Im pretty sure mine has (had) 4 cats. I had them all removed.

Regarding the pics on this post: I can't figure out what the heck is with the rectangle hole. That's literally the strangest exhaust issue I've ever seen.

And it looks like you don't have a driver side catalytic converter. Hard to be real sure from that pic.

Yea, its just the bare Y pipe that goes to a single giant cat.
The thing with the rectangle cut out of it is on the pass side y but other than that theres no other cats but the big one

I guess I will weld a patch over that area cut out since Im not sure if exhaust is leaking there or not. Then will gut the cat, Id like to buy a muffler soon. I have dual chamber thrush mufflers on one of my vics and like the low throaty tone but is loud. Any suggestions for a muffler that will give a low tone but wont be crazy loud with cat delete?

Once I get the muffler welded on I will have a shop run the rest. Probably a single pipe back to a large tip

Cat is off and looks fine. Light shines all the way through. So much for that being the issue and it being an easy fix.

Now im trying to replace fuel filter and looks like they got the wrong one in there. I got the metal cips off but the lines wont budge. Never had a fuel filter not slide riight off before. Any ideas?


Edit..... nevermind. I see I do need the little line tools to remove the filter. I ordered them the other night but then seen these metal clips and thought i got lucky and didnt need the tool but guess i do.

It looks like the missing/lack of power issue isnt the cat and the fuel filter looks pretty new so im assuming its not that either.

Time to dig into the coil and plugs (they came in today)
Then ill clean MAF and if that doesnt do it then what would next culprit be?
O2's, fuel pump?

Im going to keep an eye out for vacuum leaks while doing plugs

Ugggg. The seller said he didnt try changing coils and plugs but all coils are aftermarket and say made in china and look new. Can even see fresh dielectric grease on boots.

Coolant is fifthy....top cap of radiator looks to be moist, one of the pulleys is chirping, and cat looked new inside. fuel filter looks new too. So I think he already tried coils,plugs,cat,fuel filter.
Im still going to put new plugs and coils in though.

Whats weird is,when I dumped seafoam in brake vacuum it didnt make engine stall. When the seafoam was gone I plugged the line with my finger and it didnt kill the engine like it always has on my 4.6's and 5.4

Sounds like you have a massive vacuum leak somewhere...

So...plugging the brake vacuum should of definately killed it when covered then right?

I hope it isnt intake gaskets, looks like it would be impossible in a van

Nah, the computer should compensate - besides, the brake booster holds vacuum - you should be able to plug the brake booster vacuum and not stall the engine.

Are you sure it wasn't the PCV?

Are you asking if i plugged the pcv or checked it?
I Used brake booster vac to feed in the seafoam then plugged it with my thumb.

My pvc looks old but rattles freely.
Im wondering if i shouldnt replace iac while in here. Is the pcv and its hose cheap? Just trying to replace cheap possible culprits while im in here


Also.... theres a vapor purge canister bolted off ceiling of doghouse. Theres one also above intake but its not used. Its like they moved it. Whats up with that and should i replace it?
Theres a ford sticker under the hood that says a ford certified modification was done but the writting wore off so can read it. Any ideas what thats about?

I got motorcrafts sp-493 plugs.
These are right for the 2002 e350 2v 6.8 v10 right?
Gap at .055"?
Thats what they gave me anyway.... the old autolite 103 plugs are gapped at .045

Edit.... wtf.... amazon says these wont fit.
Not a big deal if they dont...i can use them on my crown vic but bought these as a set with coils for my vehicle on ebay

New plugs,new coils, seafoamed, fuel injector cleaner, new fuel filter, new pcv valve, cat is good, still runs like crap. Battery was unplugged for a week and cel light came back on instantly.
The damn scanner I ordered a week ago just shipped today :(
I really wanted to get the floor rust treated so I could start the interrior build (4 day weekend) but Im not sure if I should even start on the inside since its still running like crap.
Not to mention the eventual need to replace the radiator and a chirping pulley.

Looks like most of the "easy fixes" have been marked off.
Would bad o2 sensor, or bad iac make it run like total crap like its running on half the cylinders?

Any tricks to get a cheap obd2 scanner to connect? Went and bought one at wallyworld. It powers on with key off but wont connect, wont connect with key on,wont connect with engine running.
Cant find my old bluetooth scanner to see if it connects.
Got another cheap scanner coming in the mail...it probably wont connect either.

Did you happen to look to see if the ecm is the same vin number as the van? Any chance someone could have replaced the engine and got one from a different year?

Havnt looked yet. Didnt see the ecm under the hood, Ill look for it later today.

Yesterday I went and bought a new muffler to quiet this thing down so I could drive it somewhere to see if there scanner would connect to read the fault codes. While I was there I decided to grab a new iac. The old iac was full of carbon deposits and oil. The old pcv was also full of oil.... not sure what that indicates.
Anyway, after the iac was installed it definately is idling better but still acts like it has a miss when reving the engine.
I was looking/listening for any hissing or vacuum leaks while the engine was running and decided to unplug the MAF to see what it would do.
I expected it to either run like crap or run better once the maf was unplugged since the ecm should put it in default mode, but when I unplugged it , it made absolutely no change at all.
Im not sure if this means the maf is bad or that the ecm is already in default mode and so then is not reading from the maf and that would explain the zero change in unplugging it :-huh

The weird canister thing on the y pipe that someone cut a rectangle out of is definatelly leaking exhaust. Im going to have to cut that section out and weld a tube in there or just patch over the hole they cut out.

I dont have the money to put it into a shop. Hopefully can get some codes pulled and at least have a better idea..
The scanner I bought connects to my other vehicles fine but will not connect to this van.

Im getting to the point of pulling out what little hair i have left, I have a feeling its something simple like a vac leak but Ive checked all the lines as best as I can and found nothing. Guess I could start spraying carb cleaner around the intake.

Looked everywhere for the ecm and cant find it. Under the hood is a group of wires going into the firewall, from inside under the dash the only thing i see that looks like an ecm is way up in there out of reach....its a black plastic box, cant really tell if the harness is going to it,its crammed and cramped up in there. Theres a sticker on it with numbers but its faded and cant be read.
I dont know....it doesnt look like the pcm's in my navigator and crown vics.

Im considering putting some old plates on it and driving it to oreillys to see if their scanner will connect. But i havnt titled it yet or got ins so thats risky but without codes im about to just give up.
I took a gamble and sofar lost.... I should of just saved for a newer and better running van