Thank you all in advance for your help and I will ask again to solve another problem. Van starts right up having replaced ground cable from battery to starter and as posted earlier never saw the grounding clamp in the middle of the cable. Wheather warm or cold, engine has a miss at idle. Van does not miss or skip while driving or in any gear. Misses at idle and is not enough to kill engine but very noticeable. Van did not have this before battery cable was replaced. Van runs strong while driving. No check engine light, recent distributor, wires, cap and rotor and coil. Again van drives great misses at idle only. Need your thoughts. Thanks

 

Have you checked for vacuum leaks? I would suspect a vacuum leak since at idle it the only noticeable place.

 

No I have not. Where do I begin? Looks like a lot of vacuum lines going many different places. Why only at idle does it miss? Has not been getting worse at least not yet.

 

Take a can of carb cleaner and spray around the vacuum lines, if you notice a difference in RPM's that may be your leak. That's really the only way I know how to try and track down the vac leaks I have done on any of my vans.

 

What spark plugs did you use?

 

Finally got to work on the van today. I used autolite plugs, motorcraft wires and copper terminal cap, to answer your earlier question. Well starter went today so replaced and everything was good except idle missing. Well moved van and tried to restart and nothing. Does not turn over or even click. Check engine light is on. Any ideas. I do not have a code reader.

 

<A href="http://www.fordfuelinjection.com" target=new> Here (click me!) </a> is a link to a web site that will guide you through pulling the codes. I would be checking your battery cables.

 

What motor? V8's are known to be sensitive to errors in spark plug wire routing, causing missing at idle & valve clatter. The TPS is also notorious for idle quality issues.

 

I will be able to work on it this afternoon it is 55 degrees today. Engine is 4.9 I6 duel tanks efi 1990 e 150. Turn key, pumps come on but no crank, no click, nothing except check engine light. Idle was missing before, yet would go away anywhere above idle in or out of gear. Never stumbled when driving it. I will attempt to read codes via website. Nobody around here has a scanner for rent or sale. I know this is what is needed to solve the problem just hoping you guys would know some probable causes. All new battery cables with grounds to frame, radiator bracket and alt bracket. Battery charges at 14.46 volts running and lights are bright when turning the key. Will need your help this afternoon checking codes. Thanks guys!

 

Take a heavy screwdriver and use it to bridge the two big posts on starter solenoid. If it turns over you should check the voltage at the "S" terminal on the solenoid. Have a helper turn the key to start when you check it or there won't be power there.

 

Got in it this afternoon and it started. Restarted it many times and seems to start fine. Checked codes per website and came up with 11, 11 system passed. Then got a code 33 and 56. Triple checked these flashes and seem to be 33 and 56. 33 is egr and 56 is a maf. How do I check these to see if they affect idle? Egr metal tube was capped at exhaust, would this affect idle? Had not been a problem ever. Still don't know why it would not start yesterday should have stored code corrrect.

 

The BOTH will affect idle. YOu have a '90 so what's the MAF code about? You don't have MAF injection. It's speed density so you don;t have a mass air flow sensor.
THe EGR valve apparently is not working or the EVP is not working. That's the EGR code. Pull the vacuum line off the EGR valve, cap it, then see how it idles.
It might not have. It all depends on whether or not it was a computer or sensor issue.