Hi folks. Started having an issue with my '92 E-350 box truck. I noticed a slight hesitation while driving which I thought was a miss from perhaps a plug wire jumping or something. It didn't do it all the time, just occasionally for a few seconds then would clear up. I looked for a bad wire at night but couldn't find anything so I said hell with it and changed plugs and wires, cap and all.

That didn't fix the problem. Progressively the problem has gotten worse. Then I started hearing a pinging, almost tapping noise as the truck was stumbling. Now I've noticed that the motor seems to be running fine as it does it which has led me to think it may be in the trans.

A little background on the trans. About 6 months ago the van started randomly conking itself out coming to a stop after a few minutes of driving. It seemed the trans was bogging the motor down as if it were locked together. If I put the truck in neutral coming to a stop it wouldn't do it. I went ahead and had my uncles shop flush the trans and he put some sort of synthetic fluid in it.

Since then the van has never done the cutting off thing again. All seemed well. Then this started. It does it from take off through all the gears even in OD. It almost feels as if someone is rapidly hitting the brakes. I thought maybe malfunctioning brakes however soon as I'm not pressing the accelerator it doesn't do it.

Today I had about 4000 lbs of wood in truck and it was a horrible trip. The truck would barely get up to speed. I unloaded the wood and on the way home it only seemed to do it going up hills so it seems any load on the truck makes it happen.

Does it seem I'm in the right area thinking transmission?? Being it happens in every gear would a torque converter seem to be a possibility. When I was having the cutting off problem I was told it sounded like the converter wasn't unlocking but the flush seemed to fix that issue.

I haven't pulled the pan to see if there's any surprises in it and I did the diagnostic check and there wasn't any problems found. Any other manual diagnostic checks you guys could think of would be helpful before I go dumping a bunch of money in this truck, which I need to make said money so.... You guys know the drill. Thanks a bunch.

 

I don't think it's the transmission. You're describing an engine miss.

 

I'm running the same rig, '92 E350 cube van, w/351W, only I upgraded to the '94 roller cam when I replaced the engine year-and a half ago.

The way your describing the stalling at a full stop, would be a problem with the TPS, the RPM's get so low when your stopping, and the TPS is not sending the correct signal to the ECU to adjust fuel volume and the engine stalls, putting it in neutral at a stop, takes the load off the engine, and runs the RPM's up again.

Also, with a full load in the back, the pinging your hearing probably is the engine running lean.

Here's a Link to testing the many sensors on our rigs.

Most of the sensors will not show up on the OBDI scanner, ole school, ya know.

One note, if you go with a new TPS, get the MOTORCRAFT CX1228
Rockauto has them for $43.89
I first bought one at Autozone, and had to replace it 6 months later, and then it was not working right again......so I op'ped for the real thing

It's not an easy replacement, it's mounted on the bottom of the Throttle Body, and the TB has to be removed from the upper air intake to change it.

Another thing you might want to check, is the ECU.
After all, these vans are 24 years old ya know......
Pull the ECU out from the front engine bay, and open the case, and check the capacitors inside, if there leaking green junk, either replace the capacitors or replace the ECU with a re-man unit, that is an over seen problem that causes many engine running problems. There are some write up on here how to do both above items.

 

" changed plugs and wires, cap and all."

coil and TFI are all that's left (well, except the PIP sensor). jim

 

Ok. So I was trying to retrieve my codes all wrong. So this morning I went out and did it how I was recommended to and here's what I got.

KOEO
328
Continuous
172
173
326
328
452
628
634

KOER
328

Seems this 328 may have something to do with it. Any suggestions?

 

here is some info about knock sensor codes. Just above the register to ask a question, you can click on a couple of the other codes you have related to the knock sensor
http://www.obd-codes.com/p0328

 

annaleigh listed OBD-II codes, that wouldn't work on this.

You'll need the OBD-I (EEC-IV)codes - Link

328
EGR Valve Position Sensor Closed Valve Voltage Lower Than Expected
C/O/R

Pointing to a problem with the EGR - Dirty/plugged EGR valve? Vacuum line disconnected?


Also, this engine will not have a Knock Senor on it.
And No MAF sensor either.

 

Thanks for the correction Wildman

 

I agree with the need to read the codes, however from what he is describing the engine is under a massive ignition advance with the throttle pressed. From what I remember of the OBD-I electronics, there was only TPS, tach, and transmisision gear input signals that would tell the computer to advance the timing for load. I doubt that it is the tach or the trans gear signal as that would give him issues at all times of driving, not just load. The TPS going bad would send erroneous signals to the computer, either less or more (usually more) load than what the engine is actually seeing resulting in massive engine timing advance (the pinging noise). The "hitting the brakes" feeling is possibly caused the by TPS as well if it is sending a "flatline" signal to the computer, but (assuming distributor-less because I can't remember what year they started) the tach could do this as well since the computer would think the engine has stalled and kill ignition signal. However, if he does have a distributor, then all symptoms point to a TPS, or (very highly unlikely) a computer failure.

Hope this helps Floor guy

 

Yes, this engine has a Distributor, up to 1995.

'96 was the change year and the 5.4 "re-placement" engine for the E-series.