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1987 - 1996 F150 & Larger F-Series Trucks 1987 - 1996 Ford F-150, F-250, F-350 and larger pickups - including the 1997 heavy-duty F250/F350+ trucks

check engine light on!!

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Old Aug 4, 2003 | 09:28 AM
  #1  
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check engine light on!!

hows it going out there! well i have a small problem with my 96' f-150 4x4. i have a 351w for the powerplant. well i put true dual exhaust on it, as well as hedman long tube headers. i welded in bungs for the O2 sensors on the headers, and i bought a little black from Jegs for the third o2 sensor that went behind the cat. but i am running no cats and only glass packs with 2.50 od. pipe. it sounds great but i cant get the check engine light to come off. I know the engine is running in the lean mode, and it runs great as well as sounds sweet! but i thought that box from Jegs was to make the check engine light stay off,(the box plugs in between the o2 sensor and wire harnes). I think it is from Jasper Electronics. If anyone has any imput on what to do let me know. thanks.
 
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Old Aug 4, 2003 | 02:39 PM
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check engine light on!!

usually it;s a lack of backpressure that causes the other os sensors (you have 3 right?) not to read correctly. Get you 2 hig flow cats, you'll be emissions legal and still have a nice sound.
 
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Old Aug 4, 2003 | 07:49 PM
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check engine light on!!

The HEGOs downstream of the cats are telling the EEC that there's too much HC (gasoline) in the exhaust, and the EEC is trying to pump more air into the cats to burn it off, but since you don't have any cats or air tubes, it's not working, so the EEC is informing you thru the CEL. It'll always be on until you put it back the way it should be. Cats don't diminish the engine's power or affect your gas mileage, so there's no reason to delete them. I agree with pfogle: put some cats on it.
 
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Old Aug 5, 2003 | 10:17 PM
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check engine light on!!

Well thanks for your imput, i am going to get some better mufflers, maybe some hooker or flowmaster. that should give me some more back pressure since the glasspacks dont at all. then if isnt going to get any better i might see about putting on some hight flow cats.
 
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Old Aug 5, 2003 | 10:30 PM
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check engine light on!!

I'm going to guess here that Hedman didn't exactly list your year (96) in the application guide for those headers. Since OBDII gets cranky when you don't tighten your gas cap enough, something like this ought to really make it angry.
 
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Old Aug 5, 2003 | 10:55 PM
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check engine light on!!

how far should your gas cap be tightened on a 92-96 f150 anyway??
 
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Old Aug 6, 2003 | 04:06 AM
  #7  
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check engine light on!!

yeah the hedman headers listed for 92-95. but i figured that i would make it work. i am happy that i put the headers on it. it has more power and i got 2 mpg more out of her. its just that check engine light is on. the thing runs great other than that one small problem. i have a K&N filter i am putting on next. I didnt want to spend the money on the kit, so i just measured up the mass air flow meter and made my own mount that bolted right up to it. the filter only costs like 30 some bucks from summit. so it was a cheap upgrade. I am wondering if anyone would know how to get around all the OBD 2 stuff. i am wondering if i can get a 95 computer and change a few things or not. If anyone knows just let me know, thanks.
 
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Old Aug 6, 2003 | 04:58 AM
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check engine light on!!

Rebel, tighten and turn 'till you hear 3 clicks.
 
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Old Aug 6, 2003 | 09:27 AM
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From: Illinois
check engine light on!!

i wonder if thats why my check engine light has been coming on, i usually just tighten 1 or 2. but maybe thats not it, cuz ive had the truck for 6 months and the light came on even before i bought it. oh well. thanks though
 
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Old Aug 6, 2003 | 09:30 AM
  #10  
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check engine light on!!

Hey 22mill, have you had the codes pulled? AutoZone will pull OBDII codes for free, then you can come back here with the codes.

Rebel, have you pulled the codes on your truck? Here's Steve83's guide to pulling the codes:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/s...hreadid=112293
 
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Old Aug 7, 2003 | 07:44 AM
  #11  
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check engine light on!!

yeah i have had the codes pulled, most of it was the o2 sensors, but there was one code for the manifold temp sensor. i am going to replace that unit once i get back in the states.
 
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Old Aug 10, 2003 | 09:20 PM
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check engine light on!!

That procedure won't work on a '96 (OBD-II).

The '92-95 exhaust is different from the '96 because OBD-II uses 3 HEGOs and EEC-IV only has 2 for 5.8L MAF and 1 for all others.
 
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Old Aug 10, 2003 | 09:57 PM
  #13  
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check engine light on!!

what wont work on a 96? sorry i am confused
 
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Old Aug 10, 2003 | 10:38 PM
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check engine light on!!

The thread bigric linked in his last post. It only applies to EEC-IV ('84-95 EFI) computers. Yours is an OBD-II, so you MUST have a scanner to pull codes. Most parts stores will do it free now.
 
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Old Aug 11, 2003 | 08:56 AM
  #15  
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check engine light on!!

Yeah, I just put the link to your article in there for the benefit of rebel_ford4x4 since his is EEC-IV.
 
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