The reason I think it is the egr purge solenoid is from what the alldata sites says for DTC27 QDMB fault DTC 27 will set when QDMB Fault line: Is "High" for 20 seconds or more tcc is commanded "On" (My car is a stick, so this does not apply) Battery voltage is greater then 10.5 volts Action taken: The Malfunction Lamp (MIL) will illuminate, and the cooling fan will enable. DTC test description: Check to see if DTC27 was set as a result of the EVAP canister purge solenoid valve circuit Check tcc operation Check intergrity of EGR circuit up to the solenoid. So from what I can see, it looks like the purge solenoid becuase when I had the tech 1, I did test the EGR solenoid (I had an old stored EGR code) I also tested both the A/C fan relay and the engine fan relay and I was able to start stop the fan from the tech 1. I did not test the purge solenoid because at the time, I did not know what DTC27 ment. Provided the freezing rain stops when I get home, I am going to swap cars around and pull it into the garage and check that purge solenoid. The thing that I can't understand, is why did GM have the cooling fan come on for an EGR system fault? Static

An O2 sensor heater circuit fault can trigger a MIL in a single trip. Unlike other systems such as the evaporative emissions, or catalyst which require two fail trips to light the MIL. So it's likely that you did repair the vehicle. Next time when faced with an O2 heater. Test for power to the sensor heater circuit, key on, engine off, and then test for power to it key on, engine running. Different manufacturers use varying strategies, so you have to test both ways. Once power to it is confirmed, then test for power coming back out of the sensor. First you will only see p[ower coming back out of the heater circuit "IF" the hbeater is good, and the computer is not grounding it at the time you are testing. To find out if the computer is attempting to control the heater circuit, unplug the sesnor, and connect a testlight from the power connection of the vehicle harness to the ground connection for the heater. You will get one of the following. No light, which could be the computer is not turning the sensor heater on, or cannot turn the heater on because of a computer or wiring fault. You could have a steady or a blinking lamp indicating the computer is turning the heater on successfully. This is a quick overview. Proper understanding of the circuit, and it's operation combined with proper testing take all of the guess work out of fixing cars. One test I left out is actually measuring the heater circuit current draw, and commanding the computer to turn the heater on to allow that to happen with a scan tool.

First time back on line in a long while. Finally bought a new computer (Sony Vaio) Hopefully I didn't miss too much! I don't particularly pay too much attention to CR, although sometimes I find myself browsing through their magazines while shopping around at the store just out of curiosity. Their good and bad bets are pretty much the same as they were in previous years. I find Carsurvey.com and Epinions.com to be more valuable. I have a 1996 Honda Accord with the 4-cylinder, 223,000 miles and just keeps on trucking. I've had to service it as I would with any other car, but it's never given me any unexpected problems on the road or failed to start one morning. The engine still retains most of it's original major components (such as the alternator, AC compressor, starter, PS pump, master cylinder, etc.) which is truly amazing in my opinion. I am a strong believer in preventive maintenance and upkeep, and I'm sure that has had something to do with my car's reliability... but I've definitely only had to do the very basics to keep it so. Also have a 2001 Pontiac Trans Am, which CR listed as unreliable. Currently have 56,000 miles and haven't done squat to it except change the oil/filters, brakes, tires and light bulbs. Absolutely nothing else. Had a pretty good experience with a 97 Mercury Cougar also(V8 model) The transmission and intake manifold were the only weak links in this otherwise solid car...but my transmission and manifold had already been replaced before I bought the car used with 90,000 miles. Sold it with a little over 150,000 miles.

We had a similar symptom on a Audi (aka oversize VW). We downloaded the error codes, and had a mechanic look them up in the service manaul. The error code said it was the "Ignition". Further reading suggested that there's a "Hall effect" sensor in the distributor - for all modern vehicles. This solid state device frequently becomes temperature sensitive when it gets old. It will quit working when the car is running. On some vehicles (VW/Audi, anyway) the engine keeps running, using a backup system of some sort, but then won't start if you stop it. I guess it's OK to drive yourself to an unsafe place, and then get stranded. On other cars, when the Hall Effect sensor quits, the engine stops. On our VW, I bought a rebuilt distributor for $125 (the sensor was not available separately) and spent ten minutes installing it. I've had the intermittent start problem also on a Chevrolet Chevette (1979) and it was also a Hall Effect sensor problem. In that case, the sensor was also not available separately; the rebuilt distributor was $600. But, before spending big bucks, definitely download the computer diagnostics. By Federal Law, this is something you can do on your own without any test equipment. Every car does it differently. In the case of the VW/Audi, you short together two wires (different location per vehicle), then turn on the ignition, without starting the car. After 4-10 seconds, remove the short circuit. Then watch the "check engine" light. It starts blinking, you count the blinks. I don't know the procedure for your Ford, but there must be one. If it's an electronic problem, this is the surest way to check into it. Ask the Ford dealer how to "get the diagnostic codes" for it. Again, by law, they are required to provide this information. When GM first put computers in cars in the 1970s, they attempted to "force" you into using the dealership for maintenance, and the Feds declared that to be illegal, which is why now it is possible, for all cars, to get the diagnostic codes without needing a piece of test equipment. In the case of our VW, I had to wait for the "no start" condition to appear, then run the diagnostics, because the system would not remember error codes after ignition shut-off. WCB