It's the same with John Deere. Their tractors are EXTREMELY sophistocated with Thousands of sensors on the tractor itself. They record everything about the tractor, and can give awesome diagonstic info, but the JD techs don't hardly know how to plug their laptop into the tractor. It's REALLY sad.

 

This is the point that can't seem to come accross to people that they own a vehichle that is very sophisticated in terms of engine and power train control.
Simple code reading dosn't tell what the problem is directly without knowing the full system operation surrounding it and that there are means provided to access the PCM and do the diagnostic procedure provided by Ford.
Code discription often fools people trying to interpet them because of what the code is linked to.
For example, a code that says lean is not always the motor being lean. That fools people because the code states the condition of a fuel table in the PCM program only and not what caused it to shift out of limits.
It's no different with medical digagnostics by a doctor. Some are better than others but most of the time you are taken care of quite well because they are obligated to work to standards and oath, a dealer is not required to do working on vehichles. Big difference is the money involved and where it comes from.
With dealers and private shops, if they don't take any pride in the work, you get what you get until you find a good shop or get lucky.
There are lots of vehichles traded in because of a diagnostic problems ongoing when the vehichle is far from actually worn out.
The number one problem is people try to take a cheap route with parts and service trying to do it themselves when they are not equipped to do so.
Second is the captive position this put owner in for cost and often poor workmanship from shops.
It won't get any better very soon.

 

Bluegrass is right. Take some time, get a 6 pack and get under the damn hood. My 0171 was cleared when I replaced that stupid elbow on the throttle body. This was after I replaced the MAF like a dumba$$.
If your COPs or plugs are bad you are running lean
If your fuel filter is clogged, you are running lean
Don't start throwing parts at the problem to fix it.

 

I think you said it there Bluegrass. My brother lives in L.A. and knows nothing about fixing cars. Whenever something goes wrong on his, it seems he goes to shops and they throw 7 parts at it every time, hoping something works. He does not have the tools/knowledge to fix stuff, but he is trying to learn more because frankly, he can't seem to find a mechanic that has those things either.

 

So I am running lean right now. Not because I have a code, but because I have crappy gas mileage. Are there affordable diagnostic scanners on the market that will read trim codes, etc.? I mean, if it is going to cost $150 for a scan to throw parts at it, and $200 for a scanner that I can reuse, I'd rather buy the scanner and learn how to work it.

 

When i was under the hood I replaced the hose going to the idle sensor.the light came back on.At the shop they erased the codes and since then the light has not come back on. Its been 3 day and around 200 miles. I keeping my fingers crosssed.Thanks again

 

The light came back on today after around 300 miles also it seems to be spark knocking more.Stopped at Autozone and it is the same codes po171,po174. I am going over a friend of a friends house to have him look at it. He is an ASE master tec so I am told.He told me on the phone a new MAF would not be a bad idea with the miles on my truck(132000).Also he wants to check the fuel pres and check for vac leaks himself. Right away he brings up worst case scenarios(manilod cracked ,leaking etc.) I will post what he has to say.

 

That is NOT the same . Before you posted a PO171 . Now you post PO171 & PO174 . That is different. You have both banks testing positive for lean instead of just the one.

MAF problem or PCV line (vac leak). When the two codes come up together. If they came up together in the beginning - you should of freakin posted that.

 

Try cleaning your MAF sensor.

 

Hey jbrew - I don't mean to hijack this thread, but I'm going to anyways since the topic is CEL codes.

What have you got for a scan tool? There is all this talk in here about taking your truck down to the dealer to have them run a diagnostic that checks not just CEL codes, but also fuel trims, etc. For me, I don't have a CEL code on, but am sure that I am running lean given my fuel mileage. Instead of paying $150 to the dealer, I guess it would be nice to get my own scan tool that can tell me trim codes, etc. that I can use over and over in case something else were to go wrong. Just curious if you have one (or anyone else here) and what you are using?

There are some on ebay that say they read fuel trims in addition to CEL codes and give live data for around $100-150. Thanks in advance.:o

 

I don't use one myself - never had the need for one. I believe there's a simple reader that just reads faults stored in memory (Actron) .

I know you can get a data link cable (up link) of some kind for your laptop - from there, it's all in the software.

Start a new thread on it - Good Topic.

 

When I first posted it only gave the one code the po171.I typed it wrong when i said the same two sorry. When I took it in it only showed the one code . Now it showed both when I had Autozone check it after the light came back on SAt. I have cleaned the MAF and checked the PVC and its hose. I am going over the friend Tecs house tonight and have him check the codes. He has a scanner from Snap on tools that he is bringing home from work.He also said he wanted to check fuel pressure.

 

I love this forum!!!!

 

Like I said it only gave the PO171 at first.Now it gives both,this started Sat2/16. So anyway I talked to the Mastertec. he didnt bring his fuel pressuer gauge ,but checked the codes and got both the PO171 and PO174 said it MIGHT be my MAF or a vac leak we could not find any last night either. He looked at what he thought it would leak.He cleared the codes and told me to drive it and see what happens. He tells me that he cant do else anything untill Next Fri two weeks from now.If the light comes back Iam thinking about just buying a MAF and putting on myself.I can get one from 85 to 95 for a remanufactuered one.

 

I have never had the 171/174 codes on my truck, but I have read about them on this forum at least once a week for the past six months because the topic comes up all the time. Run a search with either "171" or "174" as your search topic and you will find hundreds of threads. My impression is that you want to FIRST go after vacuum leaks. PCV elbow is first to check, then go from there. After you have thoroughly checked for vacuum leaks, check again. Seriously.

If you go through all of the 171/174 threads here, I think you'll find that many of them read something like this: "I had 171/174, I replaced the MAF, then I replaced the O2 sensors, then I replaced the blinker fluid, the left headlamp, the CD changer, valve stems on all four tires, muffler bearings (both of them of course), drove it for 50 miles, and the codes came back. I got to poking around a little more and found a vacuum hose unplugged from my EGR valve. Wish I wouldn't have wasted all that money."

Not saying that it isn't your MAF by any means. But more often than not around here it seems like it is the cheap/easy fix of a $3 vacuum line rather than the $100 MAF, EGR, or whatever to get rid of those codes. Good luck.