I just got back from a short five day trip to Vancouver Island (Port Alberni, Long Beach, etc) with my girlfriend and her two kids and the hound (Frankie). We used her car, a 2001 Ford Taurus wagon with the Duratec DOHC 3.0 engine. Nice car, however...

The Check Engine Light came on, and stayed on. How do I access the codes on this thing? Is there a "paperclip" trick (as with the Fiero)?

Also, it sounds like the clutch bearings (or something along those lines) on the A/C compressor are self destructing. What a racket!

I'll be googling this, but just in case anyone has any advice to offer, I thought I'd ask here. Thanks.

If an OBD II scanner needs to be used to retrieve the codes, can anyone recommend an inexpensive one to use?

Gary, it appears that an OBD II reader is required to access the codes on a Ford. Apparently some of the better units also have a way of "diagnosing" the problem (as opposed to simply displaying a code number).

Anyone have any advice on these units? I suppose it wouldn't hurt for me to buy one, as I believe they'll work on most cars made since (and including) 1996.

beken wrote: I have a scangauge II in my MINI...

Ken, so I take it that this Scangauge II is mounted and connected full-time in the MINI then? Do you find it beneficial to be used in this manner?

beken wrote: I mounted it with velcro for the case where somebody has a car problem and I can just pull it out and use it. But have never had to so I'm a bit rusty in know what to do. It looks like you just hook it up and wait for the scangauge to sync with the computer in your car.

When I get Anne's car mobile again, any chance we could plug your Scangauge II into her Taurus and pull the codes?

I said "when" I get her car mobile again because the very first time Anne went to use her car after we got back, the A/C compressor seems to have seized. (I haven't seen the car myself yet.) The single serpentine belt won't turn (or has snapped) and therefore nothing (alternator, water pump, power steering) works. We were very lucky we made it home from the Island!

Off to Pick-a-Part in the morning...

beken wrote: Yah...sure.   Let me know and pop on by. It shouldn't take 5 minutes to hook it up and see what codes have been thrown.

Thanks Ken, it might be a few days. It's going to depend how I make out with trying to replace the A/C compressor.

I finally got Anne's car functional again. I got an A/C compressor (with pulley and clutch) from Pick-a-Part and dropped it in.

Yeah, "dropped it in". If only it had actually been that easy!

Ken, I've sent you an email.

Thanks guys.

I still need to pull the codes to find out why the Check Engine Light is on. The car seems to run just fine, but...

Hate those Butts...lol

karnak wrote: did you put the AC compressor in backwards...?

It might've been easier to install that way!

What a miserable job, for something that really should've been quite simple.  

Ken, thanks for hooking your code reader up to Anne's Taurus.

The next time I'm by Anne's place I'll have my multimeter with me to take some readings off the battery and alternator.

beken wrote: When the rains come, the battery will drain rapidly.

Rain? What rain?

< Patrick looks out window >

What the heck ??!!!

beken wrote: Patrick wrote: ...The next time I'm by Anne's place I'll have my multimeter with me to take some readings off the battery and alternator. You should do it soon. If the battery is still actually holding a charge (it appears to be), it is putting out the wrong voltage.   When the rains come, the battery will drain rapidly.

Ken, I was able to get a reading from Anne's car on the weekend. Before I started it (after it had sat for 24 hours), the battery read something like 12.6 volts. After starting it, the reading was 14.4 volts. I suspect the battery and charging system are fine.

That's great, but now I've still got to figure out why her 2001 Taurus wagon with the 3.0 Duratec DOHC engine is throwing those codes.

Her engine runs fine, but it does do one odd thing. While it's sitting there idling smoothly in PARK, every couple of minutes or so, you'll hear this relatively loud "Bink!" sound. Just once. It's like a small hammer hitting a small anvil. No thud, just a metallic "Bink!". Happens a single time, until a couple minutes later.

Anne says it does this while she's driving as well, and that the engine shudders at the time of the sound. I'm not 100% sure she's experiencing the same thing as what I've observed. It's never done it while I've driven her car.

At first I thought it was possibly a valve kissing a piston, as it seems to me this is what it would sound like. But the engine runs fine, and it only happens once each time.

I'm now wondering if it's possible the ignition timing all of a sudden gets too far advanced just for a split second, and it's actually a single loud "Ping" I'm hearing before the ignition timing automatically backs off again.

I have no idea if this is even possible, but I know nothing about these engines and how they may or may not be controllled by their ECMs.

Want to borrow my scan-tool?

As for your ignition idea, it does fit the idea, and I know the modern Ford engines all run an ignition system that keeps on advancing until it detects knock, then backs off one degree. I don't think the last gen Tauri had them though... Could just be that the spark plugs are too hot a heat range. They'd get hot, pre-ignite the mixture, then cool off again. Just a guess, mind you.

beken wrote: The P1633 code just indicates low battery voltage.    The P0000 code means all the other sensors appear to be fine.

I might've found the problem and solution  http://www.allfordmustangs.com/forums/4-6l-tech/82577-obd-ii-codes-p1633-p0511-any-ideas-what-start.html - Here .

P1633 - Keep Alive Power Voltage Too Low Indicates that the Keep Alive Power (KAPWR) circuit has experienced a power interrupt. Possible causes: Open KAPWR circuit Damaged PCM Intermittent KAPWR Circuit KAPWR is supplies from fuse 21 - 5 amp in the Central junction box (interior fuse panel). It is hot at all times.

Had the same problem with my daily driver '05 Taurus with the flex fuel engine. Same a/c problem and the same codes. After wringing out the wiring with a multi-meter and coming up unfulfilled and highly frustrated, I googled the problem and ended up on this site. I read your thread and said to myself "could it really be that simple?" Ten minutes later, with a fresh fuse installed and the problem disappeared... thanks bud!

Seems to be too much of a coincidence that the people posting in that thread all had A/C compressor clutch problems (as did Anne's Taurus) immediately prior to throwing this code!

I'll be checking those fuses the next time I'm at Anne's place. Who knows, maybe this has something to do with that odd noise I reported as well (if it has something/anything to do with how the ECM/PCM controls things).

Romeo wrote: Want to borrow my scan-tool?

If fuse replacement doesn't solve this problem... Yes!

Thanks dude. 

Woo hoo!

I checked the fuses in Anne's Taurus and discovered that the 10A fuse for the A/C compressor clutch and the KAPWR circuit had indeed fried. Put in a new fuse and the Check Engine Light is gone!  

Seems like kind of a dumb idea to put the A/C compressor clutch and the "keep alive" power for the PCM/ECM on the same electrical circuit, but anyway, I now know about it. (I don't have the A/C compressor clutch connected electrically as the system needs to be re-charged, so I wasn't aware that the A/C compressor clutch wasn't getting any power and therefore hadn't suspected that any fuses had failed.)

It's too early to tell if this has also resolved the "Bink!" sound coming from the engine, but I'm hoping it was just an ignition timing issue caused by the PCM/ECM having to re-adjust and re-learn settings (including ignition timing) every time the car was turned off and then on.

I want to thank Ken again for putting his code reader on Anne's Taurus and pulling the codes so I at least knew where to start in regards to rectifiying the problem.

Patrick wrote: It's too early to tell if this has also resolved the "Bink!" sound coming from the engine, but I'm hoping it was just an ignition timing issue caused by the PCM/ECM having to re-adjust and re-learn settings (including ignition timing) every time the car was turned off and then on.

I'm delighted to report (after driving Anne's Taurus this past weekend) that the "Bink!" sound is indeed now gone!

I'd love to have this Ford 3.0L DOHC Duratec engine in a Fiero. It's 200 HP, with an aluminum block and heads, and four valves per cylinder. This engine really makes a full size Taurus wagon move. It would be a great upgrade in my '84 from a duke.

How dare you suggest such a transgression!

A Ford motor in a Fiero, you watch your tongue. The only Ford motor I would want to see in a Fiero is the new Scorpion diesel.

On topic though, if you like the Duratec, you should try and drive the SHO Taurus one day. Same motor, but it has a short ram and a long ram intake, so it builds torque, then swaps over and makes HP galore.

Romeo wrote: How dare you suggest such a transgression! A Ford motor in a Fiero, you watch your tongue.

Yeah, and I'm not even a Ford fan.

Anne's Taurus wagon even sounds good when I put my foot into the accelerator. Maybe I should autocross it one day.

Bah, still not as cool as the V6 and V8 SHO engines. Your pick between a 225HP V6 (7000RPM, 3.2L), or the 235HP V8 (7000RPM, 3.4L). Both feature the dual intakes that switch over at 3400RPM.

Yeah. There is a Cosworth/Yamaha V8 with as much displacement as the biggest stroker package for the Fiero.

Capt Fiero wrote: ...you would love the GM version of that motor.  The 3.4 DOHC motor, 7000 rpm shift points and well over 200hp.

Too bad the GM 3.4 DOHC still has a cast iron block.

I doubt I'll ever swap an "exotic" engine into a Fiero myself, but I imagine it would be great fun to drive a Fiero which has a lot of power.

Ken and Romeo you are both right.    The aluminum 2.8 blocks were amazing however they were never a production block.  You could buy them from the GM Performance Parts Division.  They were used heavily in the S10 Race Trucks.  The last one I know to exist belonged to Sean Hammit, the major A-SS Hat bastard that now runs the Real Fiero Tech website, which used to be called Pennocks Sucks . com as he was banned from Pennocks for being a rude childish SOB. 

I believe most of the 2.8 Alm blocks ended up being bored out to 2.9 liters and having custom steel sleeves.  The bare block weighed I believe just 40lbs.