Hello all- I looked over the boards here and saw some interesting things, so I really hope you can help me too.

My vehicle- a 2004 Ford E250 (yea- I know its a van, but I'm a paraplegic and my wheelchair lift doesn't work well with the bed of a truck lol) that has a 5.4L, approx. 75,000 miles, and is pretty well maintained. Generally it runs very well, and I even squeaked out 17.3 mpg on a recent trip!

So here's the problem, when the van idles in the extreme heat (85 degrees and higher) with or without the AC on it develops a serious sputter and huge loss of power. Once you drive down the road for a little and get some cooler air under the hood the problem goes away and the van acts normally again. It has only happened a handful of times and started last July when I was sitting in a bank drive-thru for approx 20 minutes. The trans fluid is clean and has been changed twice in the vans lifetime, once just a month ago so I don't think it's a transmission issue. The van never threw a code until today, but the shop can't get me in until Friday and then they'll have to have it for a while they said. ugh.

Oh- yea- The plugs are original and so are the coils and wires. And the temp gauge never goes above 1/2 to indicate overheating in the coolant, it just stays where it's supposed to be.

If you have any ideas that I can throw at them I'd appreciate it. I need that thing to be in tip-top shape because I don't feel like like pushing myself down back roads in a wheelchair in the middle of the night.

Thanks for all your help!

Dave

 

Is there anyway you can get the code read?