1996 Ford E-350 Van - Intermittently dies while driving

General truck repair questions and answers.
Post Reply
Mike
Posts:1
Joined:Sat May 17, 2014 10:04 am
2001 Ford Lightning misfire problem - need your best guesses

Post by Mike » Sat May 17, 2014 10:29 am

My F150 Lightning will suddenly misfire and run rough as if someone has put a potato in the tailpipe, while I am driving. I can start it in morning to go to work, and within 5 minutes, it will happen, other times, I can drive for 5 hours or sometimes several days before it will happen again. Sometimes it will last for a few seconds, sometimes for a few minutes. When it happens the Check Engine light will sometimes flash, but not stay on. My Innova 3030 F code reader picked up P0004, P0304 and P0181 dtc codes, which are in sequence - Fuel Volume Regulator Control Circuit High, #4 misfire and Fuel Temperature Sensor A Circuit Range/Performance. I've taken it to the dealer, who ran diagnostics and found nothing. They've driven it and experienced it as well. Finally showed a misfire for them at #4, but related to an injector code. Swapped #4 injector with #1, problem cleared up. On my drive home after picking it up, no less than a 1/4 mile from the dealer, it happened again for about 20 seconds. Took back the next day, diagnostics showed nothing. They ran a history check on the computer, and it showed a misfire of #5 and #7. Dealer thinking it may be ECM. Did nothing yet, left it with them for several days, couldn't get it to duplicate or happen again. Been driving for 4 days now, truck running good with a very slight occasional misfire hiccup, which seems to be getting worse. That's how the original problem started about 3-4 months ago. I've run my code reader diagnostic again with no results. Any ideas?
By the way, I don't drive the truck hard, as it is my daily driver, and I don't want to break it.

User avatar
Terry
Posts:110
Joined:Sun Jan 05, 2014 9:05 pm

Re: 2001 Ford Lightning misfire problem - need your best gue

Post by Terry » Tue May 20, 2014 10:13 pm

Yes, it does sound like an ECM problem just for the fact that it is so random, and now effecting different cylinder. Either that or a poor connection at the ECM or elsewhere in the main engine harness.

Mark
Posts:1
Joined:Sun Aug 10, 2014 9:12 am

2003 F250 6.0 PSD

Post by Mark » Sun Aug 10, 2014 9:14 am

Diesel Mechanics??
Having problems with my 6.0 PSD. I was traveling to work a couple mornings ago and it just quit on the expressway. Got it over to the shoulder and as I am rolling put it in neutral and restarted. Started right back up. it did that a couple more times that day. As I am leaving work it does it some more but now it is at the point where it will only run a Minute and shut off. The truck starts right up runs great and then shuts off like someone turned the key off. does not run rough or shake, it is very smooth. I have already changed the ICP and the IPR sensors since every website said to start there, but to no avail...Still is doing the same thing. Any ideas or can you point me in the right direction. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanx

User avatar
karlk
Posts:87
Joined:Fri Dec 27, 2013 7:39 pm

Re: 2003 F250 6.0 PSD

Post by karlk » Fri Aug 15, 2014 4:24 pm

Sounds like an electrical connector problem. I would get it running, grab a hold of the engine wiring harnesses and start pulling on them to see if you can get it to stall. Possibly just a poor connector, broken wire or loose ground.

tim
Posts:1
Joined:Wed Sep 10, 2014 2:44 pm

1996 Ford E-350 Van - Intermittently dies while driving

Post by tim » Wed Sep 10, 2014 4:04 pm

Having a problem with my 1996 Ford E-350 cargo van. It will die on me while driving down the road, never know when it will happen. Sometimes it will start back up after 5 to 10 minutes, other times it may take 30 minutes, and sometimes it wont start at all.. You never know when it will quit on you.. Engine is gas, 5.8ltr. It has been running fine up until about two weeks ago, Last December 2013,I had a full tune up done because it was RUNNING ROUGH, the mechanic who did the tune up,replaced the distributor cap, spark plug wires,spark plugs, and rotor. He said he put a new Ignition module on it and that didn't help,so he took it back off. He had it over a week and a half and He couldn't get it to run any better than when I took it to him. He also said He put a new( in tank) fuel pump and fuel filter on.. new strainer on fuel pump also.. After I got fed up with Him, I took it to the Ford dealership and asked them to put it on their computer and please tell me whats wrong. They kept it 5 days and told me that they had problems getting their computer to tell them anything.. I paid them $85 dollars for their trouble and drove to another mechanics shop and asked him if he would fix it.. Told Him everything I had tried before I got to Him.. He told me to put a new computer in it and I got one from Napa and I installed it and that fixed my problem. The van has run fine up until two weeks ago when I started having the intermittent dying problems. Had to get a wrecker to pull me back home two weeks ago, and the wrecker driver said it sounded like the fuel pump could be acting up or maybe the fuel filter was stopping up.. So last week, I put a new fuel pump and filter on it and hoped that fixed it. Ran fine for a couple of days and then my wife took it into town and she got stranded because the dang thing wouldn't crank. Oh Yeah, by the way, the new fuel pump that the first mechanic was supposed to have put in last december2013, was real dirty on the top and had a Ford Delco sticker on it and a date of 2006.. He did put a new fuel filter on it though.. I just brought it home from a new mechanic that I tried after it died last week.. He couldn't get it to stop running, so He said he couldn't fix the problem until it quit running.. So I drove it home and it ran just fine.. Trouble is NOW , I don't trust it to get me anywhere.. Not a good feeling to get stranded away from home. Hoping that somebody reading this post will be able to give me some advice with my problem.. Thanks, Tim

User avatar
karlk
Posts:87
Joined:Fri Dec 27, 2013 7:39 pm

Re: 1996 Ford E-350 Van - Intermittently dies while driving

Post by karlk » Sun Sep 14, 2014 10:39 pm

The problem does sound like a bad fuel pump. If the pump that is in it has a sticker that says 2006, then either they never replaced it or put in a used one. Either way, that needs to get fixed and that shop should do it for free, since they lied to you.

After the fuel pump gets fixed, if it still has problems then you need to have the wiring checked. You may have a loose ground or harness rubbing causing these intermittent problems. Especially since the Ford dealer computer had trouble connection to the diagnostic tool.

Post Reply