hey, I have a neighbor with a 98 f150 4wd,4.6 auto. She calls and said, my check engine light is on and it has a slight miss, and the parts store tells her she has a head gasket blown. I went over to look at it and I don't think the head gasket is a issue although I am not a mechanic. I drove it and it has really good power and just now and then from a take off a slight miss. The check engine light is on so I hooked up a tester, and it read that it wasn't hooked up! I could not get a code from the port so I was wondering does the ecu port have a fuse to it? Also, the reason the parts store said it had a blown head gasket was from condensation or a little build up around the oil cap. It does have some build up but the truck has 180k on it and there is just not enough evidence to tell me to give up on a head gasket just yet. Your thoughts and help much appreciated.

 

I believe the OBD connecter uses the same fuse as the cigarette lighter... I would check there first... A slight build up of creamy looking goo on the oil cap is pretty common on these trucks during the winter months as a result of all the condensate not being burnt out of the oil...

 

yea, that is what I was thinking about the build up. I just found out that there is no fuse in the number 12 position of the fuse box inside but the fuse wont plug in and stay. So I am gonna look in too that also. Thank you, anyone else have ideas?

 

Fuse 12 is a 5 amp fuse used for the Data Link. You need to put in this fuse to use the link. (from my Operators Manual)

 

thank you