Hi everyone! My name is Haley and I'm new. I purchased my first ford last week. It is a 1996 ford E350 club wagon, 123,600 miles, all the service records from the previous owner, for $1200. It has brand new tires on it, and it will be used as my band's touring rig.

First thing is first, it's got a check engine light on, and was told it's a cylinder 1 misfire. It's hardly noticeable, but was told it's a bad exhaust valve. Knowing this, and knowing what it entales to fix it, I went ahead and purchased it anyways. I work at O'Reilly's and even if I go the route of new heads, they are $174 each from work. Not a big deal money wise, just time consuming.

Now, I took it to work to scan the CEL, and it wouldn't connect. I got out the fuse tester and checked them all, and even pushe in the lighter, and everything is good and working. So that leaves me to believe there's a problem in the harness to the plug. Any direction you guys can share? This is going to be my first venture into tracing wires. I can solder boards all day long, but haven't traced wires before.

 

First off....Welcome to the site and congratulations on the buy! Sounds like you have quite the plans ahead.

To even see if you have an exhaust valve issue, try this old trick. Take a nice $1 bill, or a $20 if you feel rich. Lol. And stick it up against the exhaust pipe while its running. If the bill moves away from the tailpipe constantly then there is nothing wrong with the valves. If it intermittently goes in and out, then there is an exhaust valve burnt/bent.

Next if you had a misfire, and it was hardly noticeable, try replacing the COP. Since its a new purchase, do a fresh tuneup with new spark plugs and boots. That may solve the misfire.

As for the scanner not working, assuming its the same as my last one I got from O'Reilly's, I had to replace the thing 3 times cause it kept messing up with that EXACT problem. Try a different scanner first. If the issue is still there then its time to assume there may be a short somewhere or some corrosion on a connector. The connector and the harness to it goes into the main harness, so its gonna be a lot to trace. But the wires are all the same colors, so go end to end and see if power runs through it.

As for which wires lead to where, its pretty specific on year to year. So it may have to be some research into some wiring diagrams.

Spend the extra couple bucks and get a Chiltons, your store carries them. They have EVERY wiring diagram you will need in there.

 

Thanks for the reply man . I did buy a chiltons, I also printed some diagrams of at work just to have easier access to them. I broke my power seat when checking the fuses. I moved it all the way back to get more room, checked all the fuses (which were all good) and then there was no movement or noise. Seat is now stuck all the way back. I'll have to get into that later this week, but I'm thinking either the plug from the switch got pulled out, or the big fuse under the hood gave. Anyways, I'll check that out later.

I got the full tune up a couple days ago, but won't be able to install it until Wednesday. I'm a busy girl unfortunately. It's a 5.8L so it has wires instead of COP, but I got new wires, cap, rotor, motorcraft plugs, and some seafoam.

Once I get the seat fixed.....I'll drive it down to an autozone to give their different branded scanner a try. I've had our scan tool not work on chevy's before, but work on other vehicles all day long. I hate electrical. Aside from this little mishap with the seat and obd2 plug, everything works on the van! My jeep that I own was a different story, but I was able to get that all buttoned up.

Thanks for the tip on the test with the $1. I'll give that a try right away. I was gonna do a compression check on it. Is this a pain too do? Space seems pretty limited, but I haven't taken a good look at the bay. I'm always off work when it's dark out.

 

Smart woman!

My favorite motor. And where do you intend on using the seafoam at?

I would not think it to be. Most Compression testers have a decent hose to them and it can extend in far enough for you to see on the inside of the van while you turn it over. Assuming you took the inside access off. Lol.

Sometimes the fuse will pop if the seat is pushed too far forward or back. As for Autozones scanner, I believe it is Actron.

I hear ya on the busy part. I take one day off work from these vans and everything goes to hell while I am gone.

 

Sea foam in the gas. Being a 35 gallon tank to a 16oz can, that should be diluted enough to not cause any problems if there is any buildup in the tank. And then again in the induction system. I'm not sure on the oil. I've don't sea foam there in my jeep, but I don't know this vehicle well enough.

 

I would not suggest it for the oil if you are unsure. Just a nice fresh oil change to a synthetic blend would probably be good enough.

That should be enough seafoam for the gas however.

I have found my Ford's enjoy Valvoline Synthetic Blend.

 

Good tip. Valvoline is my favorite oil...if we must choose. So I did the money trick and it just fluttered at the exhaust, didn't get sucked back at all. The service records state the heads were replaced once before, so I'm wondering if it not bad valves (which would be great).

The underhood power seat fuse was good, so I pulled the whole switch off the seat and will dissect it at work today while I'm bored. Like I said, I can solder. Fixed the headlight switch in my jeep doing that and saving myself $90. Anyways, the harness from the switch was really jammed between the tracks, and the plug was good and tight so I'm curious if that pulled the wires in the back of the switch. We'll find out. Now if only I could get that OBD plug working...

 

Valvoline is my personal favorite as well.

Fluttering is good! Typically if you have a bad valve, a knocking/tapping is the most common symptom. Sounds like the valves are good. Misfire is probably in the plug or wire.

You need to come over and do some soldering for me then. HAHA! That is my least favorite thing to do.

As for the OBD plug, the only other thing that I could think of if its not the connector or wires to it would be the brainbox is toasty. But if that is the case there would most likely be other odd and weird stuff happening. Lol. If it worked at all.

 

Well there is a tapping sound, and only on acceleration. I've heard people say that a leaking exhaust gasket can sound like a knock....but that's on jeep 4.0L lol. So on to the compression check I guess.

I pulled the seat switch and it's all good. I'll have to do a volt test on the harness plug. I wonder it that could also supply power to the OBD plug? Those are the only things that don't work, seat and plug. All gauges, lights, windows, and other accessories are good.

I'll get to the tune up on Wednesday as well as the rest of the tests. Then I can move on to detailing it and getting it spotless haha.

 

Tapping on acceleration can be an exhaust manifold leak from either the gasket on down to the downpipe.

 

Thought I would update. I'm not done with the tune up yet. I got all the boots and plugs off my 5.8L except #1 and #2 on that passenger side. Holy crap those two are gonna suck. Should I remove the belt and alternator and go in from the front, or go buy a second socket u-joint adapter and keep working from inside?

I was told the misfire was on cylinder 1, but not sure since the OBD plug ordeal. But when I pulled off the wire at #4 the underside of the boot at the 90 was totally deteriorated away, then the terminal pulled off the wire and stayed on the plug. So there's at least that haha. Then when I went to grab #3 with my wire puller, it chomped right through the boot and I barely use pressure. Good thing I'm changing those wires. The wires say Delphi on them. Original or aftermarket? I don't recall seeing a tune up done in the service records, but it had autolite coppers in there, so at least the plugs were done at some point. The plugs that I got out were all pretty good looking. At least not oil fouled or extra sooty. Gap seemed a little excessive and they were grey tipped, which I believe is an indicator of just being in there for too long?

I hot the air duct and hoses off, so tomorrow I'll be ready to do the compression test, cap, rotor, wires and plugs installed if I can get #1 and #2 out of there >:/

 

Thought I'd provide a little update. Tune up is done. Man was that a pain. Runs smoother. Cruise is working, you guys were right on that one. No indicator light, and it does engage after 35mph. Cleaned up on the inside. CEL is still on but I did find an EEC port to the right of the battery. DTC 327. EGR circuit. I wasn't entire sure how to operate it and didn't do the KOEO test right, and didn't do the cylinder balance nor KOER test. So I had a few error codes from doing it improperly. I'm gonna give it a go this afternoon again.

I have an intermittent no start issue that I think is the ignition switch. Replaced the battery (it did test bad) and the stater solenoid. Still didn't crank last night, but fired right up this morning. I'm also hoping the ticking sound is a bad exhaust gasket. It's only on acceleration and goes with the speed of the engine.

 

The tune ups are not easy. Lol.

As for the start issue, it didn't crank at all like there was no power?

And the ticking is most likely a leaky exhaust. Could be the gasket, could be the header.

 

Yeah I found out that it's a bad starter. The last time it happened I needed to go somewhere so I had my roommate give it a good wack with the old hammer and it started right up. It only happens when parked in the driveway (at an angle) but doesn't or hasn't happened yet when it's parked flat. So that will get replaced soon. Glad it's not the ignition switch.

I'll be taking it to a shop to have it looked at for the tick. I took a video, and the unanimous consensus is an exhaust leak, whether it's a gasket or crack manifold, that's what we'll find out. Having a buddy that owns a shop look it over later this week. I will hope its a gasket haha.