Morning Everyone!

I've got a 2011 Ecoboost (135,000 km - 84.000 miles) with some issues. Replaced my plugs in September '16. My ECM passed away in December '16. I threw a mis-fire code in a couple of cylinders. Limped the truck home, did a bunch of my own diagnostics, then to the dealership for diagnostics. At the time they told me it was leaking injectors, I'd found (old school jumping the plug to the block) that there was no spark. So, the dealer thanked me, replaced the ECM and it ran fine.

Sometime in February of this year I threw a P0430. I didn't think much of it because the truck still ran good, had lots of power, etc. Flash forward to June when I take the truck for a 1000 km weekend with my trailer (only 3500 lbs) to a family reunion. Get 30 L/100km (7.8 mpg) which is the worst I've ever had. Pull in to the campsite and notice a raw fuel smell in my exhaust, and a TON of carbon on my exhaust tip. Pulled the plugs, checked them out and all looked good.

I sent the trailer home with a friend, cleared the code and drove home. Made it over 400 km before it went again. Mileage was good the whole way. I tested the temperature delta between pre-cat and post cat. Confirming that the drivers side Cat wasn't doing anything. So I ordered new cats and new O2 sensors. Replaced those about 2 weeks ago and have been getting the code again, every 20-30 miles of driving since, clearing it each time. So I've looked, don't see an exhaust leak, thought it may be incomplete combustion so I swapped plugs and coils from bank 2 over to bank 1 as a test. I've tried resetting the ECM by removing power for a whole day... no joy.

Other things I've considered:
1) Leaking Injectors - Don't know how to test
2) Existing Carbon has already gummed up my new O2 sensors
3) New Cat falls outside the parameters set by Ford for efficiency
4) Haven't had an oil change since the last issue. Still have 31%. May have damaged the oil a bit
5) Have actually damaged the cylinder walls/ring and not getting enough full fire.

I'm already almost $3,000 into this truck in less than a year on repairs. It seems like that's early for the cat to die, so something else is actually wrong. If I can't figure it out I'm thinking of clearing the code and trading it in.

Would love some thoughts because I can't really afford another $45,000 towards a new truck but I don't want to throw money into a pit either.

 

P0430 - Catalyst System Efficiency Below Threshold (Bank 2)

Description: This DTC sets when the bank 2 catalyst system efficiency is below the acceptable threshold.


Possible Causes:

• Use of leaded fuel
• Damaged heated oxygen sensor (HO2S)
• Out of range engine coolant temperature (ECT) sensor
• High fuel pressure.
• Damaged exhaust manifold
• Damaged catalytic converter
• Oil contamination
• Cylinder misfiring
• Downstream HO2S wires incorrectly connected
• Damaged exhaust system pipe
• Damaged muffler/tailpipe assembly
• Retarded spark timing
• Leaking fuel injector

Diagnostic Aids: Under normal closed loop fuel conditions, high efficiency catalysts have oxygen storage which reduces the frequency and amplitude of the downstream HO2S as compared with an upstream HO2S signal. As catalyst efficiency deteriorates, its ability to store oxygen declines and the downstream HO2S signal has an increased amplitude and frequency, approaching the amplitude and frequency of the upstream HO2S.

For vehicles with universal HO2S, the PCM compares the signal line length of the downstream HO2S to an expected signal line length of the downstream HO2S with a deteriorated catalytic converter.
For all others, the signal line lengths of the downstream HO2S are compared against the signal line lengths of the upstream HO2S.


Gonna have to take it in for diagnostics.
.

 

Would the stretching timing chain issue that the Ecoboosts have potentially cause it?

 

That I couldn't say.
.

 

Did you figure this out ?