Hello all, first post here. Been searching and reading this site for the past couple weeks and finally decided i needed to register.

I just purchased a 1992(sold as 93 and caused me problems in ordering parts) e250 van 5.8 351 with the E4OD. its old and ugly but i got it for a low price and im now wondering if any price was worth it.

THE ISSUES: first, the idle or lack of it. the thing would die without throttle in park and neutral almost immediately, would die quickly in park if not good and warmed up. then maybe it came to dying no matter what. anyway, took off the IACV, cleaned it, reinstalled, no improvement. so i tested the throttle position sensor. seemed to test bad. replaced, not fixed. purchased new IACV. installed, idles. high five for small victories.

CEL codes. i had a tps code, that lead me to replace it. that code then went away. had been getting the "not in park" code, think it was 654, that went away too but came back as a 634 in conjunction with a 452(something about vss), and what i assume is an unrelated 332. so, i removed, cleaned and reinstalled the vss, replaced the MLPS/neutral safety switch and as i type this the battery is currently removed(and on a charger) to clear the codes and see if anything has changed.

other fun things:
-the yellow Rear ABS light is on (no red brake light)
-the coolant temp gauge doesnt seem to work. ive seen it waver a bit at times, but never more than just below the operating range. usually sits at cold even when hot.
-airbag light flashes. i didnt even think there were airbags in this.
-no reverse lights
-blinker rapid-flashes while brake is depressed
-transmission had intermittent hard shifting, not wanting to shift up in D/OD
-a/c hard lines are broken off
-while dealing with the IACV/TPS i noticed an apparently unnecessary elbow at the EVAP purge solenoid, removed it. in later research i started reading about the canisters location and i am now under the impression that i might not have one, my solenoid line runs from up on the drivers side head area to the throttle body. i havent figured out if this is correct yet as most the info i find is from either f series or bronco.
-new and known good batteries drain while running. particularly, while at highwayish speeds i noticed the voltmeter would drop to around 10-11 while accelerating, then when i let off it would jump back up to the middle of the gauge. havent driven enough to see that again, but the batteries are dying very slowly as i work on it/test things in the driveway and around the block.
-oil pressure gauge didnt seem to be working, but after an oil change its mid-range now so im guessing it was just too low.

i just changed the tensioner pulley and belt, the last pulley was half eaten through and the belt was a matching sliver. surprised it got across town to the house.
did an oil change, when i picked it up the oil fill cap was sitting on the core support. as outlined above, i think that was a problem.

well i think that pretty much summarizes where im at now. ill be updating this as a reference to anyone who encounters similar problems (hard to troubleshoot with so much going on, i know) and if anyone has input or advice please let me know. this is my second ford and second automatic (89 ranger many years ago) and i dont really know what im dealing with.

 

Wow, sounds like a lot. Hope you're not into it too heavy. Firstly, you might want to start jotting down what you check and doing so you don't get to chasing your tail. Sounds like you need to find all vacuum leaks and ensure you clean all electrical connectors and establish good ground and have very good chassis grounds and your battery terminals and battery in good shape.
You need to get a vacuum gauge on that engine and you need to get a voltmeter on the battery while it's running to see if the alternator is charging or not. find any cracked hoses causing vacuum leaks.

 

Sorry forgot to put some things down here, I did test the alt while running, it checked out good. I've sprayed for vacuum and haven't found any leaks, but I haven't put gauges to it yet. I also meant to ask about grounds, I keep turning up bronco and f ground locations, where should my engine connect? The one from the battery -seems- good

Thanks for the reply, hard to find time to maintain this

 

You sure this van didn't get hit by lighting??? Almost sounds like it with the problems your finding.........

The ground from the battery to the engine is behind the alternator, very low on the block, you'll need to get to if from underneath.

One thing I found on these older vans, is the battery cables corrode inside the crimped on lead battery terminals, Cut the old lead connectors off, and replace them.
If the cable is black, not copper color, it's corroded.
This is one style of replacement -




Or this -





Bad connectors, bad grounds can cause lot's of problem, and easy to fix first.

If you have not found this link, save it for future testing, lots of valuable info in that link for this era vehicle.

On 2 mid '90's era van, I've had to splice into the back up light off the NSS to get the lights to work. Can't remember the wire color off hand, but ran a new lead from the NSS and tied into the back up lights wire at the rear.

Problem is, the van(s) are 25+ years old, the wire is corroding, the connectors are corroding, and you'll need to just by pass and run wires directly from the source to the correct location. I had to run stop/turn wires from under the dash to the left/right rear lights in my '94 cut-away to get them to work. Tracing down the old wiring, and many connectors is not worth it.

I'm running a '92 cut-away cube van now, that I got really cheap, with 104K on the clock, year after I got it, the E4OD was replace, and 6 months later, at 126K, I had to replace the 5.8 engine with a reman, too many problems with it to start with, what I put into it, its paid back on value and service for me.
Now I'm running a '05 E350 SD mini-cube that I got 6 months ago, and just turned 16K on it since.