Gang,

My '05 Finder has 154,200+ miles on it now and every couple of weeks I get a new problem. Here is what I'm facing now:
-P0340 Camshaft position sensor, Bank 1: new sensors on order and I will replace next week
-P1217 Engine overtemp: coolant 1.5 gallons low; drain, flush, replaced. monitoring levels
-- Why did I loose 1.5 gallons of coolant in 1 yr? Previous forum thread, and will start digging into diagnosis
-P0420 Cat. Syst. Efficiency Below Threshold, Bank 1: persistent problem. I replaced the cats around 110K miles. I just
reset/clear the codes and press on. Probably not the best course of action, but...I have not done any in-depth
troubleshooting and don't want to replace cats again. Hoping it is a sensor replacement.
-Mystery oil leak(s): sides and bottom of engine have oil residue.
-- Frequent monitoring of levels, add oil if necessary, change oil and filter at about 3-4000 miles. Not running synthetic.
-- Awaiting valve cover gasket replacement (mechanic diagnosed). Going to attempt myself
-- I think there are other leaks. Yep, I should get on top of that too, but...
-Exhaust has noticeable fuel smell in cooler temps, but no white smoke
- Interior heat/cooling takes often takes some setting "tinkering" to get the right temp to flow from the vents,
especially getting the heat going on cold days
-New AT tires installed at 151K miles. Probably the most valuable thing on the truck right now, after the Thule roof rack
-Body has some dents, dings, scratches and paint peeling all over thanks to Florida sun and I actually take the truck off
road in some gnarly areas during hunting season
Given the symptoms, are they related? Maybe head gasket replacement?
Last time at the my mechanic for service, the list of recommend repairs exceeded the vehicle value, so I did some of their recommended jobs on my own, like replace front wheel bearings and tie rods and bought new new tires. Still awaiting valve cover job, see above. The mechanic did not delve into the cat problem though. I am not a mechanic, but will reluctantly attempt some jobs if I can find enough good YouTube videos, have access to the tools and TIME.

estimated retail of the truck is $23-5000. I seriously doubt I can get the top end value.
Is it time to give up on my Finder?

Sounds like your vehicle doesn't have any sentimental value, so yes. Time to break up!

I don't think it's too bad. My opinions embedded.

RogueFinder wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 27, 2020 9:56 am

Gang,

My '05 Finder has 154,200+ miles on it now and every couple of weeks I get a new problem. Here is what I'm facing now:
-P0340 Camshaft position sensor, Bank 1: new sensors on order and I will replace next week

Probably what it is, and not too hard to fix.

-P1217 Engine overtemp: coolant 1.5 gallons low; drain, flush, replaced. monitoring levels
-- Why did I loose 1.5 gallons of coolant in 1 yr? Previous forum thread, and will start digging into diagnosis

My long term cuplrit (twice) was the radiator. Can also be a leak in the rear cooling loop somewhere. Can be cut and replaced with radiator hose, among other things. I would go through with a bright flash light end to end and look for green, crusty stuff. FWIW my OEM radiator was partially clogged (who knows what the previous owner did with it...fleet vehicle status). That can be a part of it. I was losing ridiculous amounts of coolant from the failing metal-to-plastic interface. I want to say it was like a gallon or so a month sometimes. Ridiculous! No such problems now, but the truck will burp a small amount over time that has to be monitored (just the way these systems work with a relief valve in the reservoir cap).

-P0420 Cat. Syst. Efficiency Below Threshold, Bank 1: persistent problem. I replaced the cats around 110K miles. I just
reset/clear the codes and press on. Probably not the best course of action, but...I have not done any in-depth
troubleshooting and don't want to replace cats again. Hoping it is a sensor replacement.

Did you replace your spark plugs at 100,000 miles? Can be time again. If you have not replaced your plugs, then it's definitely a likely part of the problem if not the problem. When I got that code, I got lucky. I was at around 80-90% of the 100,000 miles and one was a little eroded. Code never came back. There is a standard pattern for troubleshooting this code on all vehicles and it starts with at least inspecting the plugs, where you can catch the problem before your cats go. So...maybe not so bad.

-Mystery oil leak(s): sides and bottom of engine have oil residue.
-- Frequent monitoring of levels, add oil if necessary, change oil and filter at about 3-4000 miles. Not running synthetic.
-- Awaiting valve cover gasket replacement (mechanic diagnosed). Going to attempt myself
-- I think there are other leaks. Yep, I should get on top of that too, but...

Almost certainly the valve covers. My engine is super messy because of this...I have the new covers sitting three feet from me right now but I've been putting it off, mostly because it's not hurting anything (just dirty). If you have a leak down low around your oil filter and down to your pan, or all over your front differential, there is an O ring in the cooler behind the filter that is super easy to replace. If you had the timing chain replacement work done, then you might have gotten some bad RTV jobs or somesuch somewhere. But otherwise, not many sources of leaks except those stupid covers.

-Exhaust has noticeable fuel smell in cooler temps, but no white smoke

I would start with plugs again? And work my way through.

- Interior heat/cooling takes often takes some setting "tinkering" to get the right temp to flow from the vents,
especially getting the heat going on cold days

This almost certainly means coolant leak somewhere. If it's in the front too, it's really low or sucking somewhere. Again, my radiator was the cause of this behavior, where I had to constantly "burp" the rear loop by running the gas at neutral with full heat selected, while pointing uphill on an incline.

-New AT tires installed at 151K miles. Probably the most valuable thing on the truck right now, after the Thule roof rack
-Body has some dents, dings, scratches and paint peeling all over thanks to Florida sun and I actually take the truck off
road in some gnarly areas during hunting season

That one's just kind of a question of what you can live with And maybe how much you want to work on fixing it. My truck mostly lives in doors, and has one little corner where I slapped paint on it because it would be expensive to fix what it was, and I only care so much for a 15 year old vehicle. If my truck were worse, this is something that would make me look for something else.

Given the symptoms, are they related? Maybe head gasket replacement?

Hard to say if you are not seeing other signs. If you are in Florida and not going up and down hills, the cooling system will work adequately at low level, while moving along (I unfortunately know this). If your truck has not been repetitively overheated (code keeps coming back, dummy gauge indicates it), I don't think we've heard of many or any head gasket replacements.

If you want to give the truck a chance, I would at least do the plugs and whatnot for the exhaust code, then really look at the full coolant loop to see what you might have to get into. Could be, you need the following:

- New plugs for less than $100
- New radiator for $150 plus work (easy to do if you have space to do it though)
- A potential cut-and-replace job in a rear coolant line (a shop could probably do this for you for $300 with actual metal kits and whatnot...I am contemplating doing it with heater hose and stainless steel bands like some other people instead if and when it comes to it).

So...maybe not so bad, if those things come out okay.

Update on my 15-year-old Finder
I have it for sale by owner.
I changed the plugs, valve cover seals, temp sensor, thermostat, cam shaft position sensors and couple of lines and hoses that cracked during maintenance. Also did a drain, flush and burp of cooling system. I did not find any visible signs of leaks while doing the above maintenance.
I am still having cooling problems - runs hot, temp gauge rising the longer you drive it. Found the electric cooling fan wasn't working when I ran the IPDM active check. Looking into that, hoping it is relay replacement. and rear heat still not working.

I will continue to troubleshoot and investigate with all the tips forum members have provided while awaiting a buyer. That said, any recommendations for price "allowance" should I allow in negotiating with a new buyer if I can't get it sorted out before selling it? I am going to be honest with any buyer about the coolant requires monitoring and probably some future work.

Thank you for all your help so far
TC

Have you done a compression test to rule out the headgasket? I understand you've flushed out the coolant system and replaced certain cooling components(and no chocolate milk found), but I'd try to rule out the headgasket next anyway just to be sure.

You seem to be having some heat issues, have you just tried to somehow flush or clean your heater core? Maybe clogged or something? I think all this is perhaps related to your overheating. Maybe the circulation is being squeezed and choked somewhere.

Silverarrow27,

Will look into the heater core, thank you--tried rear heat today, no joy! front heat good.

Hoping not to go near the head gasket
Tc

i had a slow coolant leak cause by a failing o-ring on the water pump. There is a passage right behind the AC compressor where any coolant that gets by the first o-ring on the pump will travel and leak out the block. If you see any coolant on the driver side of the block or on the lower suspension components on that side this is were I would look first. After replacing the water pump it's been rock solid.