Service Engine Soon Light
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New User
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 1
Likes: 0
From: IL
Service Engine Soon Light
About two weeks ago we had a wet snow fall over night and when I left for work in the morning I got about 5 miles from home and the engine started to miss when under load and the Service Engine soon started flashing. When I left off the gas, the light went out until I went up a hill or pulled out into traffic, then would go back to steady. I had the same thing happen on the way home that evening until I was about 10 miles from home (38 mile commute each way) and hasn't missfired again since.
I am leaning towards plug wires as my 99 E-150 is almost to 60,000 miles along with the symptoms. If I change the plug wires and the problem goes away, how do I eliminate the light or will it eventually go away on it's own.
Thanks
I am leaning towards plug wires as my 99 E-150 is almost to 60,000 miles along with the symptoms. If I change the plug wires and the problem goes away, how do I eliminate the light or will it eventually go away on it's own.
Thanks
Senior User
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 326
Likes: 0
From: Southwest
Service Engine Soon Light
Ok a miss can be caused by either the crankshaft or camshaft position sensors. There is no camshaft driven distributor anymore. It's all electronic. If these sensors become fouled or start to fail you will experience a intermittent miss for a few weeks and then you'll be walking. I would try Autozone or your local Ford dealer and see if they can scan it for ya. Changing the sensors is pretty easy, anybody can do it. As for clearing the light with OBDII there is a back up battery in the computer that will keep the codes for a while. Best way I have found to clear them is by removing the battery cables from the battery and then taping them together for 15 minutes using electrical tape. That will remove any capacitance and wipe the computers memory. Your van will be in learning mode for a few miles so go easy on it. Let me know if I can help some more. Bob
