Check engine Light

Lets use this guide to see whats going on.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/checking-a-service-engine-soon-or-check-engine-light-on-or-flashing

Please run down this guide and report back.

You can check your codes for free. Post the number here so we can fix it.

Straight water won't cause the check engine light to come on. As far as the doing this, it is a cheap way of flushing dirt from the system. Keep in mind, water will boil before coolant.

You are not also having engine noise like a load knock by any chance? But look at the #1 ignition coil connector and fuel injector connector to see that it was not knocked loose by accident? If it looks ok remove the #1 coil and inspect the boot especially on the inside and look for carbon tracking. If you see the boot is bad you may be able to replace just the boot by itself without having to buy the whole coil. If it looks ok put coil back in but do not put the hold down bolt yet. Start the truck and gently pull up on the coil. Do not remove it out completely as you can get shocked and it hurts. If you hear a continouse popping sound then your coil is ok. If you hear nothing then your coil itself is bad. If all that is good remove the spark plug and inspect for damage around the ceramic. Beyonde this point you will need to take to have it diagnose. Other possibilities for misfire could be a bad injector, low compression due to bad valves or piston rings so you would need proper equipement to do the proper testing.

It could be many things. If the check engine light is on, there will be a trouble code stored in the computer. What I recommend it to take the car to a nationally recognized parts store and have them scan the computer for codes. The code will identify where the problem is coming from. Let me know what the code is and then I can better help you.

Joe

It may or may not reset. Take it to a nationally recognized parts store and have them scan the computer then ask them to reset the light. Most will do it for free.

Joe

No it shouldn't. What all was done for a tune up, what size engine do you have and I need you to do one more thing. Take the car to a nationally recognized parts store and have them scan the computer. I need to know what trouble codes are store in the computer. Most parts stores will scan it for free, so let me know what you find. Also, I would let the people who did the work know there is a problem, but wait until you tell me what the trouble codes are so I can tell you if it is something they did.

Joe

Fault codes never say to replace parts. If it was that simple, we wouldn't need mechanics. They only indicate the circuit or system that needs further diagnosis. There can be a corroded connector terminal, bare wire, emissions passage plugged with carbon, and lots of other causes for a code other than a bad sensor.

The white smoke indicates burning coolant. If the coolant level has been dropping in the reservoir, suspect a leaking head gasket. If the level is fine, you might be seeing normal condensation burning off when you start the engine. Regardless, the cause for the misfire should be diagnosed first. I suspect the codes you're getting are from the sensors reporting the results of that misfire, not causing them.

The codes indicate the circuit that needs to be diagnosed. After the diagnosis is when a part is replaced if that's what's needed. You're replacing parts before the cause of the problem is diagnosed. That's the most expensive and least effective way to fix a problem.

The oxygen sensor codes could mean that side of the engine is running lean. You don't replace the sensor just because you don't like the problem it reported. One thing to keep in mind is when you have a misfire it is due to loss of fuel, loss of spark, or loss of compression meaning an engine problem. The most common cause is loss of spark. That means unburned fuel and air go into the exhaust system where the oxygen sensor detects the unburned oxygen. You might smell the unburned fuel at the tail pipe but oxygen sensors don't detect fuel, just oxygen. Depending on the strategy of the Engine Computer, it might command more fuel to that side of the engine in response to thinking it's running lean. That will make your fuel mileage and engine performance even worse, and no matter how much extra fuel it adds, there will still always be that unburned oxygen getting detected.

Another common problem that only occurs on Ford trucks is a plugged EGR emissions tube. The passages become plugged with carbon. If the passage to one cylinder is plugged, only fresh air and fuel will go into that cylinder and it will be fine. As more and more passages to different cylinders become plugged, pretty soon all the exhaust gas is routed to the one remaining cylinder where its passage isn't plugged yet, and since there's so much exhaust gas going into it, there's no room for fresh air so that cylinder misfires. As far as the EGR tubes are concerned, the one going to the misfiring cylinder is the only one that isn't plugged.

Those are just a couple of examples of what can happen. As I mentioned previously, wiring problems are just as common as sensor problems. A bad sensor will be the cause of setting a fault code only about half of the time. Their purpose is to monitor specific aspects of the engine, and when they set a code because something is wrong with the way the engine is running, they're doing their job. Replacing them isn't going to help.

Absolutely take it back. They deserve the chance to check their work and correct any mistakes. There can also be other additional defective parts that didn't show up previously. Spark plugs are good for that but that's just one example. Depending on what they find, if a new part is bad or if they did something wrong, you should not be charged, but if some other part is bad it is perfectly legitimate to expect you to pay for it, but very often they will not charge you for the diagnosis and / or labor. There's nothing unethical about charging you for the labor if they didn't do anything wrong last time, after all, no one else works for free, but in the spirit of customer goodwill, and as a way of apologizing that you had to come back so soon, they will often overlook additional labor charges. It depends on the marketing mentality of the shop. Some want to squeeze as many dollars out of you now because they know you're never coming back, (typical GM dealership), and some build customer loyalty by charging more fairly so you come back often, (typical Chrysler dealership). Ford is in the middle of those two extremes.