Well I finish work in the morning and instead of looking for my long lost OD, my other van (95 AWD) has started playing up, it used to occasionally miss a beat on tickover, and was not a problem, on regular 200km commutes it returned 19.6mpg and at worst 16 if I was in a rush (12 with AC ). So it seemed well, 2 days ago it ran rough from starting and cleared after 5 minutes, and is getting slightly worse, on;y when cold and only pulling away or applying power, at cruise and decelleration it's fine. If it was a carbed dizzy engine I would check the timing and choke, however this is new grounds for me, (much more at home with my V8 Nos drag race engine than this). Now all you need to know on the van 360,000 kms, brought a few months ago with 330,000 for $200 CAD, needed a few brake lines for safety and new rear wheel cylinders and an upper ball joint. So I'm not to concerned at spending a few dollars if needed, however I have a spare engine with plugs less than 1000km and brand new leads sitting on it, I'm thinking this is the most sensible thing to do, however anyone think there might be something else amiss, it feels like it's fouling a plug then once warm clearing, or it has a weak plug, injectors would mean all the time misfire and once it's warm it runs well. AS I said I'm leaning towards plugs and definatly ahve the tools to reach the plugs so I'm feeling brave, but any other areas to look at if it doesn't work would be helpful. (I don't have a code reader and wouldn't know what one was if I fell over it.) Thanks in advance.

 

A Bad Head-Gasket will cause the same thing..........

Jay

 

Thanks for that ray of sunshine there never though about that, I'll do a leak down test as well, no coolant loss and no sudden increase in amount of oil in the engine, not had any over pressure in coolant system to make it blow past cap, but yes it was something I hadn't thought about.

 

first any CEL action or codes?

take a look at the IAC on the throttle body first, critical to good idling especially before engine warms up, ECU commands IAC to open up on cold start but they become carboned and gummed up, basically an electronically controlled air valve that supplements the throttle body on low rpm, cold operation or idle with a/c on.
not opening fully on cold start causes an extra rich condition because ECU is commanding FI's to dump in extra fuel for cold start, burping the throttle body with the pedal is a temporay help because it restores the air/fuel mixture to a more normal cold start mix of about 12/1.
soak IAC in kerosene overnight and spray with FI spray cleaner, clean port on throttle body and put on a new gasket, sometimes screws loosen and old gasket partially tears away under vacuum.
Ford says IAC cannot be cleaned, replace only, ymmv.

while you are under hood with FI cleaner and throttle body exposed, clean TB and plate gap and MAF element.
many shops no longer try to clean MAF's, replace only-too many returns.

with a properly operating IAC at warm idle, pulling the control plug off IAC should cause engine to drop drastically in rpm to almost dying or stopping, no idle air to engine.

if still having problems, look for vacuum leak that seals up as engine warms up and gaskets expand, plenum or lower intake manifold below, bolts often have worked loose on hi mile engines. test with spray FI or throttle body cleaner around gasket areas, rpm increase indicates the leak area.

plugs and ig. wire problems "usually" show up as high speed miss under load, accelerating or on hill.
how long since plugs and wires, more than 100k miles, may as well do while under hood. Autolite or Motorcraft, double platinums only, are what most on the list have best success with.
360,000 kms, plugs and wire should have been replaced at least twice.

these Ford ECU/PCM systems are a complicated interrelated system depending on all the sensors and output control devices to be working propering, time to change the O2 sensors unless they appear brand new and no O2 codes.

 

I'll have a go at reading the codes first, then i will play with the rest, hills have made it struggle a little and I have no idea when the engine was last looked at, it has run from the day I picked it up and it has only been in the last 2 days that it has been an issue, also it has been colder in the past few days so not sure if it's a little condensation causing ht issues, all will be revieled in 20 hours once I get home.

 

Pulled the codes they are 539 and 629, i'm going to do a search but at my whopping 22kbps this may take some time. Oh and the only thing I know is wrong with the van is the cruise doesn't work, so that may be one of them??
Anyone able to read them for me while I go and play.
Thanks

 

Hi X.L.R.8

Code 539: Possibly your A/C switch was on while you did the KOEO (Key On Engine Off) test.

Code 629: Torque Converter Clutch (TCC) Circuit Failure

I'll try to print the troubleshooting part for code 629 to PDF files and e-mail them to you, but that's going to take a while. They have procedures up the wazooz with branches everywhere. "If it does this, then you do this...., if not, then do this....." ad infinitum.


Code 629 would explain why your van feels like the engine is missing, if the TCC is going on/off at random.

 

Well, played with AC switch and lost the 529 code, however the other stayed, played with the wiring on the side of the g/box and took it for a long test drive, couldn't think how the TC would effect it in neutral. On the way back I felt the van was running as rough as I would ever want any angine so baby'd it back home. Unfortunatly I probably went overboard as I took each plug out and checked it carefully (platniun motorcraft ones) the plugs in the spare engine were champions and a few looked a bit worse for wear, so i did the ultimate cringe, i took the best looking plus (4 motorcraft and 2 champions, moved the motorcraft plugs to different locations, put the leads back on and then decided to swap them with the cheap nasty ones of the spare engine. Yup, runs like a dream, lost the slight misfire that was there on idle from the start, pulls much stronger and is a delight. (I don't want to even think about the 629 code thing, for now she's running and running well). Before anyone says a word I'm off to Main Dealer for some new wires and sparks, however I will mention I did not find any problems witht he plugs, in a rush i would take 15 minutes tops. My secret weapon was brough from the shopping channel some 15 years ago, it was a cheezy comercial for a rachet that had a small handle on the end that when turned rotated the head allowing for zero clearence, you can put 60 lbs of torque on the small handle and I do. The rest of my tool kit is a snobs delight, MAC, Snap-it, Britool. However this sits happily in the tool chest. I also had huge extensions and a U/J plug spanner and a standard spanner and wrench for the passanger side rear. The rest I didn't even streach for, once I got the plugs out I decided to play with the positions as it was no where near as bad as I thought. However in my 1955 Ford Anglia with the 5.3 V8 engine squeezed in I took some 3 hours to change the plugs witht he same tools, and had to do it after each race and to put the road plugs in to drive home, that was agony. The aero was almost easy in comparison. So, thanks for looking up the codes, I did disconnect the battery for the duration and got the same 629 code so I will address the issue when I get to it, in the mean time my $200 aero is jsut about to start costing me money, I had to top up the oil, and put screen wash in it, also treated it to some new wiper blades for the winter. LONG LIVE THE *

 

sounds like you've nicked it X. good luck with the trans code. hopefully it's a just a hiccup like it sounds and not a full blown problem. although it would show up in driving, the TCC fault would make it feel like the trans was slipping, think you'd notice that.

 

After spending $158 on plugs and leads the trans can wait, it spends most of it's life at 100km/h for 4 hours everyday and certainly doesn't feel like it slips. I'm just glad it was a simple fix, just for the record one of the plugs had a crack in the ceramic, I think that was the culprit, but it was the rear drivers side so it could have been the angle of the U/J whe I was undoing it.

 

that's still steep prices even in CD$. Motorcraft wire set here is abt. $50 and Autolite double plats run abt. $5 ea reg price and $2 on sale. I always have a set of plugs in reserve bought on sale for all our rigs, same with oil & filters. I refuse to even walk into a Ford Stealership parts dept after the last ripoff there, order my Ford parts at one of the online discount suppliers with good service and prices.
good buy on the van '95 AWD $200CD

 

Hi xlr8 are you british? or if not were did you get a ford anglia from? I come from england and used to have a ford anglia many years ago we used to call them angle box's, great little car with a 1300cc 4 banger engine if I remember right I had it when I was about 18 or 19 I am 48 now. It must have been a tight fit putting a 5.3 V8 in there bet it goes well though.

 

CBR, weve been here before , I left 2 years ago and you still want to go back , i used to build drag race cars in the UK and I loved the older 100E Fords, had some sit up and begs, and a 105E that we went the lotus twin head ahd then suercharged the sucker. Changed to V8's just to see if they really were that fast, my first V8 was slower than the 4 but I fell in love with the torque. Same as the bike (GSXR7/11 turbo and Nos ) Swapped over to a more aerodynamic shell once you hit 1150mph in an anglia you start thinking of putting wheels on the roof. Found Porsche 944 shells werecheap once the owners blew up the engines, it's one thing to own a sports car but you have to maintain it ($2000 US to change a clutch!!!!, £2500GBP for a cambelt and waterpump), so I just used the body to house my engines. The aero* is a huge leap away from cramming engines into small spaces although they are not far behind, however I had a 350 SBC in a mini once, a 4.9 rover midmounted in a hilman imp and all manner of cars that took monger to remove a header then it would to remove rebuild and replace the aero* engine. But this 'code reading' and clutch solenoids have me head scratching, give me a big block, 750 holley and a welder and I'm happy.

 

Prices were steep but I live in the middle of nowhere, so leads for $75, plugs $10 each but nothing else for 100kms so by the time I drove anywhere and found out I had to order the parts or wait to have them in stock I could just drive 3 mins to the only dealer in the area and pay the prices, I really don't know the true condition of the stuff I put back in but I was trying to see if it was a HT problem or something that would have put the van on the scrap heap, (this was the van brought as a donor but it ran so well I couldn't break it up, so I found a basket case that became the donor for $50 more than this one (rebuilt trans, new parts and records of a good few thousand spent on keeping the engine running, but nothing on the rest of the van). If I didn't so much distance (1000 km/week) I'd leave whats working in there but I'm pushing whats acceptable there so it eserves a treat, and who knows, I'm 30,000 to getting another 100,000 out of it, and no I'm not holding my breath. :-)

 

hey yes I remember now sorry my brain is not what it used to be. Sounds like you a lot of fun with those cars.