Hi I'm new to this forum and have a problem. I have a 96 f250 work truck with a 460 in it it has about 235,000 miles on it. in the past couple of months my truck would just die as I was driving, most the time it would start right back up, but the last couple of months it dies a lot more frequently and take longer to start does not mater when where happens any condition. I have cleaned all the negative grounds because I was told bad ground could cause computer problems it helped for a while. started doing it again so change Ignition module by suggestion ran good but started doing it again.

One other thing, My check engine light keeps coming on it always reads EGR, I keep replacing Parts associated with the EGR valve. could my engine dieing be caused from my EGR issues or is it computer( FYI don't really have thee money to replace the computer right now) , or some other kind of ignition problems.

 

A sticky EGR will cause the engine to stall and often make it hard to start after a stall.

I have not had to do this yet on my 460, but have done it on many other cars...

With over 200,000 miles you should have had the EGR cleaned or replaced at least once.

You can test the EGR by using a vacuum pump, like a MityVac, to control the EGR Diaphram. As you pull vacuum on the diaphram, the engine should start to stumble. When you release the vacuum, the engine should smooth out. This will tell you if you have a leaky diaphram(doesn't stumble) or a sticky valve(Doesn't smooth out).

You can do a half A test by just pushing the diaphram with your fingers while the engine is cool. This will test if the valve is sticky but tells you nothing about the diaphram.

Replacing the EGR is usually not hard. Biggest problems are access to the part, rusty bolts and eaten thru tubing or hoses.

A quick cheap check/fix is to inspect all rubber hoses to the EGR. I have "fixed" more than a few EGR valves with a 10cent piece of rubber hose.

If replacing the EGR, be careful not to loose the metal shim/gasket, sometimes the replacement does not include this part. Also be careful of metal tubing. Often the metal tube is very eaten up and will crumble in your hands.

BTW, you can often clean an EGR valve and return it to service. The valve gets carbon deposits which cause the diaphram to stick. Some EGRs have a "cleanout Window" which allows you to spray some carbon cleaner in it. Others just have to be removed and cleaned.

Unless the EGR needs to be replaced, you can do all the above essentially for free, if you have a vacuum pump.

Good Luck,

Jim Henderson

 

Thanks Jim
One of the first things I did was replace the EGR valve so it is new the old one was definitely history also hard to find had to special order it. Never thought about cleaning out any lines will do that and see what happens. Once again thanks

 

Not sure if the 460 has one, but often the EGR has an electronic sensor that feeds signals back to the computer to tell it what is going on. If the sensor fails, you will get EGR problems and check EGR messages. On my old Taurus, it was called a Pressure Feedback Emitter, PFE. I have seen or read about similar sensors on other engines. It may be called something similar, check your manual.

The PFE has a rubber hose that goes to the EGR. The PFE has 2 or three wires coming out of it. They usually fail around 100K ish. Only way I have seen to check it is to put it on a tester that will show you the pulses coming out of it. It has been a long time since I saw one of these in action but sure wish I had one of those Sun testers.

I think your model year has OBD II diagnostics. Have you pulled codes? Maybe the newer cheap OBD II testers will show this problem?

The PFE is not cheap so check all other things before spending the money.

Good Luck,

Jim Henderson

 

Well it turned out to be the distributor that caused my truck to die. hooked up a code reader and it said something about the starter, could not figure out what the starter had to do with it dieing . Started to do some reading and it seems there is a part inside the distributor called a starter chanced out the distributor and have put about 250 miles with out a problem. Check engine light is still on so I have get my son-in-laws snap-on code reader back on and see whats wrong, it runs with out dieing I'm happy

 

Even though the problem is fixed most of the time the light wont go away for so many miles or you could just go in and deleate it with the code reader.

 

Thanks Nordvic I read that about the ignition module might take 10 or 15 miles to recalibrate and I had that same thought in my head about the distributor so I just disconnected the battery for about 30 minutes and if that does not work I will have my S-I-L clear it with his code reader. Hopefully that is all that is keeping the check engine light on

 

i think its the hall effect stator assembly in the distributer you replaced i had one go out in the middle of nowhere,,,,thats why i carry a spare distributor ,,that cam/dist gear is a bitch to get off at times when replacing the stator,,those 460s are also sensitive to the map sensor, I have a 92 f53 with the 460,,,also changed the idle air valve made a big difference eliminated a small hicup in the idle, she purrs now

 

Your right mustang

Well my S-I-L showed up and he hooked his code reader up and came up with 3 codes

P1351 IDM input ckt fault
P0704 clutch switch input ckt fault- will replace this week
P1116 ECT sensor out of range - I have replace

I used the search feature of this site and have read what has been written about code P1351 IDM input I still have a couple things to check for this code but I think I am going to have to replace my PCM I am assuming that is my computer
Thanks for every bodys input on my problem.

I will report back in a couple of weeks with my results