First post here.

My 1995 Ford E250 van is acting up, so I figured I'd check in here to see if anyone maybe has "crossed this bridge" before.

1995 Ford E250 extended cargo van, 5.8L EFI V-8, E4OD trans. 250k miles. I've owned for the last 15 years and put about 200k miles on it, and it's been damn near bulletproof. Don't drive it that much anymore and usually just around town, but still use it to haul the occasional motorcycle, bags of mulch, etc.

Went to start it the other day and the battery was very low. Hadn't driven it for several weeks so that wasn't a total surprise. Charged the battery, van started fine. Let it warm up a bit, shifted into Drive, and the van moved very slow. Decided to pull into the drive and take a look and it *barely* made it up the hill into the drive. RPMs not racing like the trans is slipping, but just like the van's not making any power. Everything under the hood looks fine; trans fluid is red and not burnt smelling.

Next day, go to start it and it just cranks, no fire. Hmmmmm. Figure it must be the fuel pump. Use some starting fluid to test my theory, and the thing not only fires on starting fluid, but keeps on running. Shut it down, starts right back up. Put in reverse, van moves fine. Shift into drive, however, and it's right back to barely moving.

Went out to start yesterday, and the same thing -- just cranks.

Not being a believer of coincidence when it comes to things mechanical, I'm not buying that the transmission and fuel pump failed at the exact same time.

Anybody had similar symptoms with their Ford van?

Doing some surfing, it looks like perhaps the MPLS switch could cause these symptoms. Anybody messed around with that before?

I'm a pretty fair mechanic -- I love working on motorcycles, but I'm not a big fan of working on cars. Unfortunately, my local and trusted independent mechanic closed his shop, and most everyone else who sees a 250k van says "yep, she needs a new tranny" without even turning the key. So I'd like to do some troubleshooting before tossing it to the wolves.

Thanks in advance.

 

I've messed around with the MLPS a lot. If it has a problem the engine won't crank when you turn the key. If the engine cranks but doesn't start that eliminates the MLPS as the source of the problem.

I have seen exactly what you have. It was a bad battery. Charging didn't fix it, a new battery did fix it.

 

Thanks Mark -- especially for the MPLS clarification.

The battery load tests good and will crank the van for quite some time. If it weren't for the running okay in reverse issue, I'd think it was simply a clogged fuel filter or a dying fuel pump. If the pump wasn't such a PITA to replace I'd just do it so I had a known good part.

 

Try shifting into 2nd gear and see if it has more power if so I would replace the MLPS. You might have some sticking valves in the tranny. You indeed may have 2 separate things going on but I would start with the starting issue first.

The only time I had a similar issue was in reverse, it was the front pump in the trans.