Hello I have been having a problem with my E-150 v6 with 73,000 Miles. It was running bad, would shake like most people post. I changed out the plugs, wires and coil and it helped a lot and runs much stronger and smooter. But about 10 miles later the SES light came back on. The van Sometimes jumps when at a red light like if i were to hit gas for a sec then lets off. One other thing I noticed was that the valve cover breather on the right rear valve cover was loose. Would this cause a vac leak? Do I need to buy the breather and the rubber grommet thats in the valve cover? I will take a closer look at the lines going from there and to an elbow that people say crack. What if I wanted to change all of the vac lines and that breather. Would anyone have the part number(s) or under what section of the parts to look at from ford motorcraft? I need to pass emissions, last time it failed with P0171 and P0174 I believe Left and Right banks lean and possable one other code I dont recall. Is it possable to pass emissions by resetting the computer/dc battery before going in to get hooked up to test? What way can I pass emissions?

Thanks, mehow

 

hi, yes i think that the valve breather will give a vacuum leak but i am unable to help with part numbers.
the elbow that disintegrates causes all sorts of running issues and it would pay to replace it along with the grommet and pipe.
sorry i cannot help with emission test etc.
good luck bokker.

 

If you have not already done so, search the 4.2 forum for "P0171". There is a lot of info here relating to the lean codes.
You are already on track regarding the grommet. Also check the 90 deg elbow underneath, near the front of the intake plenum, It is known to crack and leak.
Also, clogged EGR ports can cause lean codes. Here is a good write-up on that issue.
http://sites.google.com/site/fordf15...P0171P0174-Fix


Again, tons of info re: P0171/P0174 here in the 4.2 forum. Use 'search', and you should find lots of help.

re: parts and part numbers: Rock Auto (an FTE sponsor) has a nice parts breakdown system. RockAuto Auto Parts

Also, you can try: Buy Motorcraft Parts Online | Official Motorcraft Auto Parts Site | FordParts.com

 

Hello,

I just wanted to post a update. A few days ago I went through the van again. I took out the front intake tubes and rear motor cover to look for any vac leak. I did not find anything and could not find the 90* elbow. I did change the grommet to the pcv valve from the other side right behind the oil filler tube. Just a quick switcharoo. At the same time I reset the computer. I drove around yesterday and no light came on. I went in for emissions today and PASSED!!. So far no light ill let you know if anything comes up. I did notice a few oil leaks and the coolant looks dark. I plan on draining the coolant and will run water to clean the system before I refill. Ill keep you guys updated and thanks for the help.

Take care, mehow

 

hey man I've had this same problem for over 3 years and I changed out my entire ignition system until I finally realized it was a vacuum leak. The 90* elbow you are specking of is right underneath the inlet of the intake plenum and it is a pretty large sized elbow but mine was split. It goes to the Idle Air Control and it can cause this issue you are having. Take the breather tube off and look around directly under the IAC valve and under the plenum inlet and you should see it. I will prolly be eroded away or split. After you do that check for traces of a blown headgasket as well cause by that time is normally when the lower intake manifold gasket blows and causes hydrolock. You will see oil in the water resivore or milky stuff under the oil cap, or steam coming from the plug hole after it has ran hot, or white exhaust smoke.

 

Hello, it's me again with a update.

It seems the SES Service Engine Soon light came back on recently when it started to get cold outside. It was good for a few months and few thousand miles, when it seemed to run strong and get better fuel efficiency.

When starting the car first thing in the morning when its front is facing the slight uphill of the driveway the car starts up fairly quick. Later when I get to the shop its on a even or sometimes the front is downhill a little. And when I go to start she has to crank many more times to get started and sometimes it seems when it does first get started its only firing on a few cylinders for a few seconds then the other kick in.

When I get to a red light or stop sign and have the break on, it sometimes feels like the car wants to jump or trys to rev up(maybe down) a few times. If it was any stronger or my breaks weaker I would bump the guy in front of me. I sometimes also hear a ringing sound coming from under the car when I stop and sit. If I turn the gear to Nutral it can stop. In Drive it will come back. And will not always happen but I hear lots of times so far. The car may like to ride our gears longer as well.

I will have to get the car's computer tested at some place to get the codes. I think I might need to change the fuel filter(do I need a special tool for this?), and do a oil change soon. When I do that I will look around the vac lines and have to check my heater blower motor.

Any ideas or tips would be great, thanks.

- mehow

 

again i will put money on vacuum leak or idle air issue. Vacuum can cause poor idle and if no vacuum leaks, then a dirty throttle body or dirty IAC port or faulty IAC valve. MAF sensor could also be bad or dirty. Best bet is to check that PCV tube comming from the passenger valve cover. Yours probably goes to the back of your plenum. If not that then the evap line behind the throttle body underneath the mouth of the plenum. Those are both big areas that can cause an vacuum leak that bad. If not it could be a big leak at a smaller line somewhere. PM me if you would like further help with this

 

Thanks for your help everyone, Some more updates for you, and some pics to give you a idea of whats going on. Im at around 75,000miles now and still looking for the problem. I started to take her apart some more today, I was shocked at the amount of oil and stuff up in the intake area. I dont see the elbow can you guys take a look and see what i'm doing,. Im going to clean her up best I can tomorrow. Please post what I should do, or keep going, or burn it, or scrap the junk lol ;-/ just kidding. Its a good truck

Photo's Update 2/2/12
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.wewguild.com/E150/
Check the link for photos.

 

looking at that resivore tank it looks like u have a blown head gasket. It looks like theres oil in it. I didn't relize what year your van was, our intakes are different. All your connections seems to be ok looking but that seal around the lower intake and head area looks bad. I think you will need to pull the heads to see whats up. A way you can test for a blown head gasket there is a kit autozone/ other part stores sell that you can run your motor and do a chemical test to see if there is combustion gasses in your coolant. This will indicate a blown head gasket. A flashing CEL will indicate cylinder misfire as well. IDK man if not the head gasket then I would try this before anything else. Get a smoke machine, or a cigar, and take the brake booster line off the brake booster and blow the smoke into the intake manifold, and look for leaks. This is an easy way to find vacuum leaks. Or you can use soapy water while the engine is running. I know that plastic intake sometimes cracks.

*EDIT* I will also add with the oil around the seal of the upper intake manifold I would say the gasket there is bad and cause a vacuum leak. And a good way to get rid of that oil in the manifold is doing a pvc catch can, or deleting the pcv. What you do is put a water/oil sparator inline with the pcv hose going to the intake manifold and it will catch all the oil, and let the blow by gases get reburned without covering everything in the oil. But you have to obviously empty the catch can every once in a while.

 

I recently took the plastic parts of the intake off my 2001 F150 with a 4.2L V6, very much like yours. Be glad you have a van. The F150 made it very very hard to remove the intake.
You have much less oil on your intake than I did. Did you read that link posted farther back in the thread? https://sites.google.com/site/fordf150p0171p0174fix/
It has key information & pics that would help you do this job properly.
I cleaned the top half of my plastic plenum in a big wash tube with hot water and laundry detergent. Then I scrubbed it down with large scrub brush. Got the details with spray-on carb cleaner. It was a real oily and dirty mess. The bottom half I just used carb cleaner. The oil accumulation was discussed in the link I provided. I doubt you have a head gasket problem, this is more likely a design flaw in the intake plenum.
If you remove the intake manifold plenum, you should replace the gaskets for the plenum & the gaskets are each intake, Felpro MS94452. While you are in there, you should also replace all the intake manifold isolator bolts, Dorman 55164. Both these bits of advice are from Ford. Defective gaskets & isolator bolts will cause a vacuum leak.
You have not mentioned what your SES codes, if any, actually are at this point in time. This bit is important.
You will need a special tool to replace your fuel filter. See this thread: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...etc-lines.html

 

This is why the pcv delete or bipass is a good thing to do on our vehicles. Also don't go guessing around do the preliminary checks to see what the problem is. Clean the MAF sensor first, easy possible fix. (with the proper cleaner and no touching the sensor!), try that smoke trick, if no luck then try head gasket detection kit, if no luck then then just replace the lower and upper intake manifold gaskets. If no luck after all that then i'd go pay the 75 bucks for a diagnosis.