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Need Help Asap!!! Urgent!!!

FHBasketball

Well-Known Member
Joined
July 8, 2005
Messages
119
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0
City, State
St. Louis, MO
Year, Model & Trim Level
'97 SPORT
Okay guys, i'm really worried about my explorer. Here's the deal. I bought it about a month ago. It's a '97 sport 4x4 manual with around 145xxx miles. When I bought it the CEL was on, and I had it diagnosed befotre signing any papers of course. It was just a lean code which the mechanic said is most likely a vaccum leak caused by bad upper intake gaskets. I decided to do the usual MAF and IAC cleaning before replacing the gaskets, and I also installed a K&N intake before the gaskets were replaced. Everything seemed fine for about 2 weeks, but the CEL ended up coming back on. This past monday I went ahead and had the intake gaskets replaced and hte code reset. but sure enough, pulling into work on wednesday the CEL came back on. The mechanic won't be able to look at my EXplorer again until monday. I also just haad a set of BBK headers installed today, and when they gave me my keys back I immediately went out to fire up my explorer. It doesn't sound too much different right now because I haven't done a cat-back yet. But now at idle it's really bad. The RPMs go up and down like it's on a pogo stick, and there is a really bad engine wobble. if you give it a little gas it doesn't seem to have a problem, but as soon as it returns to idle, it starts wobbling again and the RPM go up and down between about 250-800. I wouldn't think that just having headers installed would do this, and I know the mechanic that installed them wouldn't mess around becasue I work at the dealership also. The reason this is urgent is because I don't want to be sitting at a stop-light and have my explorer die and not be able to get it started again. any help you guys can give me on what the problem might be would be great. the sooner the better because this is my daily driver. thanks.
 



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sounds like you might have another vacuum leak somewhere... And after cleaning the MAF and IAC did you disconnect the battery for a while to reset the computer?
 






Wow. IMO seems like you are dumping a lot of money into this X before she is even road worthy. Seems like you did the MAF and IAC stuff. Did you check for vacuum leaks? You said you pulled the codes, what were they? I dont think it is very common, but how about the FPR or maybe the VR? I had a similar problem on my ranger and it ended up being the VR.

-What engine is it?
 






I have the OHV motor. I actually have only spent about $200 in all for what i've done so far. The uper intake gaskets were only like $25, the intake I still had from my old explorer, and the headers I got on ebay for $126 bucks shipped, and the mechanic I had install the headers and the intake gaskets is my best friends brother so he did both of those for $50.

What do you mean by FPR or VR? and yes, after I installed the intake, upper gaskets, headers, and cleaned my MAF and IAC i took the + battery cable off and let it sit for 15 minutes before re-connecting it and firing it up.

Also, how do I chack to see if I have a vacuum leak somewhere else now? I chacked all of the seals for my intake, and made sure both of the bolts that hold the IAC valve on were tight. I don't really know where else to look.
 






FPR-Fuel Pressure Regulator
VR-Voltage Regulator

Checking for vacuum leaks is easy. Look at all the vac line to see if any are damaged i.e. cracked or broken.

Also check all of your wire harness connections. Sometimes water and or corrosion will cause funny problems.

What were the codes that you pulled?

If you havent pulled them lately do it again. I would take it to a garage and have them hook it up to the OBDII.
 






Autozone baby! They'll check your codes for free and tell you what they are. Most places like that will do that. I know Advanced Auto and Autozone for sure though.
 






well i work at a dealership so checking the codes shouldn't be a problem, other than the fact that i just went out and idsconnected the battery again for a while to see if that would help, so the CEL isn't on right now so from what i understand there won't be any codes that show up. But when it comes to the engine compartment i'm kind of a novice, so if anyone has a picture with a diagram of exactly where the vacuum hoses are that would be great. I can pretty much do anything other than motor work on a car/truck. I would have my buddies here at work check it out but we always get really busy right after the holidays so they don't have time too. I'm also going to replace my plugs and wires tonight to see if that does anything.
 






From what I understand, some codes will be stored and can only be cleared by the OBDII scanner. It might be worth checking the codes still./
 






okay, i haven't had the time to check the codes again, but i figured out that it is a vacuum leak. the only problem is that i'm not sure where the leak is. I diagnosed it by starting the engine and basically spraying carb cleaner around the intake manifold until the engine RPMs went up. when the engine started to rev up, I knew I had found my general area of where the leak was.

unfortunately though, there was one area i was afraid it would be, which is up towards the front of the manifold on the driver's side, right near where the TB is. of course the RPMS sky-rocketed when I sprayed there. the bad thing is that there are quite a few hoses that run right through that area. i thought it might be one of the hoses that connects with the EGR, so I replaced both of those with no luck. now i'm stumped.

I spoke with the mechanic that did my upper intake gaskets last week. he said that he replaced the three little rubber seals, but could not get the screws undone (without breaking them) that hold on the longer black plastic intake gasket part. he said he did not worry about this one because it almost never leaks.

Do you think there is a chance that maybe it is leaking there or does anyone have any idea what it might be? remember, the engine began to rev when I sprayed the carb cleaner towards the front of the intake manifold on the driver's side right near the TB, so it has to be sucking in air from somehere around there. any help is greatly appreciated and thank you in advance.
 






There is a line connecting to the bottom of the TB, make sure that one is on. Other than that, follow each line off the tree and see what you fine. You should also be able to hear the sucking from the vacuum line that is leaking.
 






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