OBDII reader

[Plati]

I have a 2003 XLT with Service Engine Soon light on for a couple weeks. I also have a 2014 EL. I could go to Advance Auto & have them tell me the code(s) I have but I may as well man up and buy an OBDII reader. What should I buy? I've also seen on this Forum FORSCAN which I googled and looks useful. I'm not up to speed on any of this so if I can get a jump start I'd appreciate it. Seems like maybe I should buy a bluetooth OBDII reader and get FORSCAN on my smartphone. Whatever I get needs to work with my 03 my 14 and the next Expy I buy. I'm not a power user at all (barely know the difference between regular & premium gas) so just very basic needs. I'd be happy to pay $100 if its worth it. Simple advice appreciated.

 

[Bedrck47]

I would get a OBD bluetooth adaptor and use forscan or even torque pro

But first I would get the odes read for your 03 and post them on the forum

 

[Plati]

I read the codes ... Service Engine Soon light on steady for 3 weeks
P0171 & P0174 lean bank 1 & 2

any suggestions?
in 14 years of owning this vehicle, first time ever had that light on!

I found this thread on here, I gotta read the whole thing
http://www.expeditionforum.com/thre...0174-heres-what-you-need-to-check-first.4926/

btw .... Engine runs great ... 2003 XLT 5.4
I popped hood and started engine. I hear a "whistle" for about 10 seconds then it goes away. Kill engine and restart, same thing. It might be normal and I just never listened before but with all the talk of vacuum leak problems ... ? I'm going to see if I can look at the various hoses but its all spaghetti to me at this point.

Found this video on locating replacing PCV elbow the commonly fails leading to codes

WoW. I went out to driveway and located this elbow. It looks fugly, all buckled in and collapsed. I started engine which ran great, reached down and pressed on the buckled area and hear gushing of "vacuum leak" caused by pressing on it. Cycled this a couple times to make sure. YUP. Then engine dies, restarts by itself (I used remote to start it initially) and dies and does this a few times. Turned off with remote. Golly Gee think I found my problem, or a problem anyway. Now going down to Advance Auto (in my OTHER Expedition) to buy that elbow and install it.

 

[34Ford]

I bought this adapter and its working fine with Forscan, Torque Pro, and Polaris Ride Command.

https://bafxpro.com/products/obdreader

 

[Plati]

Thanks 34Ford. I'll order that one.

If you followed my posts above. I bought that rubber elbow and installed it. I think I did it right, sure was difficult to slide on, I might have ends reversed? Started Expy with remote and it went back to starting & dying, starting & dying. If I put key in ignition to start it, starts and runs fine. Did both ways several times. That is ODD. I'm stumped now.

Follow up 7pm. Got it. Expy starting & dying when remote start ONLY has nothing to do with vacuum that I can imagine. Not that I know much. I decided I MUST have bumped something right at same time I reached down to touch rubber elbow when I was finding vacuum leak. So I went out and looked and found a stray wire (same area) that looked like a patch wire that had been married to another wire and looks like I pulled it loose at terminal so it was now disconnected. Fairly sure that was connected before I started mucking around in there. This wire runs haphazardly across engine through firewall to under dash by steering wheel ... to another group of wires with a push button switch. That crap looks like an amateurish installation of remote start (done by FORD for a LOT of money). Anyway I found a blade terminal in basement that fit, crimped it on, reconnected and voila all is right in the Expy world again. Car starts and runs with either remote start or key.

I still have the Service Engine Soon light on but not surprised. Most posts I read say you have to use an OBD2 device to reset that, is that TRUE? I was under the impression that if you ran the vehicle through enough miles and cycles it will reset itself. I'm going to order the OBD2 device 34Ford advised anyway so eventually I'll know both ways.

 

[deweysmith]

It’s not miles usually but ignition cycles. It’s easiest to just reset it, or have Advance reset it for you.

 

[Plati]

Just to make it more baffling to me ... went out last night, started Expy with remote and it would start & die and repeat. But if I started with key, it would start & run. You could tell battery was low ... it was 11.82V after all those starts ... so I put it on charge and later it was back to normal start either way. I guess there is a difference (once the engine is running) whether you started it with key or remote? May take a while to sort this all out.

 

[deweysmith]

There's not supposed to be a difference. However, the remote start module is outputting a radio signal to the ignition switch, mimicking the SecuriLock key in the ignition. That draws a non-zero amount of current, and probably not an insignificant amount (a few hundred milliamps at least), but I'm just guessing.

If your battery voltage was JUST low enough that it could crank and start, and your alternator isn't working, then it's plausible that not enough current is available to keep the remote start awake and pretending to be a key in the ignition.

I'd be very surprised if the stars aligned to make this happen, I'm probably missing something else, but it's a guess.

 

[Plati]

Day 3: Part of the problem I was having getting the 03 Expy started & running was a run down battery due to all the restarts, so I stepped back and fully charged it up over 24 hours.
That was all set this morning so I was able to start and run it with either key or remote. After that, I disconnected that wire (run from remote start under dash to a wire in engine) ... started it with remote and it would die and restart repeatedly. Plugged it back in and it would start and stay running. So that wire (not connected) definitely will shut down engine if started with remote start (key doesn't care). Then all I did was wiggle the connection to the insulation displacement connection on the stock wire (with wire connected) and it goes back into dying and restarting. Conclusion, breaking that wire caused a problem and even when I repaired that break the original IDC tap into the stock wire was sketchy and needs to be repaired. Funny how one problem symptom leads to finding multiple actual problems at once.

I took it to my favorite reliable shop (Dewey's) to get the wire fixed, clear the codes & see if my PVC elbow replacement fixed the SES light problem, and do a NYS inspection. If the PVC elbow doesn't fix the P0171 P0174 then they can diagnose and fix that. We think the PVC elbow probably resolved the codes SES light problem. I'm glad I found that unreliable IDC wire problem. I'm lucky!!

btw ... my mechanic stated that he thinks those codes will not reset automatically, you have to reset them

I ordered the bafx Bluetooth OBD2 dongle that 34Ford advised. That plus the Torque app will be good to keep in the Expy on my semiannual 8000 mile walkabouts

 

[17LimitedExpy]

Great to hear you’ve narrowed down the issue(s).