A Girl Could Use Some Help

[1dorahill]

Greetings,
I have a 1997 Ford Expedition with 225,000 miles on it I do regular maintenance on it. I have had it for quite a few years and I have rarely had a problem. I love this thing and I can't get rid of it and willing to spend money on it as it is in beautiful shape. Lately, especially in the winter I have a horrible time starting it. It will start but not stay running. I feather the gas and when I'm off the pedal it dies. I have no check engine light on, doesn't throw any codes. Dealer is unable to help, its been there 3 times and they have not a clue. So I'm looking around the internet and I've found this forum so I joined. I'm a widow, my son is a Chevy guy and won't touch the Ford even though he's an Auto Tech. (Ya, he's a jerk)...I try to do things myself as I know enough about cars to be dangerous and eventually if I do things on my own the jerky son helps out, but I need a direction to go in. I heard maybe I need a new throttle body position sensor, or maybe I need some sort of air flow thing (sorry can't find the thread on that to be able to give more info on the part). Any suggestions? I haven't changed anything on it yet but was leaning toward the TPS and I'm confident I can do that myself. I just wanted to know if anyone else thinks this is the solution. Thanks for your help!

 

[superexpy]

You can test the TPS with a volt meter. Turn your key on engine off and put the positve lead in the middle wire of the TPS plug located on the right of your throttle body and put the nagitive lead on the - side of the battery. You should see .95 to .99 and the voltage will go up as you twist the peice with the throttle cable located on the left of the throttle body. I kinda think the problem is going to be with your idle control valve on the back of the throttle body tho. If you remove it you can clean it with carb cleaner unless you dont want to mess with it then just replace it.

 

[mindgame]

Try checking the PCV valve and tubing on the passenger side valve cover near the firewall, before spending on the more expensive parts..

 

[bedrck46]

One thing I would do is clean out the exhaust ports that go thru the throttle body
Next thing to do is trade in son for a Ford Guy oh just a thought on that part.

There are some good videos on YouTube about the exhaust ports and how to clean them. The Throttle body does have to be removed for this as you do not want any junk falling into the intake Its a little time consuming but you only need two gaskets and a can or maybe two of throttle body cleaner. I would start there as that most likely will be the least expensive and then work you way past that if needed There are only 4 bolts that hold the TB in place but the back two are in a awkward place and the only other parts that need to be removed is the linkage and I believe one wire connection

 

[1dorahill]

Superexpy, I will try this i have a Fluke True RMS Multimeter I'll give this a try! Thank You so much!

Mindgame, I will also do this since I'm already in there, might as well. Thank You so much!!

Bedrck46, I do need a good throttle body cleaning I'm sure, so I will also do this, seems easy enough and like I said the son eventually will jump in I just gotta get it going. I shoulda traded him in a while ago, but its too late to turn back now.

I will pass along my findings just in case there's a girlie out there who could use the help. You guys are awesome! Thanks So Much!!

 

[bedrck46]

which engine do you have I am the type that always likes to start with the easy things and the least expensive first Any of the suggestions offered so far fall into that class
Kindly leave an update as to what all solves the problem

 

[stamp11127]

There are 3 things that are needed for an engine to run:
1) air/fuel
2) compression
3) spark

Cause a problem with any of them and you have poor performance or a no run condition. Your first clue is the dense cold air. These engines are leaned out pretty good already, add a vac leak and it is too much air for the amount of fuel. You can use a can of carb cleaner to search for one by lightly spraying around the rubber connections and intake manifold, throttle body etc. Don't spray on the egr valve or it will get exciting quickly.

If your son has access to a scanner I would check the output voltage of the O2 sensors when first cranked up. That will give you an indication of how lean the system is. It also wouldn't hurt to know what the fuel pressure is.
I would also look to see if there are any stored codes in the pcm.

 

[1dorahill]

Thanks for Helping

Thanks for all the help with the Expy. This is what we did. We tested the Throttle Body Position Sensor and under a load it was weak. We removed it and the throttle body itself and man was the throttle body dirty, so I did a real good cleaning on that. Yuck! Changing the sensor was a different animal as it was still the factory sensor and the fasteners were super tight, but my friend was able to remove them without harming them and we put some really nice screws in and anti-seized them. While I was at it I cleaned my K&N air filter. Upon checking for any vac leaks etc we did not notice my hoses are actually in great shape for the age of the truck. When we were done, it started right up. Ran a few errands and the truck seemed to work great. This morning I started it and maybe it was adjusting itself to the cold or whatever it didn't kick up to the high idol it actually went up to 3 grand and shut off with a funny **** of air sound. So I started it again and it went up to the high idol and went back down, drove it 20 miles to my work and it seemed to be okay. We are going to go thru this truck with a fine tooth comb over the next several weekends since it does have 225,000 miles and its 17 years old. I always buy my parts from the dealer so whatever I replace I replace with original Ford stuff. I'm just weird that way. I appreciate all the help. Also I have the 5.4L engine if anyone is wondering. I do not have any stored codes in the PCM because I did have to replace that last year and nothing has happened to it so far that would throw a code. We are going to do a spark plug and coil change if there is a "go to" video on this please let me know. And the jerky son did help me, in case you were wondering...
Thanks all!!

 

[bedrck46]

when you pull the plugs you may want to spray some penetrating fluid into the wells and let it sit for awhile Then clean out the wells and start to remove the plugs If you encounter any resistance when removing the plugs, use some more penetrating fluid and then turn the plug back in and out until you get the plug out. when you install the new plugs make sure you torque them to specs 15 ft lbs