First time poster - Just finished an engine swap, trying to get it all dialed in
05-25-2015, 02:58 PM
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First time poster - Just finished an engine swap, trying to get it all dialed in
Hi all,
First time poster here. I am a member on a few other forums, so I am not completely new to this sort of thing.
I have a 95 XLT, 5.0 AODe, standard cab Long box, 4x4. Mostly stock, aside from some wheels and tires. It has been a love/hate relationship with this truck, but I have put a lot of money into repairs and upgrades in the couple years I have had it, and with a baby due shortly, I'm not in a postion to replace her.
It was in need of some motor work, and was beyond a state of repair. I ended up coming across a good deal on a low mileage 96 5.0 out an explorer, with the GT40 heads, so I picked it up. Spend the following weekend pulling my engine, removing all the components I would have to re-use. Cleaned, scrubbed and bead blasted it all. Went thru the donor engine, making sure it was good to go, cleaned it up. Reassembled the motor with new oil pump, timing set, fresh seals and gaskets, new water pump, new EGR valve and tube and painted her up all purdy. Got a set of shorty Pacesetters for it, and put it in this weekend. However, I did not notice until just before it was ready to drop the new motor, noticed the GT heads were not equipped with the ports for the smog pump. My buddy that was helping me said he removed the pump on an old ford of his with out problems, so I went that route. I removed the crossover and plugged the line, removed the canisters, capped the vac lines, and dropped it in. It was idling very fast, and discovered the IAC was stuck open, even though it had been replaced less than a year ago. Replaced that, and Idle came right down to normal. I gotta say, I am a bit disappointed in the performance so far. The motor runs smooth, sounds good, doesn't seem to have any mechanical issues. I am a boat mechanic, so I know my way around an engine compartment, but am much more familiar with GM stuff, and all the emissions control equipment on automotive engines is a bit unfamiliar territory to me. Mid and high end power is good, but it seems very sluggish on the bottom end, even worse than the old worn out motor. And I am getting a CEL a few minutes after start up. I admittedly have not pulled codes. I assume the CEL is an O2 sensor, or something emissions related due to the smog removal? And wonder if my power loss could be in the exhaust. With the freer flowing heads, and headers, perhaps the remainder of the stock exhaust can't flow enough, and/or the cats are at least partially choked from all the carbon build up and oil burning I had going on with the old motor. Since I have removed the smog pump and related parts, should I just remove EGR too? I have read numerous threads about that, some people say it is fine, others say their trucks ran poorly afterwards.
First time poster here. I am a member on a few other forums, so I am not completely new to this sort of thing.
I have a 95 XLT, 5.0 AODe, standard cab Long box, 4x4. Mostly stock, aside from some wheels and tires. It has been a love/hate relationship with this truck, but I have put a lot of money into repairs and upgrades in the couple years I have had it, and with a baby due shortly, I'm not in a postion to replace her.
It was in need of some motor work, and was beyond a state of repair. I ended up coming across a good deal on a low mileage 96 5.0 out an explorer, with the GT40 heads, so I picked it up. Spend the following weekend pulling my engine, removing all the components I would have to re-use. Cleaned, scrubbed and bead blasted it all. Went thru the donor engine, making sure it was good to go, cleaned it up. Reassembled the motor with new oil pump, timing set, fresh seals and gaskets, new water pump, new EGR valve and tube and painted her up all purdy. Got a set of shorty Pacesetters for it, and put it in this weekend. However, I did not notice until just before it was ready to drop the new motor, noticed the GT heads were not equipped with the ports for the smog pump. My buddy that was helping me said he removed the pump on an old ford of his with out problems, so I went that route. I removed the crossover and plugged the line, removed the canisters, capped the vac lines, and dropped it in. It was idling very fast, and discovered the IAC was stuck open, even though it had been replaced less than a year ago. Replaced that, and Idle came right down to normal. I gotta say, I am a bit disappointed in the performance so far. The motor runs smooth, sounds good, doesn't seem to have any mechanical issues. I am a boat mechanic, so I know my way around an engine compartment, but am much more familiar with GM stuff, and all the emissions control equipment on automotive engines is a bit unfamiliar territory to me. Mid and high end power is good, but it seems very sluggish on the bottom end, even worse than the old worn out motor. And I am getting a CEL a few minutes after start up. I admittedly have not pulled codes. I assume the CEL is an O2 sensor, or something emissions related due to the smog removal? And wonder if my power loss could be in the exhaust. With the freer flowing heads, and headers, perhaps the remainder of the stock exhaust can't flow enough, and/or the cats are at least partially choked from all the carbon build up and oil burning I had going on with the old motor. Since I have removed the smog pump and related parts, should I just remove EGR too? I have read numerous threads about that, some people say it is fine, others say their trucks ran poorly afterwards.
05-26-2015, 06:30 PM
#2
I don't want to come across as overly critical here -- but many auto parts stores sell the $30 tool that allows you to pull codes effortlessly. Please go buy that or pull your codes manually and come back.
'I assume the CEL is an O2 sensor...' -- Lets try to avoid assumptions -- you've made many changes at once, it could be anything.
Since we can't all get under your hood it's best to provide us with the most detail possible (factual information) if you'd like more help.
'I assume the CEL is an O2 sensor...' -- Lets try to avoid assumptions -- you've made many changes at once, it could be anything.
Since we can't all get under your hood it's best to provide us with the most detail possible (factual information) if you'd like more help.
05-26-2015, 06:31 PM
#3
Also, unless something is really wrong with your EGR i'd leave it alone. It really only provides benefits when it's working properly. Additionally, removing it can be more of a headache than fixing the original issue (if there is one).
05-26-2015, 08:00 PM
#4
Bleeds blue
IIRC, the firing order on a Mustang 5.0L HO is different than the 5.0L truck motor. I'm not sure about the Exploder motor. You have it timed correctly? Mustang is also cammed for higher power band instead of low end.
It's been a while so my mind is a bit foggy on them now......
It's been a while so my mind is a bit foggy on them now......
05-26-2015, 11:06 PM
#5
Martin
The Explorer 5.0 and a 95 F150 5.0 should be very similar in power. I believe they use the same cam. The first thing I could think of for lack of power might be having used the fine wire Explorer plugs? Possible cross fire at the plug wires? Just throwing a few things out.
Edit. The GT40 head needs a bit longer spark plug if I remember correctly, but the plug for the 95 F150 will thread in just not be far enough into the chamber. Not a 100% sure on this but worth checking out.
Edit. The GT40 head needs a bit longer spark plug if I remember correctly, but the plug for the 95 F150 will thread in just not be far enough into the chamber. Not a 100% sure on this but worth checking out.
Last edited by sdmartin65; 05-26-2015 at 11:20 PM.
05-27-2015, 01:09 AM
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I admit that I have not made the time to actually pull the codes. I do have the code reader already. I have a baby due in a few months, and I am very behind on other projects. Spending the past few weekends on this motor project has set me behind even further. As soon as it was running and driveable, I started moving onto other things. I believe it to be an O2 sensor, due to the smog pump delete, and the CEL will go away after the engine is shut down, then takes a few minutes to come back again after start up. But I will plug in the scan tool as soon as I set aside a few minutes.
Having said all that, I did put the long reach plugs in (Autolite 104) to accommodate the GT40 heads. I bumped the timing up, after i initially setting it to the 10° spec, i've raised it further, which did help. Assuming the balancer hasn't slipped, I'm running around 16 or so now. As to the firing order, to my knowledge, all the roller 5.0 blocks share the firing order with the 5.8. She runs real smooth, doesn't feel like a misfire. Just felt it should have a little better bottom end. The old motor was so tired, I thought I would feel more improvement.
My research did find that the cams in the Sploder motor is indeed the same as the truck. The only difference in the motors is the heads, obviously, amd the explorer's have a slightly higher compression piston, which was apparent when I had the heads off of both.
It is also possible that I had just expected too much out of it, and nothing is wrong at all. Lol.
Having said all that, I did put the long reach plugs in (Autolite 104) to accommodate the GT40 heads. I bumped the timing up, after i initially setting it to the 10° spec, i've raised it further, which did help. Assuming the balancer hasn't slipped, I'm running around 16 or so now. As to the firing order, to my knowledge, all the roller 5.0 blocks share the firing order with the 5.8. She runs real smooth, doesn't feel like a misfire. Just felt it should have a little better bottom end. The old motor was so tired, I thought I would feel more improvement.
My research did find that the cams in the Sploder motor is indeed the same as the truck. The only difference in the motors is the heads, obviously, amd the explorer's have a slightly higher compression piston, which was apparent when I had the heads off of both.
It is also possible that I had just expected too much out of it, and nothing is wrong at all. Lol.
05-27-2015, 06:27 AM
#7
Bleeds blue
We bought an OBS work truck with a bad motor back years ago, don't remember the exact year, and sold it to a friend who bought a 'Stang motor for it. IIRC he used the truck intake and finally figured out the 5.8L firing order was what was needed. He claimed it ran like a raped ape, but who knows. As I said this was years ago. In reality it should have the power of an Exploder which is pretty decent from what I've "seen". Hope you get it worked out and congrats on the little one.
Edit:5.0L motors used the old firing order, 5.0L HO's used the 5.8L firing order. Your 95 would have the HO so scratch the firing order post.
Edit:5.0L motors used the old firing order, 5.0L HO's used the 5.8L firing order. Your 95 would have the HO so scratch the firing order post.
Last edited by ncranchero; 05-27-2015 at 06:41 AM.
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06-10-2015, 07:48 PM
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Sorry it has been awhile since I started this thread. Haven't been driving the truck a ton, and been busy in house projects and trying to get the baby room ready. Anyway, i pulled codes. Cleared them to make sure i didn't have old codes mixed with new. Then drove the truck around a bit, and just pulled codes again. I am getting Insufficient EGR Flow, O2 sensor rich codes. The EGR Valve is brand new, as is the tube, but solenoids are not. I am not familiar with how to diagnose the EGR system. I suppose the new valve could be bad out of the box. But is it likely that these codes are related to the smog pump being disconnected? I live outside the emissions testing boundary in my area, however i may be selling the truck to my uncle, and he will be living inside the boundary.