had here and the mechanic settled on it being a 2.5L - 4cyl, not the original 2.3L. Apparently this is a common swap people do. They make an aftermarket intake manifold adapter plate to accommodate the slight difference in cylinder intake dimensions between the models. With the adapter plate the engine finally would idle nicely without dying - air/fuel mix was good - no more smoke test leaks. At this point there was an issue with low power. Another couple hours of diagnostics revealed the positioning of the crankshaft position sensor was causing the lack of power. The harmonic balancer/timing ring thing was in good shape. He adjusted the position sensor around and it now has enough power to drive normally.
Unfortunately the engine is still a bit "throaty/coughy" between 1500-3000rpm when revving and will jerk around a bit during normal driving when not accelerating and in that rpm range. Mechanic thinks it might need a new timing cover which doesn’t really make sense to me so I'm trying to see if anyone has any thoughts on how to proceed here. I've spent too much on it at the mechanic so I'd like to see if I can finish the job. My first thought is to figure out exactly which engine it is to make sure I buy the correct parts moving forward. It looks identical to the 2.3L from online photos so I think it’s the duratec 25 - 4cyl used in the new models. I can send photos if anyone wants to see it. Appreciate any help here!
Cheers - Nick
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