I know this subject as been beat to death but I just wanna confirmation of something.

I took off the EGR vacuum hose and sucked on the end and the engine dies. Does that mean my EGR is working correctly. If so than I just eliminated one problem I was having with the clattering. I guess I will try the 93 octane gas and see if that gets rid of it. I did put the platinum plugs in and I heard someone on here say something about those not working correctly with these engine. Its a 97 F250 351 (5.8) aotuo 4x4. I am just trying to elimate the causes to fix it. The truck runs great and has 176k on it but as I said, it runs great. What else could I look for. I already check the timing and it is set correctly at 10*. The clatter is only when I accelerate like on the freeway or something. Its fine just driving around town or even at cruising speeds, it only doews this when accelerating.

BTW, It dod throw a code, dont remeber the # but it said it was a lean condition. This was checked by a reputable mechanic. What else could I look for

 

With that milage I'd suggest running some injector cleaner through it and possibly some combustion chamber cleaner(seafoam). The code is just confirming what you already know.. the engine is running excessively lean, finding the cause is the challenge. When was the O2 sensor last changed?

 

Well as far as when the o2 sensor was changed, probably never. I drove it today with the 93 octane and it still does the same. I asked the guy it iy could be the o2 sensor, he said it could be he doughted it. I think I will change it anyway.

This seafoam stuff, it doesnt clean fuel injectors does it. I was going to get some Lucas today and forgot all about it when I was out, wjat can I say, I'm getting old.

 

Lucas Inj. clnr. works well. The SeaFoam you pour into brake booster vac hose then shut off the engine to allow saturation of the combustion chamber surface deposit build up. Whatever your manual say's for the octane to be used, it should be able to run on w/o ping. If it can't, don't keep climbing up the octane ladder to avoid the ping. It will follow you up and after 94 oct. then what, take up flying so you have access to aviation fuel? If you keep a stock Engine that by design has a low rate of conpression therefore was meant to use lower octane for it's superior overall combustibility properties, on a steady diet of fuel more specifically intended for engines w/ faster rates of compression that require the moment of ign. to refrain. The higher the rate of compression the more controlled combustibility needed (higher octane). For most stock engines this results in incomplete detonation with the residual forming deposits on the surfaces of the combustion chamber. Now it starts wicking fuel entering until it reaches a saturation piont and adds pre-detonation to the bag of tricks and although the time of the compression stroke remains the same, because the deposits artificially decrease the cylinders c.i. displacement, the rate that it's compressed increases and ping! up an octane. and after a while, ping! Up an octane again. If your manual specifies 87, and your engine's OBDII, w/ all it's ducks in a row, it should be capable of adapting to a slight bump in octane beneficially. but if it starts pinging for a higher octane fix, then the original bump was a little more than it could adequately adjust for. A "duck in it's row" would be a well functioning o2(s), EGR w/ full flow, Sensors accurate... ect. The stress put on an engine by the emission controls which only allows drivability at a performance level that can be obtained at an air to fuel ratio of 14.7:1. Which is why in the early day's of emission controls it became obvious that the only way to have more vehicles functional on the road than sitting along the side, waiting for a tow truck, was to de-tune the engines at the factory prior to delivery.which is why "stock" initial timing is 10BTDC instead of 14BTDC. In fact, depending on how prevalent you piging has become, It might be a good idea to do (temporarily) what most shops do when someone shows up wanting them to make the pinging go away, while you check out which of your duck are A.W.A.L.. Which would be dropping the initial timing set to 8BTDC. A hole in a piston would be your personalized version of "the Grench who stole Xmas". To bad the duck thing is just an analogy. Then you could use the faint odor of burning feathers coming thru the heater vents as an indication to check under the hood instead of waiting for the check engine light to come on!

 

Well I put the SEAFOAM in, had to call the local Police Dept. to tell them not to dispatch the Fire Dept. Man it smoked PRETTY GOOD. Anyway, I let it suck up about half the can and then turned it off and poured the other half into the tank as it said on the can. Let it set and when I turned it back on, thats when the smoking started. I let run and even reved up and the smoking would get thicker. I have not driven it yet to tell but I am going to the parts store to get some motor craft plugs, I to had put in the Platinum plugs, thought thats what it was suppose to be because the wifes 97 Expedition had them. I knew, but did not pay attention at the time the engines were that much differrent. Hopfully this will fix the problem.

Are the Platinum Plugs that much hotter that the ignition system cant handle them or the engine cant handle them ???????

 

I didn't think there was a drastic difference between jumping 2 octane grades regarding properties in combustibility. but after determining that my 87' 5L provided the best performance & MPG w/ upgraded cap, rotor, wires but stock coil, by running sidegap motorcraft coppers at 17BTDC initial timing with 87 octane. Thinking I could add just a li more icing on the cake by going to 91 from 87 octane. But the only thing that could have made it appear any less likely to start would be to remove the coil wire. The air wreaked w/ the smell of gas. But switching back to the 87 in the other tank and it fired and ran like all was forgiven as soon as it hit the injectors. Your o2 sens. are surely aiding & abetting the problem, and if your Cat converter has any lives left, they can't hold there breath much longer.

 

Well I went to Orielys to get the regular Motorcraft plugs and their computer showed the correct plugs to be the Motorcraft Platinum plugs so I had to get the Autolites to get regular plugs, they did not even show any regular Mortorcraft Plugs. I will let yall know if that was the problem. The Platinum ones I had in there still looked brand new

 

MOTORCRAFT PARTS FOR FORD, LINCOLN OR MERCURY VEHICLES lists three plugs for the '97 F250 w/ 351, and all were platinum. The ASF32P, 4AF1, or SP501. I'm not sure what the difference is between the three. Most everything has gone to platinum plugs for longer (100000 mile) service intervals. A standard platinum plug is exactly the same as a standard copper plug, but has platinum plating on the electrode tips because of its wear resistance. If you had a standard platinum plug that looked like any other spark plug without the gimmicky +3 or +4 ground electrodes, I find it hard to believe the plugs would be the problem, especially when that is the OEM part.

The valve itself is working correctly. However, if there is a broken vacuum line between the control solenoid and the valve, it will not open when the computer commands. Test the EVR solenoid for proper operation and that vacuum is present at the EGR valve when commanded by the computer.

 

How can I test the EVR. I really dont think there is a vacuum leak, all the hoses look fine. Now they are the hard plastic hoses. I broke one when I leaned on it to get to one of the spark plugs. I repaired that. I guess I really should take a look at the those plastic vacuum lines

 

If you jumper the negative wire on the EVR to ground, it will energize and vacuum should be present at the EGR valve. It should act the same as hooking a vacuum hose directly to the EGR valve.

 

The PCM relies on EGR flow to regulate combustion chamber temp. The fact that motorcraft doesn't denote an option other than platinum implies that your engine should not have any problem running platinums.The fact that they're a little lazy when it comes to thermal transfer would not be a critical issue at 10BTDC. w/o one or a group effort of component dysfunction/failure. Plug choice only adapts to the symptom. If the EGR is being supplied by the solenoid then it's diaphragm is leaking or valve is internally flow restricted. Designed for high redundancy function , the valve is about as rudimental as it gets. With no indication of position sensor misbehavior those are your two potential causes (unless someone attempted behavior modification via blunt force trama0. Personally, because of its unknown age and importance of function I'd replace it and if it was clogged, replace the most probable reason it got that way and not having a clue as to how old it is, pretty well guarantees it's got at least 30 K miles logged, referring to your o2 sens. If you keep driving it the way it is, back the timing off 1 or 2 degrees or your going to end up with a hole in a piston or two even if you found some plug that comes individually air conditioned. For someone that wants the most aggressive timing advance they can get out of a set of plats or even noticeable improvement at stock timing, AC/Delco 2xplat.Finewire rapidfires. For those w/ Delcophobia, Motorcraft's version should be available after the first of the year.

 

FYI replacement hard vacuum lines are available from Doorman.

 

Ok If I jumper the negative wire to ground,, isnt it alrerady grounded being hooked up. Im gonna try this but it just seams that on a DC system the ground being hooked up to something, it is already grounded. Maybe I'm wrong, I hate electrical stuff

 

Or maybe your right.
Bat. + to Sel. + with grnd connected. (Sel. becomes energized only after norm. op. temp. reached when closed loop function begins. 195F)

 

By grounding the negative manually, you are taking the computer control out of the equation and forcing the solenoid to energize.