Hello everyone,
I really appreciated your comments, so here it goes:

I bought 1996 F150 XLT 4x4 back in July in Maryland. I live in Virginia, so it took me more than 45min to drove it home, on the highway & city routes. To register, I have to go through the the Safety & Emission VA inspections, so I did. For safety inspection to pass, I had to replace the drums & shoes, and so I did. For Emission, the gentleman at the service station told me that it's not ready to inspect, and I had to drive it around more, both highway & city routes for a day or two, then bring it back. So I did. But twice I drove & brought it back, still it was not ready! Again, I drove on highway, above 55mph for more than 20min, and countless miles in stop & go traffics. Still, for the third time I brought it back, it's still not ready!

On the Emission Report, following items are consistently Not Ready:
- Catalyst
- O2 Sensor
- HO2 Sensor
- EGR System

Other symptoms: Low MPG, around 6-8MPG. Hesitate/sluggish when accelerate. To overcome the hesitation & jerking, I have to press down hard on the acceleration pedal.

My question: is there anything that I can inspect or check, perhaps something got disconnected or bad parts, which I can try to replace/fix myself to make it ... ready? I am not a mechanic, but I can handle some simple stuffs like changing drums, brake shoes/pads, oils, filters, etc. and have a DMM.

Thanks in advance.

 

ok how bout motor and trans and is anything been done to it?

 

You need to pull the codes and check fuel pressure both of which will require special tools but you should be able to borrow them from an autoparts store.

 

Thanks for responding, Blue924.9.

As far as I know, there is no visual evidence that the motor/engine or transmission have been modified. But again, I just bought this truck last month, and I have not poke around the engine/transmission much to know.

The seller told me that he put in Flowmaster, which explained for the loud and low resonant exhaust noise when traveling around 35MPH.

 

Thanks for responding, Conanski.

I have an Acton AutoScanner CP9575, and there is no code to read.
Can I perform fuel pressure using the same scanner tool?

 

So your scanner said "no codes set" or did it indicate that it can't read the codes?
Fuel pressure requires a gauge be attached to the fuel rail and the numbers you should see will depend on what motor you have, for 5.0 or 5.8 V8s it's 32-35psi at idle or when priming the pump before starting the motor, and 38-45psi with engine running and vacuum removed from the pressure regulator. Pressure should also hold at those values and not bleed off fast enough to be noticable over several hours. For the I6 pressures are 45psi running and 55-60psi max.

Also note that there should not be any fuel escaping from the regulator and if pressure drops immediately when the pumps stop you either have one or more injectors stuck open or have a crossflow problem with one of the gas tanks.

 

Hello Conanski,
The scanner said "No code set". Thanks for the clarification.

I will try to see if I can borrow/rent the fuel gauge from Advance Auto Parts this weekend. Thanks.

 

Ly, you probably have a plugged Cat, check the exhaust for rotten-egg smell, that would cause most of the problems you described.

 

Thanks, Encho.
Will sniff the exhaust when I get home today (that does not sound right!)

I don't recall of noticing that smell, however I did smell gasoline when I idling the truck in the driveway. I chalked it down for cold engine at that time, but now as I remember, that gasoline smell did not go away after idling for 5min.

 

Mine with a 5.0 acts exactly like yours does. Due to job and family i cant fix it right now so mines in a trusted shop. I'll report what they tell me, maybe it'll help.

 

I'm confused? I live in VA and have never had an emissions inspection. And I actually had the mechanic from the shop I take mine to come to my garage and help me delete all the emissions off my truck!

 

Do you own a 25yrs old truck, Big_Red_Brute?
Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles

 

It's a 1990 model. It will be 25 in 2 more years!

 

Don't have to have Emissions Inspection for your 1990 truck in Virginia; how did you swing that? Oh ... I got it now, it's running on 4 jacks, right?

 

Hahaha. Actually I've never had an emissions inspection on any of my vehicles. That's why I'm wondering why you do?