Help me fix my Kidnapper Van!

I can scrawl "MOBILE MAMMOGRAPHY UNIT" across the side of this thing and pack it full of as much duct tape as I'll ever need, but it does me no good if I can't stand on the gas and leave the scene at anything over 15 mph.

It's a '97 E150 with a 4.6L and it's completely awesome. Love the van, it's a perfect work vehicle for my junkyarding adventures and the occasional on-site car-fixin' I do... (So yeah, you'd think I would be able to figure this out by myself. And I might, but I just got it, haven't had much chance to troubleshoot, and I don't have much experience with this engine.)

I'm just looking for insight from someone who knows more about modular Ford engines than I do. Common things that fail, what to check first, etc. The obvious things I have checked or am going to check - fuel pressure, blocked cats, plugs, etc.

Here's what it's doing:

It starts and idles fine. It cruises around fine, even on the highway, but it accelerates very poorly, especially from a stop. If I'm trying to leave a red light and there's any kind of a hill, I'm going to get honked at. It's almost like it's trying to take off in the wrong gear, although I don't think that's what's happening. It struggles and misses under load at low RPMs, but only under load. It really doesn't have a hell of a lot of power at higher RPMs either. Seems like it doesn't rev as high as it should. Throttle response is not good, but it's not really acting like it's a MAP sensor or TPS, although I haven't checked either of those yet.

What I have checked... Plugs are new. I suspected bad cats at first because it certainly acts like it, but I've ruled that out too. Oil looks good, coolant looks good, air filter is fine. Exhaust looks and smells normal. I pulled the O2 sensors and they are white, but I don't think that's unusual. They aren't sooty anyway, so I don't think it's running rich. It could be lean though.

What I'm going to check next... There is no check engine light, although I presume that doesn't mean there are no stored codes, so I'm going to read them. Going to check the fuel pressure and flow rate today. I will pull a plug and look at it also. I will Ohm test the plug wires, and the TPS.

If none of that provides a clue, where do the wise people of the MMB suggest I look next?

The last thing I want to do is just start throwing parts at it until it works. I hate being in that situation and so does my wallet, but if I don't get anywhere with the checks I've mentioned above, I may hit the junkyard and grab some coil packs, sensors, etc...

 

May want to check fuel pressure. FTE has good info and a great site on Ford trucks and vans, engines too! Hard to get away from putting it on computer,,,

 

Also try cleaning the MAF sensor. You can clean it with brake parts cleaner. Be careful removing it and cleaning it. you'll need security torx bits. Do NOT touch the elements with anything. Lightly spray brake parts from a distance (not full blast) until the elements look like little wires or springs again. If they look like fuzzy caterpillars when you pull it out, there's a good chance it's the problem. I only know this because I had the exact same problem on a 1995 4.6 and it didn't throw a code either.

 

I just checked the fuel pressure and flow rate, and they are within spec. Computer... Yeah, I ordered a USB to OBD2 cable and some software last week, so I should have diagnostic capability with a laptop pretty soon, although I'm going to keep messing with it in the meantime. There's no check engine light showing currently though.

That is a good idea and I'll check that out as soon as I can.


I just came back from my lunch break and did a little checking while I was out. Found and fixed a vacuum leak, but that didn't help. Also sprayed a little water on the coil packs and ignition wires while it was running. I saw at least one wire arc against the valve cover when I did that, just above the spark plug boot. So I know I've got at least one bad plug wire.

It's just such a puzzle to me that I've got all this misfiring going on and probably a lean or rich condition and yet no check engine light.

I'll replace the plug wires and look at the MAF next...

 

Pull the 2 O2 sensors in front of the cats and see if your acceleration improves...If it does...Plugged cats for sure.(doesnt really explain the missfire though)
Does the CK eng light come on when you turn the key on??? If not,bulb is probably burnt out.
Also...You can unplug the MAF (This will trip the Ck eng light)and idle it rev it up in park...If it revs up fine...Maf may be bad. If no change...Not Maf related..
These engines are notorious for eating coil packs on the COP (coil on plug) set ups.
IIRC...The 97 is not COP set up. Pull the plug wires off the coil packs and look for rusty terminals in the towers...This is a sign of a failing coil pack.
The 4.6 in the Expeditions had a problem with spitting out the cam followers but this caused rough Idle AND poor driveability and was basically a problem confined to cold climate areas.
Sometimes just scrubbing out the throttle body will elleviate many driveability problems. Shine a light in it and crack the trottle open (with engine off) and see if its dirty/carboned up looking...If so scrub it out with a toothbrush and a good carb cleaner. You can ignore the little sticker on it that says "Do not use cleaning solvents on throttle bore"(If its still there) Its got a 100k plus on it the "special coating" (snake oil) is long gone. Hope this helps you out a bit. Good luck!!!

PS: Load it with candy and stuffed animals. You only need a few rolls of duct tape...

 

Did that. No change. Well, other than it sounded like a helicopter.

Heh. Funny story there. I'll get to that later.

I took the MAF off to clean it, (shockingly, it was very clean. Like the cleanest thing on the whole van) and it did not rev up fine. Didn't rev at all, died several times.

You are correct. It has only two coil packs. The terminals look good...

Yikes. I hope not. This has always been a southern vehicle as far as I know.

Haven't cleaned out the throttle body yet, but I will. The snake oil is likely to be missing at 349,000 I'd say.

I find that I really don't need to waste any effort actually having candy in the van...

 

I have an 87 E150. Great thing.

 

Indeed. Bigass vans are awesome, and the older the better.



...Now, that check engine light. Uh, yeah, the bulb must be bad. All the things I've done to troubleshoot it should have lit that thing up, but no. When Mavman72 reminded me that the light is supposed to come on when the key is turned, I knew something was up. I decided to take it to Autozone and let them scan it. Transcript follows:

Me: Hey sir, feel like reading some OBD codes for me?

Wise Old Gray-Bearded Manager Guy: Sure, just let me get this phone...

Me: Cool, I'll meet you outside.

...

Me: Yeah, it's this ugly old beast!

WOGBMG: Ok, I'll just plug this in here, now turn the key annnd....

WOGBMG:

Me: I knew it! I knew it had some codes! Damn check light must be out! So can you print those for me? You can charge me extra for the paper if you need to.

WOGBMG: Yeah, it's got a few codes. Umm... Fifteen of 'em.

Me:

...We go back inside, he downloads the codes to print, and soon his machine is spitting out paper like a skee-ball machine at Chuck E Cheese's.

Me: So, what vehicle can you recall coming in here with the most codes yet still driving under its own power? Surely I've got to at least be a runner-up...

WOGBMG: Oh, you win, definitely.

Me: So can I get my picture on the wall?

WOGBMG: Unfortunately we don't do that.

Me: You should...


Here are the interesting ones:

P1714 Shift solenoid #1 failure (Might be fixed- I found a harness unplugged from the trans.)

P0720 Speed sensor (Kinda odd, speedometer works. Also see above.

P0401 EGR System Fault

P1401 DPFE sensor (EGR pressure sensor fault- This had a vacuum leak which I fixed)

P0774, P0171 Fuel trim bank 1 and 2, lean or rich condition

P1151 Lack of O2 switches (probably happened during testing)

P1132 Bank 1 rich (Stuck EGR?)

P0301, P0304, P0307, P0308 Misfires on various cylinders. (not all of them, strangely)


I have disconnected the battery overnight hoping to clear these. If that doesn't work I'll go down to O'Reilly and they'll let me borrow their scanner. I'll clear the codes with that. I need to get rid of 'em because I have no idea how many of these I've already fixed, or how many I may have caused myself fooling around with it.

After I've cleared it, I'll drive it around some more and read them again. hopefully I'll narrow it down that way. If all fifteen codes come back though, I will be looking for a 302 and a C4!

 

Thats a lot of codes.

 

P0301, P0304, P0307, P0308 Misfires on various cylinders. (not all of them, strangely)

Hmm I know on my ford truck with the 4.6 I had codes for misfiring so I replaced the plugs, ran fine for a day or two then right back at it again..so I replaced the wires, same thing ran fine for a day or two the right back at it again...hmm pulled plug wire from no. 4 cylinder and the end of the wire was damp!! went and got some of the dielectric grease and coated all of the wire ends before I put them back on and that solved the problem with misfires. I can't tell you how the moisture got there but it was on quite a few wires and changing the plugs one time and then the wires another time allowed it to dry out in both cases resulting in a good running engine for a day or two.
Now if I could only figure out this blasted 1990 Mazda 626 I have.........

 

Yeah... I'm hoping most of them are invalid at this point. During the course of troubleshooting I plugged a disconnected harness back into the trans, fixed a vacuum leak, pulled the O2 sensors and the MAF... I did several thing that might have both caused and resolved some of these codes. So I'm hoping they'll clear since the battery's been disconnected all night, then I'll drive it around some more and scan again.

Definitely something to think about. I'll be changing out the wires since I know at least one of them is bad, and I'll use dielectric grease when I do.

 

Since I have several codes that could be caused by malfunctioning EGR, I decided to take the EGR valve off and have a look. Man it is nasty. It still opens and closes, diaphragm is good. There's no flow past it when the vacuum is off and it does flow when it's open, but it's caked up good with carbon deposits. I'm cleaning it now, gonna see if that helps.

 

Alright! I'm down to just one code. P1714, shift solenoid failure. It's apparently not starting in first gear, which explains a lot. It is otherwise running pretty well now.

Time to hit the junkyard...

 

I have junkyard solenoids. I have the pan dropped. I have extra quarts of trans fluid.

It begins...

 

...aaaand I have all four gears!

But now third gear slips!

The other gears are fine. This did not happen until I opened it up. Maybe it it doesn't like nice new fluid?

Oh well. No codes. The engine runs fine. I'll do a little more reading. Maybe I'll pour some kind of magic mechanic-in-a-bottle in the trans and see what happens.