Hello all, I have been having an issue with my 95 xlt 5.0 with E4OD. The problem is that the engine will sometimes idle perfect and have decent power while other times it cant hold a steady rpm, and feels like it has stock power.

Here is some background info. A few years ago I decided to have the engine rebuilt to gain more power. At this point the engine had 196,000 mi and ran perfectly. I had thought about doing a 5.8 swap (and am still considering for the future) but at the time decided not to because I was busy with school and didnt want to deal with researching the swap/doing the work. So I decided to pull the engine and do some engine tweaks since I have MAF.

Here are the mods:
Edlebrock perfomer heads, edlebrock performer truck intake (both uppder and lower), E303 cam (bad choice I Know), New injectors with stock 19lb rating, 1.6 roller rockers, adj fuel regulator, .020 bored, new exhaust from behind the y-pipe, 10deg timing (I'm aware of the spout conn) and custom tune(added just recently to try and cure the problem) from a local shop. With all these mods I was hoping to achieve around 300HP.

Other things: I have also replaced the tps sensor, cleaned the IAC, the egr and O2 were replaced before the engine swap, new ford plug wires, good cap and rotor, new spark plugs gapped to factory spec .44 or .45, and MSD coil replaced before motor as well. I had the customer tune done because I thought it would help my issue. The dyno results showed that the tune gave me 20 more hp which put me at 220RWHP.

The thing that drives me crazy is that sometimes it runs fine and other times it sounds like it will barely stay running. Sometimes I punch the pedal to the medal and it puts me back in my seat and other times it feels like a 4 cylinder engine.

I tried to run codes on it from my $200 dollar code reader from checkers. The KOEO test pasts, but the KOER test will not complete. When the unit finally shows a result for KOER it says "Could not complete KOER test, unable to maintain engine rpm."

Sorry for the novel but I figured all the info was important. I've been reading posts trying to figure out my problem and am still looking into things but I feel lost. I also tested the vaccuum at the manifold and am getting 8-10mmhg which seems to be a bit low so I had a smoke test done and couldnt find any vaccuum leaks. Any help, ideas for other sensor to replace would be greatly appreciated. I've even considered buying a new pcm from the junkyard just incase my current one is going bad.

 

Have you cleaned the IAC and throttle body lately? there could be the source of your problem, also check the vac lines, and the wiring to the IAC, any of those could cause the symptoms you describe.

 

I did clean the iac recently. All the cacuum lines are new and I had a smoke test done to verify there were no vacuum leaks. I will test the wires to the iac.

 

Oh, also check that the 7 - 8 sparkplug wires aren't contacting each other, they fire one after the other, and that could cause a miss. When the timing was set, did the tuner disconnect the SPOUT?.

 

I checked the plug wires and made sure they were routed according to the diagram under the hood. I also cleaned the egr valve and tested the egr vacuum solenoid. The solenoid was bad so I replaced it. The bronco seems to run slightly better but is still not 100%

 

I didn't say you timing was wrong, i said to check if the wires going to the 7th and 8th cilinders are making contact, they shouldn't.

 

Ok, your KOER test fails because the "unable to maintain engine rpm" issue is a test administrator error. In short, the "goose test" was not sustained long enough for the computer to obtain all of the dynamic changes information from the various sensors in the truck. The KOER goose test requires you to hold the engine as close to 2000 rpm without dropping below that as possible for a period of time that I cannot recall off the top of my head right now. The brake pedal must be pressed and in some trucks the steering wheel must be spun from lock to lock as well. I know, I know, crazy stuff but there are sensors that need this user input during the test to administer it properly.

As for your intermittent problem I could guess at several possibilities but the KOER test will take the guesswork out of the whole process.

 

Encho, how do I check the wiring to the IAC? There may not be power to the IAC at all times right?

Greaystreak92, I am going to try to run codes again,(koer) this time while holding the rpm around 2000.

Thanks for the responses guys.

 

Do you own a multimeter? mr. Grey here posted a chart somewhere else, you need to use the voltimeter feature to check that the voltage reading is the same as in the chart, usually the problem is in the IAC itself and not the wiring.

 

So I ran my code reader again. On KOEO test I got code 211, "profile ignition pickup (pip) fault.

For KOER I got 538, 213.

Re-did both and never got code 211 again, not sure why it came up the first time. Dont even know what the PIP is. Tried to look online, looks like something to do with the distributor, which is only about 1.5yrs old.

As for the KOER, I checked the connection for the spout and it was in place.
The test shows it couldnt control idle again. I tried the trick of holding the idle at high rpm like mentioned above and it made no difference. Still stuck

 

Ok, PIP (Profile Ignition Pickup) is a magnetic (hall effect) sensor INSIDE the distributor. Think of it as your "points and condenser" if the truck was ten years older. When this sensor fails, the computer cannot control spark timing. So, that would definitely cause your power problems. The sensor can be replaced but it requires some patience as it is mounted UNDER the rotor in the distributor. You will have to remove the steel excitor ring that is immediately below the rotor (two small bolts). Take care not to damage this ring... it is the "cam" that the PIP sensor "reads" to trigger spark timing.

Code 213 indicates that the SPOUT connector was not installed or the wiring through the SPOUT circuit has failed. The SPOUT connector is a small grey plug in the wiring near the distributor in a PINK wire. The connector must be in the socket and seated fully. Unlike typical plugs, the SPOUT connector has NO WIRES DIRECTLY ATTACHED TO IT. It is merely a shunt to complete the circuit. The SPOUT is the (SPark OUTput) circuit that "tells" the computer to advance or retard the timing. (Think of it as the "vacuum advance" in a truck ten years older).

These two issues are related. My suggestion would be to troubleshoot the SPOUT issue FIRST! Correcting this problem could prove to rectify the errant PIP sensor code.