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2.3L ('83-'97) Engine Running Rough, getting weird KOEO codes, read recent messages for best info


KasenLeigh90

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Had overfilled my engine as a result of a stupid mistake, Pulled the plugs and holy mother were they bad. Replaced the first 4 (8 plug) and got a slight improvement, doing the other 4 today if i can manage to get them loose with the intake still on otherwise waiting for the intake gasket. Along with that, what else could have gone bad since it was overfilled? And would using the spray style seafoam or berrymans intake spray help with getting the engine running right? I’m still fairly new to automotive stuff so any info would be appreciated
 


19Walt93

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What did you overfill?
 

Blmpkn

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Oil it sounds like
 

KasenLeigh90

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i seafoamed the motor today and it has improved but not the best. it will idle now with a few misfires every once in a while compared to constantly bogging down and wanting to die before revving back up. would that be MAP sensor related? also having issues with CEL and turning on the fans (at/heat). I don’t have my a/c compressor connected, the clutch is bad and would cause the truck to die when a/c was turned on when i bought it so i just removed the belt. while driving it sounds from the inside like i have a vacuum leak from somewhere but i can’t seem to figure out where. can’t hear anything in the engine bay but my exhaust is loud. turning the blower on the first speed setting is fine but the second and above trigger the CEL and cause the truck to act like it’s dying. temp setting doesn't affect anything. i also had very little heat this winter. motor has less than 100k.
Oil it sounds like
Oil lol should’ve specified.
 

19Walt93

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If you don't have time to do it right will you have time to do it over?
If the heater fan lights the check engine light(Ford calls it the MIL-malfunction indicator lamp), it sounds like a poor ground somewhere near the blower motor or PCM. If you switch between floor, dash, and defrost vents, does the vacuum leak sound change? If not, does the air flow actually switch or stay blowing out the defroster vents?
How much oil did you put in? I've never seen enough to foul plugs, even when Jiffy Lube double dosed some- 14qts in a 5.4, for example. When a plug is fouled the spark will seek ground down the center insulator and that leaves a carbon track. You can wire brush them or even sand blast them and the track will still be there, under heavy load the spark will follow the carbon track instead of jumping to the ground electrode and producing a spark. Once you get it cleared out, replace the plugs or the misfire will be back.
 

KasenLeigh90

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1) i’m not sure entirely but i’d guess around a qt. i had also cleaned the engine bay (or tried to, crappy cheap degreaser i shouldn’t have bought) i didn’t start having engine issues (aside from the hvac issue, that’s consistent) that day. The truck leaks some so i normally add some about half way through between oil changes. i’d overfilled it after being dumb and not actually checking the level before hand and assuming. i’m still new to automotive, what do you mean by “center of the insulator” and how do i go about cleaning that?


2) switching between vents DOES change where the air comes from, but it does still blow out the defrost very lightly no matter which. i don’t know if that’s an indicator of an issue or just pretty normal. the sound does change. when idling but not so much louder or quieter but in pitch. when driving it seems like the reverse.
 

KasenLeigh90

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If the heater fan lights the check engine light(Ford calls it the MIL-malfunction indicator lamp), it sounds like a poor ground somewhere near the blower motor or PCM. If you switch between floor, dash, and defrost vents, does the vacuum leak sound change? If not, does the air flow actually switch or stay blowing out the defroster vents?
How much oil did you put in? I've never seen enough to foul plugs, even when Jiffy Lube double dosed some- 14qts in a 5.4, for example. When a plug is fouled the spark will seek ground down the center insulator and that leaves a carbon track. You can wire brush them or even sand blast them and the track will still be there, under heavy load the spark will follow the carbon track instead of jumping to the ground electrode and producing a spark. Once you get it cleared out, replace the plugs or the misfire will be back.
i’m still getting into automotive stuff, and i’m still a noob when it comes to ford stuff. im usually a gm guy but i have a soft spot for first (or second as it’s considered here for rangers ) gen fords as far as rangers and first f series trucks. this is the first ford ive actually worked on but i had a 91 f150 and a 92 f150. 91- went over train tracks and smashed and cracked the auto trans wide open. 92- was a trooper bought for $350 with 224k sold for $500 at 267k still running lol just too much rust. gm to ford is a whole different ballgame.
 

KasenLeigh90

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UPDATE: you my dude are awesome. the blower issue was a ground issue. previous owners had done a number on the factory wiring behind the radio. they had put an aftermarket head unit in (located in the ceiling, it was a Highliner Headliner ) digging through the rats nest i found an openly exposed ground wire.

regarding the motor issue, now it’s being weird. i’ll start the truck and
-about 75% of the time it idles fairly smooth, i’ll drive it, and either about 10 min in the light will come on. when that happens, when coming to a stop the truck boggs down really bad by doesn’t die. then revs back up and starts dying again back and forth until you start driving again.
-about 25% of the time it will run and drive almost perfect, i’ll shut the engine off, and then when i start it again it goes nuts.

not sure what all would be valuable info for diagnosing and fixing this issue, but the drive belt squeals sometimes on start up but i’ve noticed it started squealing when the engine is having its temper tantrums. the belt itself is cracked and i’ll be replacing it today along with the timing belt and tensioner some time this week. the a/c belt is removed, something is wrong with the compressor clutch whenever you’d turn it on it would make the belt squeal and kill the engine after a few seconds so i just took it off. i do plan on replacing it eventually. will try to read the MIL codes if i can figure it out myself,
 

19Walt93

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235/55R16
My credo
If you don't have time to do it right will you have time to do it over?
After you've driven it for several days without unplugging anything, check for codes and that might give you some direction. Have someone qualified scan it- not Autozone. You want someone who will read the actual codes, not go by the scanners guess of what's wrong. 111-10-111 is a pass code for example. If the tester is set up to display it's guess of the fault because the person using it isn't trained, a guess is what you'll get. Oxygen sensor or O2 out of range isn't a diagnosis, it's a symptom. The O2 may be out of range because the truck is running rich or lean, or it could be a poor sensor ground, it doesn't necessarily mean you need a sensor.
Also, since you have an aftermarket radio, check the dash lights. If they're out and the fuse is blown, look at the radio wiring again. Installers used to check the harness for grounds with a test light, the blue/orange dash light wire shows that it's grounded because the bulbs are between power and ground so they hook the radio ground up to the dash light power and blow the fuse. I've seen that approximately 512,000 times.
 

KasenLeigh90

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After you've driven it for several days without unplugging anything, check for codes and that might give you some direction. Have someone qualified scan it- not Autozone. You want someone who will read the actual codes, not go by the scanners guess of what's wrong. 111-10-111 is a pass code for example. If the tester is set up to display it's guess of the fault because the person using it isn't trained, a guess is what you'll get. Oxygen sensor or O2 out of range isn't a diagnosis, it's a symptom. The O2 may be out of range because the truck is running rich or lean, or it could be a poor sensor ground, it doesn't necessarily mean you need a sensor.
Also, since you have an aftermarket radio, check the dash lights. If they're out and the fuse is blown, look at the radio wiring again. Installers used to check the harness for grounds with a test light, the blue/orange dash light wire shows that it's grounded because the bulbs are between power and ground so they hook the radio ground up to the dash light power and blow the fuse. I've seen that approximately 512,000 times.
i did find a ground issue behind that (a suggestion from earlier in the thread and that did fix my a/c-heater issue and actually now the door buzzer works for the first time ever lol now i’m stuck with the engine issue. i’m going to ask my boss if he can help me with the codes. i work at a small auto shop but i’m still learning so the whole diagnosing process is still not my strong suit. also not the type of shop where there’s downtime, so getting the change to ask for help is rare and actually getting it is even more unheard of. did some searching around today though. i’m wondering if it’s an egr issue. am i supposed to have vacuum at the end of the green vac line at the egr side? because i don’t. i have vacuum at the end of the red vac line. i have vac at the line that plugs into the stock air box.
there’s just a lot that lines up with that kind of issue - the spark plugs i changed were black and sooty, half the time the truck will drive normally half the time it won’t or it won’t idle without wanting to die.

shits driving me nuts. i swear im gonna see a gray hair one of these days.
 

19Walt93

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235/55R16
My credo
If you don't have time to do it right will you have time to do it over?
The line at the EGR valve won't have vacuum at idle. If the EGR valve isn't completely closing it'll cause rough running and stalling. We used to stick a screw driver in under the diaphragm, pry the valve open, and let it snap shut to clear any small chunks of carbon. There should be full manifold vacuum at the line that attaches to the fuel pressure regulator, less vacuum means more fuel and richer mixture. If you have vacuum leak noises, I'd track them down before doing anything else. I have plenty of gray hair, how do you think I learned all this stuff?
 

KasenLeigh90

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The line at the EGR valve won't have vacuum at idle. If the EGR valve isn't completely closing it'll cause rough running and stalling. We used to stick a screw driver in under the diaphragm, pry the valve open, and let it snap shut to clear any small chunks of carbon. There should be full manifold vacuum at the line that attaches to the fuel pressure regulator, less vacuum means more fuel and richer mixture. If you have vacuum leak noises, I'd track them down before doing anything else. I have plenty of gray hair, how do you think I learned all this stuff?
ran a KOEO and got these results
1, 21, 24 , 21 , 24
1, 31, 41, 48, 31, 41 ,48
from what i’m finding that’s too many things, and it might be ecm related? checked the wiring and connections and the ecm itself and they are all good. i plan to go through as many connections as i can find under the hood and make sure they’re not all gross.

also, after i found that ground behind the stereo, and fixed it, the vac noise either is now gone, or much quieter. it’s kind of hard to tell with my exhaust. i had normal function of the blower on all speeds and at all vents.
 

19Walt93

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Location
Canaan,NH
Vehicle Year
1993
Make / Model
Ford Ranger
Engine Type
V8
Engine Size
351
Transmission
Automatic
2WD / 4WD
2WD
Total Drop
3"
Tire Size
235/55R16
My credo
If you don't have time to do it right will you have time to do it over?
I'd look behind the stereo again, I suspect you moved the vacuum hose that's leaking while you were in there. I didn't remember 90's still having 2 digit codes, in that case, 11-10-11 id a pass. If anything has been disconnected recently you may have erroneous codes. When doing the pinpoint diag, check the codes in order- the last codes may be result of the fault that caused the first codes.
 

KasenLeigh90

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2WD
I'd look behind the stereo again, I suspect you moved the vacuum hose that's leaking while you were in there. I didn't remember 90's still having 2 digit codes, in that case, 11-10-11 id a pass. If anything has been disconnected recently you may have erroneous codes. When doing the pinpoint diag, check the codes in order- the last codes may be result of the fault that caused the first codes.
now i’m a little lost lol. would i get the 11-10-11 on a koeo or the one done when the engines running? and by “pinpoint diag” do you mean just running the self test with the jumper wire? those were just the results i got by following koeo test directions. again sorry i’m not yet familiar with all of this
 

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