OK, here's the deal. I have had an interesting development occur on my last 2 fishing trips. I have to scale a pretty good size pass on my 190 mile trip to my favorite lake. Each time on the way home I have had to stop after scaling the pass. I have left the truck running each time. My check engine light came on the first time this happened, about 3 weeks ago. I reset the computer because I had just cleaned my K&N. I drove as usual after resetting the computer....no problems. Well, this weekend I was coming home and ran into a traffic jam after cresting the summit. Again, my check engine light came on. Has anyone else experienced anything like this. I will probably relent and take it in to be checked out, but it sure seems odd that it would need to see the doctor after taking a little treadmill test at such a young age. Normally I don't have to stop after climbing the pass and I have never had my engine light come on before. It seems to have something to do with having to stop after working it hard.

P.S.- Temp was normal as was oil etc. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Thanks,
Ron

 

It could bo that your K&N filter is depositing filter oil on the Mass Airflow Sensor. This happened to me after I had the Banks Exhaust kit installed. I talked to a friend who is a tech at the local Ford dealer and he said he sees this a lot. He recommended I go back to the stock filter. I didn't notice any drop in performance (gas mileage or otherwise) and have had no problebs since.

 

FYI Autozone is offering free use of their OBD II diagnostic tool. Just pull into one of their auto parts stores and ask one of the guys to plug into your truck. They will then tell you what part is causing the check engine light to come on. Obviously they will try and sell you, or hope you will buy the fix-it parts from them, and why not ? Ya gotta get them somewhere, but you will know at least what is causing it. The OBD computer stores the codes for a while, 6 or 10 engine starts or something so get in as soon after the light comes on as possible, but this is a cheap, easy way to find out without going to a doctor so to speak. I too am betting it's the MAF sensor getting gunked up with filter oil from the K&N filter. This seems to be pretty common with Ford truck owners who have K&N's. A little alcohol and a couple q-tips CAREFULLY manipulated seem to take care of the problem in most cases. Those wires are extremely delicate so use extreme caution. Hope this helps,

Ken 98 E-350 XLT V-10 ClubWagon

 

Thanks guys. I will clean the MAS. Also, we don't have an Autozone in my area, but I am going to see if any of the other parts houses around here would be willing to offer the scan. It makes sense that they would offer a service like that. After all it would only benefit them assuming they could get you the right part after the diagnosis.

I was leaning toward the MAS, but it just seemed so add that it would happen after working it real hard and then coming to a stop right afterward.

 

There will be other symptom associates with a malfunctioning MAF sensor. I do not think that that is the main culprit.

Obviously a scan is in order but I, for some reason, lean towards an O2 sensor. What is the altitude of this pass?

 

I have not been able to locate a parts house that will do a scan yet, but still looking. I think I need to have it done even if it means going to my least favorite location....the FORD Service Department.

The elevation of the pass is only 4065', but it is pretty quick altitude gain, about 5-8 miles I'm guessing. I have to shift the ol' 5 speed into 3rd for the 2nd half of the climb. That is with a 3000lb boat and another 1000 or so for passengers and gear.

Ron

 

Could not find a single parts house that would scan the truck for me. I called Ford Service Dept., they can't get to me until next Thursday. Figures!!! Anyway, I removed and cleaned the mass air sensor with alcohol and Q-tip. Nothing obvious to the naked eye to report on the sensor. Looks like I will just have to play a waiting game to see if engine light comes back on, only this time I won't reset the fault before I get it scanned.

My '97 F150 had a problem with the mass air sensor when I changed over to a K&N filter, but it occur shortly after I had installed the filter. This problem doesn't seem to be related to the K&N, but without a scan, who knows?

 

I went out for lunch this afternoon and on the way back the light came on again, looks like I will go ahead and make that appointment for the scan unless someone has a shadetree suggestion for finding the code without a scanner, haha.

 

>I went out for lunch this afternoon and on the way back the
>light came on again, looks like I will go ahead and make
>that appointment for the scan unless someone has a shadetree
>suggestion for finding the code without a scanner, haha.

I've seen Schucks put those OBD II scanners on sale sometimes pretty cheaply. I think next time I see one I'll nab it. They're quite a bit cheaper than the GM model. Fords goes for $50-ish on sale and GMs for $150 (this is ALL from distant memory so don't hold me to this). Since I only own Fords, and will only own Fords, an OBD II diagnostic scanner might not be a bad deal eh ?

Ken 98 E-350 XLT V-10 ClubWagon

 

Hey Ken, You beat me to it!! I called Schuck's and NAPA to price scanners for OBDII's and they both wanted $129 and neither place could give me any information about a brand or capabilities of the scanner. I decided to check around online and came up with this one:
http://toolsource.com:888/ost/product.asp?sourceid=http%3A%2F%2Fgoogle%2Eyahoo%2 Ecom%2Fbin%2Fquery%3Fp%3Dobd%2Dii+scanners%26hc%3D 0%26hs%3D0&dept%5Fid=500&pf%5Fid=91488&mscssid=ME1 Q90X3NJS92PEC00J74979AMR791E7

Long link huh? Anyway, I think I might go ahead and purchase this guy because it would only take two trips to the dealer and it is payed for.

Does anyone else out there have a code scanner? It would be intersting to know who has what brand and how good they are for comparison purposes.

 

There are some scanners that let you display OBD II values in real time on a notebook PC. Things like O2 sensor live as you drive down the road are very handy. Another toy I don't have but want!

-Jim
2001 E-450 Superduty

 

One nice ODB II scanner you might look at is the AutoTap.
http://www.autotap.com/
1996 and up Ford -- $290

 

>Hey Ken, You beat me to it!! I called Schuck's and NAPA to
>price scanners for OBDII's and they both wanted $129 and
>neither place could give me any information about a brand or
>capabilities of the scanner. I decided to check around
>online and came up with this one:
>http://toolsource.com


Well I couldn't get that bad boy to open, I even went to toolsource.com and Toolsource.com, no way Jose. But sometimes the firewall on the computers here at work does weird stuff. I'll try it at home if I can get the teenagers off it long enough. But thanks, I knew I wasn't trippin. I thought Ford OBD II scanners were fairly inexpensive, thanks for lookin, Ken

98 E-350 V-10 XLT ClubWagon

 

My wife's car just got a "code" from the (non-stock( locking gas cap. It seems to affect the pressure in the fuel system. Did you change your gas cap? Might be something to look at it its not the MAS.

 

The OBD II system runs a diagnostic cycle every few trips where it temporarilly pressurizes the fuel tank and canister with air, then measures how long it takes to bleed down. If it bleeds to fast the EPA mandates that you have to flash a code. It does not hurt the operation of the vehicle in and of itself since you can have a very small vapor leak without a liquid fuel leak.

It can only run this cycle under certain conditions - a longer trip with higher engine RPMs as I recall. After a PCM reset in might not appear for a while.

-Jim
2001 E-450 Superduty