1998 Ford Contour fuel delivery leak at engine

CCLNGTHR

MEMBER
1998 FORD CONTOUR
2.5L
V6
FWD
AUTOMATIC
157,000 MILES

Had P0301, P0300 misfires come up on computer with strong odor of fuel, mostly at the front of the engine by motor mount.

recent work included full gasket/seal repair on upper and lower intake manifold with injector seals replaced, about 1 month ago. Also found vacuum hoses broken at the time of repair, which also were repaired. Also replaced plugs and wires with new.

This fuel odor just started tonight and noticed engine hesitate heavily under WOT and strong odor of fuel at the time. Did not see fuel leaking at injectors from my observation at point of strong odor by cylinder 1 and 4 (very front of motor by passenger side of car). LTFT is 7 at bank 1 and 9.3 at bank 2, with STFT between -1, 3 and 3%. Could the fuel leak be at the point of stronger odor point, or could it start, by the fuel regulator and travel toward the point of area where it is strong? Do smell fuel by regulator, but it is stronger elsewhere. Any ideas before the top of the engine is removed a second time?

3 Replies

JACOBANDNICKOLAS

MECHANIC
109,755 POSTS

Have you checked to see if the regulator is working? Is there any fuel in the vacuum hose to the regulator?

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Tuesday, December 2nd, 2014 AT 5:26 AM

CCLNGTHR

MEMBER
4 POSTS

I thought about the regulator leaking, but have not checked it yet, wanted a second opinion before I looked into that. Last night, when the fuel odor was at its strongest, the engine did idle roughly, and I gave it gas, which it immediately smoothed out, I did a WOT soon after and the CEL flashed on me, which told me it was misfiring, which I assume it was flooded or leaning out too much. The point of the odor however, at its strongest level is not at the regulator, but at the other end of the rail, which I don't see a relief valve to hook up a pressure gauge to that (assuming there should be a Schrader valve there). Where would that be on the rail?

Before I tore apart the engine a month ago, it had a large vacuum leak at the LIM/UIM and vacuum lines at the back of the manifold and a PVC line at the bank 1 valve cover. After I fixed it, I did notice it was running way richer, but it was much smoother than before. At initial startup at that time, I idled roughly, but I thought there was carb cleaner in the combustion chamber.