My 98 Exp 5.4 went 99K on the original DPFE sensor, when it finally failed, in the course of tracking down my failure mode, I fixed a vacuum leak and cleaned the TB, replaced IAC, etc. I followed the advice of some on this board and bought the replacement sensor at NAPA rather than the FoMoCo part. Well, it lasted 7K miles, and failed. Good news was from my previous P0
401 fiasco and repair, I knew immediately how to diagnose it. I did buy the more expensive ford sensor this time. Anybody else have these sensors fail so quickly? Is there something going on with EGT's in higher mileage motors that shortens their working life? Or does higher mileage have nothing to do with it with EGT profile simply being a related to the mixture condition?

 

Do you mean EGR? I had an 00 Lightning that I replaced the DPFE sensor every 10,000 miles. It had 106500 when I traded it in last weekend. I actually orderd the EGR Blockoff Plate, and removed all of the EGR system. Blocked off the Vacuum hoses and then programmed out the EGR system from the ECU.

 

So far I've only changed the sensor once on every truck. Motorcraft parts.

Adrianspeeder

 

I've never had an OEM DPFE go bad in less than 50K miles. I've had several last well over 100,000 miles. In my experience with Fords & Mazdas, the DPFE is the weak link in the EGR system. I'm not sure if age or mileage is the leading cause of the DFPE failures.

 

It's heat and moisture. Remember, hot exhaust gas rushes into the DPFE...then the engine is shut down and allowed to cool. Then later, started back up so more exhaust gas can flow through it, and the cycle repeats. Over time, condensation and contamination from various chemicals and stuff in the exhaust build up in the DPFE, sending it to the parts house in the sky. This is probably one of several reasons Ford is eliminating the DPFEGR system, in favor of ESMs that combine the EGR valve, the DPFE and EVR in one complete assembly that uses vacuum instead of exhaust gas for reference - moisture can't form inside a vacuum - and by using internal EGR with variable cam timing, like with the 3V modular engines.

 

Hey guys is it pretty straight-forward to change the DPFE sensor? Do I need to clamp anything off or anything I should know before I clean and/or replace it?

Also, what are they running (approximately) at Ford for OEM?

Thanks,

Jay

 

Wow, my truck has over 200K on it and I've never replaced the DPFE sensor.
What are the symptoms that it is going bad?

 

The CEL is on.....

Steve

 

When a DPFE Goes bad, The ECM will send a p0401 Code. (Insufficent EGR Flow) The DPFE is a little black box usually attached to the top of the plenum, with two rubber downspout hoses. One attaches to the EGR Tube (Or directly to EGR) And the other usually goes to a tube right onto the manifold or again, onto the EGR tube. If you have this code, you can mark and remove the hoses, and spray some Throttle body cleaner into them. They usually 'chalk' up with white residue. Sometimes their blocked solid, and you can save yourself a couple of bucks. If not, Replace the DPFE, Clear codes, verify repair.

 

18 months ago, I replaced my DPFE with a NAPA product. Last week, after putting on about 10k miles, the NAPA product failed and required replacement. NAPA said 1 year warranty from the date of purchase, mileage doesn't matter.

I'm replacing with a Ford motor co OEM replacement which I'm hoping will last longer than the NAPA branded component.

 

Even though OEM (dealer) parts are more expensive, the way I look at it....if you get 75,000 miles out of a part, why not replace it with factory part. Example: had to change window motor on wifes car a few months ago. She has almost 200,000 miles on her car. When I replaced the window motor, the car had about 155,000 miles. I replaced it with one from the dealer.

Just my two cents
Mike

 

Okay, so I have code P1401 and I see a lot of different people talking about the DFPE, so I did some searching. Below is what mine looks like. My question is, "How the hell do you disconnect it? The top is easy, just a clip, but how about the bottom? Thanks!

 

It just pulls off the stalks.

Steve

 

Thanks. I figured that out today. So, I replaced it and my truck is still running like crap. The CEL went out, which is strange as hell, but it still runs like it is missing.

I have already replaced the plugs and the wiring.

Any suggestions???