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Old 04-23-2016, 08:04 AM   #1
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1997 V10 Check Engine Light

Good morning all! I have a 1997 Ford EB350 (SMB build) with the lovely V10 (I think it's lovely!). The van has 203K miles on it and the engine has ~20K. Story is that the original owner, who took extremely good care of it and documented everything, took the van to the ford dealership at ~180K and said that the engine was "starting to feel a little tired" and had them throw a new one in... Fair enough! At any rate, I have had the van on two long(ish) road trips in the last two months, one to BC, and one to Fruita and on both trips have thrown a check engine light under heavy highway load. I took the van to my mechanic to have this checked after trip #1 (along with some brake etc. work) and he found the computer claiming a misfire on one of the cylinders. After clearing the code and driving it several times he couldn't get the code to come back and couldn't find any evidence of a misfire. My question is, how seriously should I take the check engine light? I HATE seeing it come on but see no correlation whatsoever with performance/drivability when or after it occurs. Thoughs?

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Old 04-23-2016, 08:15 AM   #2
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My '97 V10 throws the same code periodically - usually just after start up. It is detecting a misfire most likely due to a failing coil.
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Old 04-23-2016, 09:50 AM   #3
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X2 on a failing coil. Whichever cylinder is throwing the code (P030X, X=cylinder#) has a weak coil, or sometimes just a bad boot. But a bad coil won't produce as strong of a spark, so the dense fuel mix under heavy load won't light off. Mine started falling out around the 14-year mark (same with my dad's van with 1/4th the miles) so I did all mine preventatively a couple years ago, after having two go bad without about 6 months of each other.
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Old 04-23-2016, 09:51 AM   #4
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Thanks Baja!
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Old 04-23-2016, 10:15 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by carringb View Post
X2 on a failing coil. Whichever cylinder is throwing the code (P030X, X=cylinder#) has a weak coil, or sometimes just a bad boot. But a bad coil won't produce as strong of a spark, so the dense fuel mix under heavy load won't light off. Mine started falling out around the 14-year mark (same with my dad's van with 1/4th the miles) so I did all mine preventatively a couple years ago, after having two go bad without about 6 months of each other.
The coils and boots should have been replaced with the new engine, right? Hmmm....
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Old 04-23-2016, 02:02 PM   #6
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The coils and boots should have been replaced with the new engine, right? Hmmm....
Normally no. Not unless the customer paid extra for it. They probably paid for a "long-block" replacement, but aside from filters, gaskets and plugs, most of the bits and pieces are ru-used.

I had a customer once refuse new spark plugs when we put a brand new OEM (not reman) 4-cylinder into his RAV-4. His reasoning: They worked fine before.... But so did his engine before he kept driving at 75 MPG after his "change-oil" light came on. (RAV-4s don't have a "change-oil" light... it was his oil pressure light. He launched a piston clear through the block.)

If they did coils and boots, it would be listed separately on the original work order.
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Old 04-23-2016, 04:29 PM   #7
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I have the same year and model. Have had a few coils go out. I bought a set and replaced the bad ones only. I carry a few in the van now in case they fail when we are on a trip.
If you don't do the work on your van yourself, might be a good idea to get them all done at once by someone if the problem persists.
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Old 04-23-2016, 07:22 PM   #8
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Great info guys; thank you very much!
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Old 04-23-2016, 11:51 PM   #9
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Before the codes were cleared, were they read? If a cylinder was identified, I'd simply replace that coil even if it's working now. It's pretty simple and less than $100 if you do it your self. Once you've done one the next one will be easier.
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Old 04-24-2016, 03:51 AM   #10
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Originally Posted by arctictraveller View Post
Before the codes were cleared, were they read? If a cylinder was identified, I'd simply replace that coil even if it's working now. It's pretty simple and less than $100 if you do it your self. Once you've done one the next one will be easier.
Good question!

Codes can also be thrown showing a misfire within the first few hundred revolutions of the engine after its been started---P0300 if I'm not mistaken. That can be the Crankshaft Position Sensor or a COP beginning to fail as already mentioned.

Have the codes read when they return and let us help from that point.
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