Important Safety Notice

WARNING: This page is about a different car, the 2006 Mercury Mariner and 2006 Ford Escape. However, it is still accessible from the selected car via links, so may be relevant.

Appropriate repair methods and procedures are essential for the safe, reliable operation of all motor vehicles, as well as the personal safety of the individual doing the work. This article provides general directions for repairing vehicles with tested, effective techniques. Following them will help ensure reliability. There are numerous variations in procedures, techniques, tools, and parts for repairing vehicles, as well as in the skill of the individual doing the work. This article cannot possibly anticipate all such variations and provide advice or cautions as to each. Accordingly, anyone who departs from the instructions provided in this article must first establish that they compromise neither their personal safety nor the vehicle integrity by their choice of methods, tools, or parts.

NOTE: Canada and some states or metropolitan areas in the United States require periodic emission, or I/M tests. All Ford products are designed to pass these tests. If a Ford product fails an I/M test, it is probably because 1) the engine or catalyst temperature was not warm and stabilized before the test, or 2) the vehicle had idled excessively before the test.

If any new emission components are installed, carry out the following steps before repeating the I/M test procedure:

Reset the keep alive memory (KAM). Refer to RESETTING THE KEEP ALIVE MEMORY (KAM) .
To relearn some basic adaptive learning (trim) values, run the engine at 2,500 RPM for 1 minute and idle the engine for 2 minutes.

Fig 1: Exhaust Gas Analysis Chart

Courtesy of FORD MOTOR CO.

Verifying an Excessive Grams Per Mile (GPM) Indication Using a Parts Per Million (PPM) Reading.

For vehicle gas reading(s) that are excessive, compare the actual GPM reading to the gas cutpoint level needed to pass testing. This gives an indication of how much the PPM reading has to be reduced (if the actual reading is twice the cutpoint, the baseline reading has to be cut in half or more).

Example:

The actual HC produced by a vehicle was 1.6 gpm. The cutpoint for HC in this example is 0.8 gpm. The actual reading is twice the cutpoint.
The HC reading obtained for the same vehicle during the baseline drive averages 440 ppm. In order for this vehicle to pass the I/M test, the HC reading from the verification trip must be at least half of the baseline reading, or an average of 220 ppm or less.
This method only gives a general idea of how much the PPM reading needs to be reduced in order for the vehicle to pass an I/M test that calculates GPM. This test is not exact. Experience still has to be used to determine if the emission readings are reduced enough for the vehicle to pass the I/M test.