New, just bought a 1996 explorer limited

[pfogle]

This truck is in really good condition, except for a few small bugs that with the help of this site, has helped me to troubleshoot so far.
I did the LOM bypass to get my front passenger light working...

I bought the truck with the CEL on, and the ABS light on.
Discount pulled the codes for the engine, and they are:

P0153, P0171, P0174, P0420

Clerk says it's likely the O2 Sensor on the drivers side, before the Cat.. after doing some research on the site, I'm thinking it maybe a intake manifold gasket?

Truck idles rough, but doesn't stall. I tried spraying some carb cleaner around the intake manifold, but didn't notice any change.

Any attempts at diagnosis?

How can I find out about the ABS light?

 

[2000LXS]

There is a abs part on the rear end that goes on these trucks about $17 to fix.
As far as the codes is it a v8 or v6 most guys will tell you to start with cleaning the mass air flow sensor make sure you buy the right cleaner or you could damage it.

 

[G-96XLT]

Great truck. I have one it hardly ever suffers from problems.

Those codes are nothing serious , problably theromostat , dpfe , o2 sensors.

working on those should clear that up

how is your water temp gauge ? if it is running really cold change the thermostat, it fixed a lot of my problems. the DPFE is also a very common thing to die on these and blow codes relating to the EGR ,but it is never the EGR but the stupid DPFE . they are $5 at a junk yard or $40 from ford.

I would change your DPFE and thermostat which are both cheap parts and take no time, and I bet half of those codes will go away.

remember to pull the battery cable and do a few drives cycles to get the new codes after making changes.

if all that fails replace the 02 sensors

a cheap USB odb scanner and a laptop is a great thing to have with these.

 

[pfogle]

Temperature gauge seems to be normal, just a slight over the middle.

Truck does have about 200k miles on it, but previous owner took really good care of it. Had a one way commute of about 55 miles. He had owned it since 15k miles.

Not familiar with a dpfe, what exactly is that?

 

[G-96XLT]

Delta Pressure Feedback Exhaust sensor, or something like that. basically a little box with an electrical connector and 2 vacuum hoses going to it. it measures the rate of flow between those two hoses, really easy to change and get to , it is on the driver side of the engine, around the egr, it is screwed to the manifold , some cars have a plastic version and some have a metal one, they get wet and then become defective..

replacing mine shaved about 1000 points off the emission test score for the nitrous oxide.

 

[G-96XLT]

This is a windstar but it looks just like this , you can't miss it..

http://www.heywhatsyour.com/car-images/dpfe-ford-windstar.JPG

 

[Electrohacker]

96 no habla DPFE

 

[97xlt4.0]

Congrats on the new Explorer!!

P0153 is definitely the drivers side o2 sensor before the cat...I just did mine yesterday, and after resetting, my CEL has not come back on.

The sensor itself wasn't hard to get to, and didnt even fight me coming out. The easiest way I found to plug and unplug was to take the tire off, fold the fender shield back, and you can reach back to the plug. At least, that's how it was on my '97 4.0....

Good luck

 

[pfogle]

Cleared the codes, and ran again, this time these error codes came up:

P0401, P0402, P0171, and P0174

The first two are EGR related, so seems like the earlier guess of a DPFE is correct, but I'm confused... seems like general consensus that a '96 wouldn't have a DPFE, but after looking on the engine, it sure seems like there is a DPFE on there.. on drivers side, attached to the intake manifold, has two vacuum lines attached to it. Metal in construction. It also seems that the EGR is not internal?

Would the DPFE also be causing the 171, and 174 codes?

 

[G-96XLT]

The 96 definitely has a DPFE .. I know this because I have a 96. Maybe if you have a california car or a euro version it might me absent but 99.9% of the exes I've seen have a DPFE. even on the 95.

It might be causing your codes . it is emission related and as you can see changing it is really easy, if you can get one new for $20 I would do it and go for a few drive cycles. like I said mine dropped 1000 points on the NOX when I changed it.

 

[96eb96]

The 96 definitely has a DPFE .. I know this because I have a 96. Maybe if you have a california car or a euro version it might me absent but 99.9% of the exes I've seen have a DPFE. even on the 95.

It might be causing your codes . it is emission related and as you can see changing it is really easy, if you can get one new for $20 I would do it and go for a few drive cycles. like I said mine dropped 1000 points on the NOX when I changed it.

The 96 v8 don't have it. Has the old school EGR valve from the 80s.

 

[96eb96]

Cleared the codes, and ran again, this time these error codes came up:

P0401, P0402, P0171, and P0174

The first two are EGR related, so seems like the earlier guess of a DPFE is correct, but I'm confused... seems like general consensus that a '96 wouldn't have a DPFE, but after looking on the engine, it sure seems like there is a DPFE on there.. on drivers side, attached to the intake manifold, has two vacuum lines attached to it. Metal in construction. It also seems that the EGR is not internal?

Would the DPFE also be causing the 171, and 174 codes?

You have a DPFE. The DPFE would have to be commanding the EGR valve to be open to have these codes and allowing unmetered air in. Maybe plug the egr vac line and see if the codes go away. You will get an EGR code, but the EGR valve should close. You could also have a mechanically stuck open EGR valve(which isn't the fault of the DPFE), but will allow extra air in.

You could also try cleaning the MAF sensor with a can of MAF cleaner(gray can only). That could be responsible for those two codes.

It could also be two dead oxygen sensors at that mileage. A P0153 in the code history is usually a dying oxygen sensor.

We can only guess at answers without a good scan tool. A scan tool can tell you DPFE, BARO, Fuel Trim and other parameters that can lead to a diagnosis.

It is likely a bad DPFE. Get yourself a Motorcraft DPFE-15 (pretty sure) and that should do the trick.

 

[SA-Xplorer]

Does the DPFE perform any function besides emission related? Can it be removed or bypassed without affecting the running of the motor?

 

[96eb96]

Does the DPFE perform any function besides emission related? Can it be removed or bypassed without affecting the running of the motor?

Sometimes it reduces pinging, since it lowers combustion temperatures(Exhaust gas has little to no oxygen). Other than that gas mileage could be affected.

 

[pfogle]

Update:
Have replaced the DPFE, and also replaced the upper intake manifold gaskets.

Truck idles smooth now, where before it would surge up and down...

Reset all the codes, and after a few test runs, CEL came back on.
Pulled the codes again, and came up with P0420 and P0153

Can the 153 code cause the 420 code, or vise versa?

 

[stkline81]

I have the P0153 code as well. If this is the right sensor it's a good price. Can anyone confirm that it is the correct sensor?

http://www.amazon.com/Bosch-15717-O..._1?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1277062822&sr=1-1