Hi guys and gals,
I have engine problem with my 2001 Flareside, 4X4 Lariat. I just turned over 49000 miles. About a month ago I fueled up and immediately the truck started shaking pretty bad. I figured it was bad fuel causing a rough idle. I was just getting ready to get on the road for a 300 mile trip (I live and work in two different cities).

A little background: For a couple of months prior to this incident the truck had been idling a little rough and shaking at highway speeds. It was hit and miss with no SES lights ever popping on. I thought the shaking was due to the tires so I had them rotated and balanced on two occassions. The trouble seemed to go away and I thought nothing of it.

So I get on the Interstate and right off the bat the truck is shaking so bad the change in the cup holder is rattling around. Once again I thought it was the tires so I continued on my way. About 50 miles down the road the SES light starts FLASHING, On and off, on and off. While I'm driving I noticed I have no passing power and it takes FOREVER to get up to 70 mph. I'm in cruise control, doing 70, and everytime I cross an overpass the truck kinda bogged down and lost 5-8 mph but would never downshift to regain the lost speed. On the downslope, the cruise control regained the speed and held 70 mph but is was a rough-a$$ ride. I'd say about 75 miles into the trip the SES light extinguised and didn't come back on

About 150 miles later I stopped at my regular gas station, put in 9 gallons of 87 and got back on the road. I had to get on the gas peddle to merge into traffic and the damn SES light came back on nad styed on for the remaining 120 miles of my trip. Same rough ride, shaking truck and non-regulated speed although I was in Cruise.

I take it to a Firestone shop the next morning and $566.00 later, 8 plugs and a coil later...I'mon my merry way. I was told somehow or another that moisture had corroded the coil causing the plugs to foul causing the 7 and 8 cylinder to misfire. In any case, I'm out $566.00. On further review, the plugs and cols are warrentied for 7/70000 but now I have an issue with reimbursement from Ford. That's another story!

Anyway, less than a month later my SES light is on again. I currently have a civilian mechanic in our "On Base" autoshop conduting a "Fuel/Air induction cleaning". We took off the EGR valve and although it's dirty it isn't as bad as he thought it would be. The Code reader says something abou a vacuum leak in the EGR valve.

Do you guys recommend I replace the $54.00 valve AS WELL AS the O2 sensors at the same time or do you think this 'Fuel/Air induction cleaning" is going to cure my ills? Once again, this truck has nothing but 49,000 highway miles on it and it gets regular maintanance. I love my truck but I can't afford to be left beside the road, not with what I do for a living.

I also have a 97 Ford Taurus with the SES light on. These flippin vehicles are driving me up the wall.

 

o.k. big fella settle down. no big deal.

there is a heater hose over the one of the coils on the passenger side and it leaks a little coolant and is famous for killing the coil directly below it and sometimes the one next to it. both of the mechanics you have used prolly do no know about it so the first one didn't fix it so you drove it a while and it leaked on the new coil. (Assuming you have the 5.4)

when ces flashes it means that the engine is miss firing.

the codes that the ces gives you are just a starting point for a proper diagnosis NOT what needs to be replaced.

DO NOT REPLACE the EGR valve it is very easy to test and 99% of the time when you get a egr code it is not the valve at fault. there is a hose near the firewall that is famous for craking and causing a vacuum leak in the egr system. DO NOT REPLACE THE EGR VALVE!! unless it tests bad. never ever just replace parts unless they can be proven at fault.

have the computer codes read in your tarus and then get a diagnosis that clearing explains the path taken to determine what caused the code no what the mechanic thinks is wrong or else you will get more frustrated and throw lots-o-parts and lots-o-money at it and get no where fast.

dismount soap box

good luck-

 

I like to check the obvious first. By changing the plugs and wires, a tuneup and the like. All sorts of things can happen as mentioned above. Sometimes the assumption is that a sensor or computer has gone bad when in fact there is a simple mechanical problem. Spend the time to look things over carefully, and touch and tug on everything. As an aircraft mechanic, I find more faults by touching and running my hands over things. Heck, I have even had wires pull right out of the connectors.


Chris

 

Well...the EGR cleaning as well as the fuel/air induction cleaning didn't fix my problem. We removed the EGR valve and cleaned it up. There was a good bit of carbon buildup in the EGR and quite a bit of gumming in the intake. We ran a BG product fuel/air induction cleaning through the engine as well. Upon completion the engine idled better and seemed to have regained the pick-up that I'd sensed had declined over the past 6 months or so.

My "through the week" apartment is about 8 miles from my office. Truck drove great all the way home last night. Smooth, good acceleration. Damn if the SES light didn't come back on about a mile down the rode this morning on my way in to work.

In reference to the previous posts, this mechanic didn't have the specks for the vacuum measurements for the EGR. We did check the various hoses for vaccum. I assumed he had it under control. Someone "borrowed" his 2001 code reader and he forgot to get it back before he left the shop yesterday. I'm supposed to bring the truck to him this afternoon so he can read the codes again.

Come to think of it, I explained my plug/coil dilema to this guy and he pretty much told me I was full of ****e. Said the plugs and coil are SEALED and there is no way moisture could have gotten into it. I tell ya, I'm more inclined to believe the readers of these web pages than this guy. Not saying he's not a good mechanic, he just can't validate his comments.

Bottom line is this, I have a 300 mile trip home tomorrow. I've dropped what will amount to another $140.00 (looking at $700.00 total in the past 2 months) into this beast and that stinking SES light is sill on. The truck appears to drive fine, I drove it 300 miles down here last Sunday. With 49000 miles I'm wondering if it's not an O2 sensor. I did have two "lazy sensors" on the code box when my mechanic initially read the box, before we took off the EGR. However, those sensors appeared to be funtioning correctly on the box last night. He didn't have the 2001 code reader so he had to use a generic reader. I don't know.....seems kinda shady to me.

 

If your EGR was gummed up with carbon then it's possible that the passages leading into the intake are gummed up as well?

Anyhow, it may be worth investigating since cleaning the EGR did seem to help some. BTW, this condition will set a code.

Good luck.

 

Here's some other pics compliments of Fordpwr.

Throttle body

 

Apparently my problem is with the EGR Solenoid. My guy did a full diagnostic and received the same malfunction code despite the fact that we cleaned the EGR and did a fuel/air induction cleaning yesterday. "EGR Excessive Flow" is the one-liner on the box.

So, he had me disconnect the wiring harness looking thing from the solenoid and hit 60 in a live road test. No SES light, no loss of power....he thinks the solenoid is the problem. $22.00 dollars to buy a new one from Ford.

Does that solenoid issue sound like a viable problem to you guys?

Thanks for the pix Le PEW...I hope my intake passages don't look like that at 49000 miles. I'd like to learn to work on my vehicles to that degree HOWEVER, I prefer I did my learning on someone else's vehicle

 

Does sound like an EGR problem. Is the solenoid the same part as the EGR position sensor? Mine went bad on my '96 Cavalier and caused it to run rough sometimes when the engine was cold. The car had 154,000 mile on it when it went bad though.

 

I'm not sure if the EGR position sensor and the EGR solenoid are the same thing since I'm not a mechanic. The solenoid, so I'm told, is forward of the EGR valve and looks like a black cylinder (upright) with a cap that turns and has small vertical cut-outs in it. The vacuum lines are connected to the side of it.

Once again, the mechanic supposedly isolated the problem to this "solenoid". He had me disconnect the cable and hit highway speeds of 60 mph or more. I did this and got no SES light. He told me to leave the solenoid disconnected until I can get it replaced.

When I came in to work again this morning, the stinking SES light came on again. So, as far as I'm concerned I'm right back where I started on Monday. It appears I've paid this guy $140.00 for what amounts to nothing. The code box says "EGR Excessive Flow". That's what it read on Monday when we started this repair and that'what it says now.

Sure, he did a fuel/air induction cleaning and supposedly cleaned the EGR valve, however, I still have a SES light that comes back on the very next day after it's been turned off AND I'm not REALLY sure what the problem is. Bottom line, we've got about 8 hours of waiting for repair work, about 3 hours of actual work into the truck and $140.00 into the repair and I still have the same problem I started with. Time to drive 300 miles home today as well.

 

Do you have a 5.4 or 4.6?
I fought the same codes on my wifes 5.4 Expy.. I was getting low EGR flow codes mostly,,, but would get and excessive every so often.
Here are a few checks... With the motor idleing, being aware of safety from rotating parts, pull the vacuum plug off the front of the relay,, the black thing with the slotted rotateable cap ,, place your finger over the supply side tube,, not the one going to the egr.. You should hear and feel alot of vacuum,, if it just barely sucks on your skin and you cant hear it, you may have a leak... Thats the problem I had ,, right behind the battery there is a Vac plug with 4 lines,,, one of them was cracked..
I found this after I had replaced the DPFE sensor , which was corroded, this sensor is what tell the computer how much egr flow there is by comparing pressure differentials... There is no position sensor on these motors. This sensor is 1.5x3x.5" with two hoses comming from the exhaust tubes and has a wiring plug on it... Should be close to the relay and EGR valve... Could be metal or black plastic. These thing are bad to fail, but I dont know a easy way to check them for proper operation other than change out... 75 bucks. Maybe someone knows a quick check for it.
Do a search in this forum for EGR and you will come up with a wealth of info on this problem.
I bought a code reader from autozone, not a bad little rig..
Hope some of this helps..
I found every suggestion to check and repair my problem by doing searches on this forum..