smokinbutnotbroken

Hello everyone and thank you in advance for any and all input, Im new to this forum so this is my first post. okay lets get down to buisness then aye? Ive got a 94 f150 xlt 5.8 EFI that has just shy of 200,000 miles and usually runs like a champ. the reason i say usually is because after about an hour of driving around the desert streets of las vegas she seems to run fine but the engine seems to be louder than normal.. it sounds as if it has an electric fan kickin under the hood which it does not. has a newer (about 2500 miles old) fan clutch and original fan.. i dont hear this all the time usually only on longer hotter drives, another symptom that comes with the noise is poor power. I pulled codes a few months back and got ECT out of test limits, Shift solenoid 2 circuit failure - these im pretty sure arent the cause.. also got Thermactor air system inoperable, along with EGR valve opening not detected.
Any Ideas??

ton van der sluijs

Goodmorning... Las Vegas.. hmmmm hot temperture; hot engine.. Maybe a thicker grade of oil? May I give you a suggestion? Try Lucas Oil Stabiliser and add a liter (one bottle) . We are Lucas dealer here, because we do believe and we have seen it; it works!! (lets get things clear, there is NO carmechanic in the bottle)

ton

smokinbutnotbroken

Its got some pretty thick oil in it, cant remember weight right now its the same oil we use in our fleet trucks, and i have added an equivalent of that last oil change STP was the brand if im not mistaken. appreciate the quick reply though.

ton van der sluijs

Maybe a lifter, who doesn't fill up when hot? But, I was thinking, suppose when your oil from the fleet, mixxed with STP (which makes the oil thicker) can also give a problem with the lifters. How is your oilpressure when hot and at idle? I personely think, that a wrong thing on the Ford with E4OD is, that the overdrive is always on automatically . to heavy load at to low revs on the bearings. My overdrive is "off" under 52MPH.

best regards Ton

smokinbutnotbroken

Im not sure of the exact PSI or Pa .. but it seems normal about 3/4 of a full sweep of the needle on the gauge in the dash. im kinda leaning towards it having to do with somthing with the engine but ill never completely rule out one thing until the issue is dealt with. I havent ever thought of turning the O/D off when it starts acting up, i will certainly give it a try my family and I have had the worst luck with the E4OD transmissions they all seem to be junk I must say this truck has been the smoothest shifting of them all though. could either the thermactor air bypass or EGR valve malfunction cause the motor to be louder than normal? like i said it just sounds like an fan kickin full blast, motor runs fine no stumbles, knocks, or pings. just the drop of power.

Thanks, Josh

ton van der sluijs

Josh;
What I should do in your place is, when the noise occurs, stop the truck, let the engine run, open the bonnet and try to trace were the noise comes from. to me, from a distance, I would say, according to the powerloss, that a leak occurs. what a possibillity could be is, that de steel hose from the EGR to the exhaust is broken and that at certain speed with a certain temp, the EGR opens an mess up you incoming air. You do have an airpump I presume .. Maybe, when the pump blows fresh air into the cil.heads, the problem occurs. (I've removed the airpump with all the tubes).
now, to come back to the O/D... when it's on at lower reves , the gears in the O/D will burn and seize. some more revs until 53MPH is better for your engine and doesn't cost more fuel.

Ton

smokinbutnotbroken

I do have the air pump installed and the truck is unmolested 31X10.50 tires exempt. That makes sense and could very well be a possibility, i just got back from a cruise but it being 4 am here it must not have got hot enough to cause any abnormalities. I would love to remove the EGR and all its accesories but i have "The Man" checking to see that i havent tampered with it yearly : ( ill check it when it hits 103 deg. today. ive never really liked city driving with the O/D tranny seemed to be undecided in which gear it wanted to be in; now hopefully i can talk the woman into turning it off when she drives so we dont burn it up faster than neccesary. Again many thanks Ton : )

Josh

ton van der sluijs

Keep me posted if you like Josh. A pity that you live on the other side of the world; troubleshooting is my fav.

The airpump..
Here at the yearly test, an airpump would mess up the readings.. I've seen, that the air is blown at one side of the exhaustvalves against the direction of the hot gasses.. My truck runs on LPG one gallon to 11,5Miles... very good for a V8...
The EGR..
At the yearly test the master could demand an EGR, but no one sees it's blinded. The Thermactor is there still for the show; no vacuumleads anymore.
I've removed the charcoal cannister as well. Rubbish! A wealthy space under the bonnet.

Ton

smokinbutnotbroken

very nice bet that was quite a pricey conversion, i would love having that extra room under the hood especially having that damn god ugly coffee can removed. ive been getting 8-9 mpg city with the 31's on i presume thats pretty good considering my dads 91 bronco (before it burned up) got 7-8 mpg with the 302 granted his was 4x4 but i would think it would be at least a little better than my 351. well ive been kinda of takin it easy on her until i had to drive a considerabley long distance compared to what shes used to. while returning from the destination i hit some stop and go traffic for about 25-30 minutes when she started slamming second and noticebly slipping all gears, i pulled into the nearest gas station just to check tranny fluid and listen for those leaks you were speaking of fluid was at correct level. the motor seemed to be happy running smooth as silk, responded nicely to a quick rpm sweep. so now im starting to think im going to be replacing yet another e4od transmission : ( the shift solenoid code could cause the harsh gear changes i imagine, but the shift solenoid shouldnt cause transmission slippage could it? the fluid and filters were just changed not too long ago i make it priority to change all fluids and filters regularly. i reeally wish ford had made a little better quality transmissions, oh and not use rivets for suspension bracketry haha. well unless you think other wise ill be looking for a new tranny, a nice beefy one that will hopefully last.

good looking out.
Josh

Warlockk

First thing to do with an error code, especially multiple codes, is clear them and drive the vehicle to operating temperature then recheck. It's one thing to pull the egr on a lpg system but removing it on a gas system has definite detrimental effects and no gains ( other than a little more space ). The smog pump or secondary air system is a different system all together. Removing this on a gas system won't really hurt anything other than increased emissions and diminished function of the cats. Not to mention you won't pass smog. Again the only gain is a little space and a few pounds. You'd gain more by dropping your spare tire. As for the noise my first suspicion is the fan clutch engaging. These trucks have the loudest fan I've ever heard. For the error codes, if they reappear all could be caused by a vacuum leak. I would hook up a vacuum gauge and do a full test. It can tell you a lot about the engine. Btw that big coffee can is your vacuum reservoir. It doesn't really have anything to do with the emissions although the egr is vacuum activated. The smaller cylinder is your charcoal canister that just catches vapors and keeps them out of the atmosphere. Basically a reverse air filter.