First off let me say how valuable your site has been for me. I thought I would share a story of epic proportions....
I found a 97 Mountaineer that was in fairly decent shape at my local Junk yard. It ran well and didn't seem to leak anything at all. Only problem was the check engine light was lit.... I had a friend run his diagnostic machine on it and it said the O2 sensors were bad. No big deal, after all the truck has 193k on it. So I bounced on down to my local parts store for new sensors....and found out the damn thing had 4 of em on it....at 40 dollars a pop.....oh well small expense compared to the deal I was getting on the truck. That was until I got the truck up and found out just how much a pain in the butt replacing them was....Day and a half later and some crafty saws-all wofk and the new ones were in. Fired her up went down the road and....CHECK ENGINE.
.
Off to my buddy's computer again...same code.....
"Maybe the PCM is going on it", he said.
OK...new PCM.....
CHECK ENGINE.......again....same code....again.....
Off to my local Ford dealership....(musta smoke too much crack that day)....
100 Dollars later....thier diagnostic sez I have some bad wiring or a loose connection at the O2 sensor connectors and of course they offer their services to which I kindly refuse with some serious vulgarity....
Back home....volt meter time. 4 Hours and all connections check out....
Talk to my father who builds muscle cars......
Change out those Cherry Bomb mufflers he sez....they have a tendency to eat O2 sensors up....And your truck is "California Emissions Standard" so it may not be reading correctly with those pipes on it....
Quick Translation: California Emissions=Triple the cost of catalytic converters and other emissions systems on any vehicle
200.00 Dollars on an OEM muffler half a day ripping exhaust out new one in....replace the tail pipe...all nice and shiny...
Down the road....sun shinin, birds singing, all is right with the world.....and
CHECK ENGINE.......
Now I dont think anyone here would like to read the amount of expletives that started to erupt from my mouth....Although the guy in the car next to me at the light was probably wondering if I had missed my medication that day....
Back home....make some more calls...get on the internet....I find out that "Universal" O2 sensors and Ford 302 Computers don't like to talk to each other. Nice eh?
More money on 4 new OEM sensors.....by now I can tear the exhaust sytem apart like it was on Velcro......slap her back together.
CHECK ENGINE......
Sigh.....Now I'm obsessed...What is this gremlin that vexes my existence? What demon of Ford has possessed this seemingly innocent vehicle that would have been condemned to the crusher. For some reason the cartoon of the singing frog springs to mind.....and why he was in the concrete box buried long ago.....With a new found fervor i start chasing every piece of wire that even has a remote connection to the emissions system. Which lead me to the fuse box compartment in the engine....
and a 10 amp fuse for the HEGO System...which is blown.....
The spectacle that ensued will probably have my neighbors telling their kids stories of that strange man next door who was yelling and screaming and jumping up and down on a small piece of yellow plastic....I imagine I had the appearance of Yosemite Sam jumping up and down on his hat....
I replace the fuse start the truck up....no code...no little CHECK ENGINE light glaring at me with it's amber colored evilness. Time to get it inspected and legal.......
To find out that some one has taking the entire parking brake assembly out of the rear and in NY it won't pass inspection......sigh oh well at least its not electrical....and thats a story for another time....
I found a 97 Mountaineer that was in fairly decent shape at my local Junk yard. It ran well and didn't seem to leak anything at all. Only problem was the check engine light was lit.... I had a friend run his diagnostic machine on it and it said the O2 sensors were bad. No big deal, after all the truck has 193k on it. So I bounced on down to my local parts store for new sensors....and found out the damn thing had 4 of em on it....at 40 dollars a pop.....oh well small expense compared to the deal I was getting on the truck. That was until I got the truck up and found out just how much a pain in the butt replacing them was....Day and a half later and some crafty saws-all wofk and the new ones were in. Fired her up went down the road and....CHECK ENGINE.
.Off to my buddy's computer again...same code.....
"Maybe the PCM is going on it", he said.
OK...new PCM.....
CHECK ENGINE.......again....same code....again.....
Off to my local Ford dealership....(musta smoke too much crack that day)....
100 Dollars later....thier diagnostic sez I have some bad wiring or a loose connection at the O2 sensor connectors and of course they offer their services to which I kindly refuse with some serious vulgarity....
Back home....volt meter time. 4 Hours and all connections check out....
Talk to my father who builds muscle cars......
Change out those Cherry Bomb mufflers he sez....they have a tendency to eat O2 sensors up....And your truck is "California Emissions Standard" so it may not be reading correctly with those pipes on it....
Quick Translation: California Emissions=Triple the cost of catalytic converters and other emissions systems on any vehicle
200.00 Dollars on an OEM muffler half a day ripping exhaust out new one in....replace the tail pipe...all nice and shiny...
Down the road....sun shinin, birds singing, all is right with the world.....and
CHECK ENGINE.......
Now I dont think anyone here would like to read the amount of expletives that started to erupt from my mouth....Although the guy in the car next to me at the light was probably wondering if I had missed my medication that day....
Back home....make some more calls...get on the internet....I find out that "Universal" O2 sensors and Ford 302 Computers don't like to talk to each other. Nice eh?
More money on 4 new OEM sensors.....by now I can tear the exhaust sytem apart like it was on Velcro......slap her back together.
CHECK ENGINE......
Sigh.....Now I'm obsessed...What is this gremlin that vexes my existence? What demon of Ford has possessed this seemingly innocent vehicle that would have been condemned to the crusher. For some reason the cartoon of the singing frog springs to mind.....and why he was in the concrete box buried long ago.....With a new found fervor i start chasing every piece of wire that even has a remote connection to the emissions system. Which lead me to the fuse box compartment in the engine....
and a 10 amp fuse for the HEGO System...which is blown.....
The spectacle that ensued will probably have my neighbors telling their kids stories of that strange man next door who was yelling and screaming and jumping up and down on a small piece of yellow plastic....I imagine I had the appearance of Yosemite Sam jumping up and down on his hat....
I replace the fuse start the truck up....no code...no little CHECK ENGINE light glaring at me with it's amber colored evilness. Time to get it inspected and legal.......
To find out that some one has taking the entire parking brake assembly out of the rear and in NY it won't pass inspection......sigh oh well at least its not electrical....and thats a story for another time....
