First post and a long post.
I have a 2001 Tribute 6cl. I began having engine trouble about 2 months ago. Check engine light didnt come on for the longest time even though I could clearly hear the engine misfiring. Eventually the engine light came on flashing and then would go steady when we came to a stop. Had the computer read and it said cylinders 4 and 6 were misfiring. Being our only vehicle we still had to drive it around before we could address the misfire issue. I was taking it to work one day, we heard a pop and lost most if our power. The EGR was completely blown out.
So we parked her.
Over the past week, I've replaced all the plugs and coils also the blown EGR. Started her up, misfire has been resolved. She sounds like new again.
After some research i found the usual cause of a blown EGR is a blocked up catalytic. BUT here's where it gets interesting. The old EGR was spotless inside. Not even a shred of carbon. The engine side was clean as well. Also it was not throwing any codes at all for the catalytics. So do I drive it and run the risk of blowing the EGR again? (Or worse) or replace the Cats and should i replace all 3, just the two off the manifold or just the one closest to the EGR (firewall side)?