Good morning,
I have a 1993 Ford Aerostar. It has high miles, around 153,000 but runs almost as good as new. Unfortunately the wife took it in to have the Oil changed were she normally takes her car. "I always have thought they take advantage of her but she trusts them" Anyhow after changing the oil and talking her into 2 new tires she leaves and heads home. 21 miles from the shop the check engine light comes on and she said the car lost almost all of its power and barely made it up a hill near the house. Since she was almost home and the temperature guage was not reading high she went ahead and drove the rest of the way. My initial thoughts were that somehow they did not finish the oil change and the engine blew. But after checking the oil was good and transmission fluid normal. I started the engine seemed to run good but almost had a spuddering sound you could hear. After looking at the engine I noticed that it seems like something is missing, I have a clean spot on top of a tube that comes out over the engine and it looks like it has notches in it for something to fit. Being clueless in the ways of mechanicing I'm not sure what would fit there. I'm guessing a sensor of some sort. But thats just a guess and not sure if that would be the problem anyway. Heres a picture you can see the round clean area just above the alternator and below the wiper sprayer. Any clues or advice????? Well I guess it won't let me add a picture in here. Anyhow its a tube about 1 and 1/2 inch in diamater it comes out over the engine and has a round top about 2 and 1/2 inches at the end with an indention that looks like something about the size of a broomstick would fit down about an inch into it and there are lugs at the bottom like a gear would engage it or something. I'd appreciate any suggestions thanks
Thanks
David

 

Well I'm back to square one, the missing piece I though might be the problem turned out to be the oil fill lid. The wife says she broke it the other day. But any suggestions about the problem. To recap she took the Aerostar in and had the oil changed, got about 20 miles from the shop and the check engine light came on and she lost alot of power. Said she barely made it up the hill near the house. She said the temperature guage was reading normal and it was not overheating so she went ahead and got it home. Oil level is good and transmission fluid good. Any advice would be appreciated.
David

 

Oh its a 1993 aerostar with a 3.0 six cylinder

 

You need to have the codes read. That is where I'd start.

 

Daveearl:

If you don't trust the place I would check all my vacuum lines first. They could of pulled one loose. Also they can take and poke a small hole or cut a small slit in one of the hoses. Check that all the Spark plug wires are on tight not one sit on loose.

Gets you back so they can get a few more bucks to fix the problem they made.

 

Will not a missing oil filler cap or dipstick not all the way in or just about any vacuum leak turn on the check enging light? I think this will cause you to get a lean condition and then the computer will go full rich and bingo you get check engine and p0171 lean bank 1.
or lean bank 2.

 

Will a loose vacuum line cause a "check engine" light? Not on my 94. It would pop a line completely off without setting a code. It would idle roughly and nearly die. Sometimes it did die. I don't think the dipstick or fill cap will do it either. Maybe on the newer OBDII systems. The P0171 looks like an ODBII code.

I still stick with reading the codes as the next step. At least you will know what the ECU thinks is wrong.

 

True, it is a ODBII code.