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I kind of like the idea it being an "one year only" with the OBD2, no air pump and OBD2, thought at the beginning it would make life, easier without the emission crap .
Unless its because its in Germany, a 96 F250 was OBDI, only 96 F150/Bronco was OBD2, OBDI connector under hood, OBDII connector inside under dash.
The mechanic will perform a test to make sure, but the hard as a rock upper cooling hose and the bubbling water and the overheating while idling within seconds is a 99% indicator for me
You can always check the condition of the other fluids. milkshake oil/white smoke/steam would indicate head gasket blown.
Sooo the car sits on my mechanics yard and is waiting to be finished hopefully tomorrow!
The head gasket was blown just a little bit on the passenger side , fortunately there was no fluid in the motor itself, so „only“ the exhaust fumes entered the cooling canalss and caused the engine to overheat while idling in a very short time.
The engine looks worse than it is, i got the pistons checked and the mechnaic states that there is absolutely no need for new pistons now, so the lower end of the enigine will stay stock for now.
i just got the head back from the shopw, they were completely rebuild (only what was necessary).
the heads are smooth as hell, also the exhaust manifolds and the exhaust ports on the heads were smoothed out.
No leaks, good pressure, absolutely no show of any damage (with 207k miles running for 10 years on both gas and LPG).
Head rebuild for both heads was 450 USD for now, which i am really happy with!
I just decided to change the timing chain, so i bought a timing kit from Melings, a new Waterpump from Gates as the old one isnt the best anymore and a new fan clutch.
The Valve covers will probably be painted Ford Blue
All the manifolds and TB will get cleaned, sanded and than the assembly will be hopefully done by the end of next week.
I really hope that this (not planned) top end rebuild will solve my issues and that i can finally take it for a ride
I finally managed to get the car back from the mechanic.
The Cylinder heads were rebuilt. The Manifolds were grinded smooth and got a new gasket. The Manifold to pipe connection got fixed, the CATs are good and not stuck.
I also got a new water pump and a new timing kit.
Unfortunately, the above stated things did not fix my problems, not even close. My mechanic is at the end of his knowledge and does not know what to do next.
I now get the following codes:
P0155 - O2 Heater Circuit Bank 2 Sensor 1
P1132 - Lack of HO2S11 Switches - Sensor indicates Rich
P0174 - System too lean Bank 2
P0125 - Insufficient Coolant Temperature for closed loop Fuel Control
P0135 - O2 Sensor Heater Circuit Bank 1 Sensor 1
P0141 - O2 Sensor Heater Circuit Bank 1 Sensor 2
P0385 - Crankshaft Position Sensor B Circuit
I am really really angry and i would like to drive the car off a cliff.
After around 1.5 miles out of the mechanics shop, the car lacked power massively, i first thought maybe now my transmission is slipping... the enginge is shaking badly and as i opened the engine bay there was coolant sprayed over some of the engine bay...
There are several possibilities. You will have to do some trouble shooting.
Thoughts off the top of my head, and not necessarily in order.
1. If that many O2 codes, I would first suspect the MAF (Mass Air Flow) sensor failure. They do get dirty, and / or the heating element in them can fail, become high resistance throwing off the fuel strategy of the PCM.
2. Distributor. Is it installed correctly? And is the timing correct? Spark plugs as well - are they correct, dropped with broken / cracked porcelain, correct gap, etc etc.
3. Timing chain / gear. Was it installed correctly? It could be off one (possibly more) tooth. You will never get it timed correctly. Did the mechanic know how to time it correctly with the ‘spout’ removed? You will want to read up on that, it is very simple to do and check.
4. Where is the coolant coming from? Chase that down, and repair it first. As well as replace the coolant sensor, or maybe it was simply left unplugged by mistake, or a broken wire.
5. Check the heads. There is a chance the job was not done correctly, and there is (along with other issues) have low compression cylinders. Let’s hope not, and hope that part is done correctly. It is possible to do this job yourself in your driveway. Do a compression check. Coolant pressure check.
6. I would also be ensuring the valve train is working correctly, as well ensure you do not have a stuck / bent valve stem. You can remove valve covers (upper intake must be removed), remove the spark plugs, turn the engine over by hand and watch the valves to visually check if they are all moving.
7. Fuel pressure. Have the fuel pressures been checked with a mechanical gauge on the fuel manifold? Did it run poorly on both tanks?. Fuel filter, when was it last changed. Any chance someone put in diesel by mistake, smell the fuel.
8. Pull the spark plugs, see if there are any that are covered with black soot, oily, possibly cleaner, than all the rest of them. While it is running, you can use an infrared thermometer to check each cylinder exhaust to see if there are any cylinders that are not firing correctly. Are all the spark plug wires installed correctly, are the seated on the plugs and distributor correctly and fully?
9. Checking electrical grounds. It’s funny how much a bad ground can foul things, I am doubting this is an issue, but worth the little time it takes to clean them up. There are a few threads on here that have pictures of the ground locations.
10. PCM. It can be a bit of a pain to remove, but I think it is worth having a look at it. Open it up and see if you see any issues on the circuit board with failed capacitors. Again, there are many threads on this and I am doubting it is your issue, but worth taking the time to look at.
11. Crank shaft position sensor. Wire unplugged? Sensor failed? Balancer with ring still intact? - I’ll leave this one for others to chime in on, I don’t know the failure symptoms of it well enough on this yr/make to comment any further (My ‘96 does not use one). If it is as newer GM vehicles, the engine will not start / run properly if failed / corroded - different system though. But I don’t think that is the case with these, I think it will run, but not properly. Hopefully someone will chime in with more details on this. If you don’t have manuals, let me know, I can look it up in the FSM and post the relevant pages on it.
Do you have a set of manuals for this truck? Factory service manuals, chitons, Haynes? If you plan on keeping this long term and want to keep it running properly, it will be worth your while to get a proper set of factory manuals at this point.
Im sure others will chime in with other things to go over as well.
Good luck with it, post up if you have a question.
