Hello everybody, My name is Riley, and I work at a christian conference center way up in the rockies in colorado. We were given an 88 ford f250 and I am having some trouble coming up with ideas on how to get this beauty running well without breaking our very limited bank. I am hoping to maybe pick a few of your brains and see what will happen. This truck has quite a few miles on it, but it fires up when you turn the key. It runs really rough, the first thing I did was replace the rotor, cap and spark plugs and wires. It seemed to run better, I sent someone into town to get some food for a group that was coming to stay and it flat out died on them in town. I checked obd1 codes today and it gave a 21 and a 24 code. There is oil in the coolant, and coolant in the oil, that is a known problem. There and rotted and chewed on vacuum lines but i am pretty sure I have mostly bypassed those problems with rubber plugs, and the good old spray some carb cleaner-see what happens method. It idles very rough, but not like a dead cylinder would, and when you open the throttle it revs really nice. It doesnt smoke a lot, it never doesnt start but sometimes it dies out after it runs a bit. Can I bypass the ACT and just replace the coolant temp sensor? Am I just going to gunk up a new coolant temp sensor if I replace it without dealing with the oil in coolant problem? Should I throw my hands in the air and craigslist it? Thank you for any help you give.

 

If you did not warm up the truck before running the Key On Engine Off tests you will get false Codes 21 and 24. If those were from Key On Engine Running (KOER) I suggest you go run the KOEO tests, after warming up the truck, to see if there are any codes there. Be aware when running the KOEO tests, there is a second part where the PCM displays any stored codes, i.e Continuous Memory.

The Manifold Absolute Pressure (MAP) sensor is a key feedback signal to the computer. Verify it i connected to manifold vacuum.

Sounds like you have a bad head gasket or cracked head issue since you have oil mixed with coolant.

 

Yeah, definitely a head problem, but im hoping to baby it as long as possible. I will try the KOER test tomorrow, and re-try the KOEO. Thank you for your help. Another question before I go, is there any chance that this truck, which is equipped with a plow, could have the oil cooler that is part of the radiator hose? I have only read about it, I do not know what it looks like or if an 88 can be equipped with the tow package...

 

If it has an oil cooler, it's the one that is in front of the radiator. No chance of cross-contamination because of it. Sorry dude.

 

Crap... Thank you anyways. Dang, not having good luck today, the walk in freezer went down too, had to move all the food. Oh well.