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Much needed maintence and repair

T

trhlz1222

Veteran CEG'er
Joined
Dec 28, 2006
Messages
919
Location
Holly Springs and Parish
well my car has started to fall apart and i need to fix everything before i head to school in a week and get the car inspected. once im at school i will have no time because i have football. its a 98 csvt with 2.5L 115,000 miles. heres my problems

Engine Light-had 2 codes, gonna get them checked tomorrow
Headlights dont work
Cant put gas in the car
No AC

List to do:
-For the engine light i was gonna get the codes then come home and swap the mils and get the codes again to see if its the mil or the 02 sensor. I know one code is the egr code and the passage ways are all clean. would the egr code make a 02 sensor code cause thats the other code i was getting before.
-Sea Foam the engine
-Clean MAF
-Change the plugs, oil, oil filter, transmission fluid, and coolant
-New rotors and pads
-Hopefully the green circuit board will fix the headlights because i cant find anything else and i was messing around with that when they stopped working
-Call a mechanic and see how much it will cost for my fuel flapper thing to be replaced
-Have AC properly checked to see if it is low or if the compressor needs to be replaced.

I have a couple questions though. I was reading the recall which includes the instructions for changing the flapper and to me it just looks like you need to drop the fuel tank and replace the flapper in it. Is that true?? How hard is it to do myself?? The manual says the car holds 10qts of coolant? Anyone confirm that? Could someone explain to me the transmission flush. I was reading where you flush it of 3 qts, replace, drive it around, do it again for about 3 times and then all the fluid should be new. that true? since ive owned the car the transmission fluid or coolant has never been changed so i figured it would be a good time to do it. I may replace the DPFE sensor as well not sure if it needs to be replaced though.
 
I would also add fuel filter and PCV valve to you're list if it hasn't been done recently.

Headlights and gas tank should be first priority so it's at least driveable. Post the codes and you'll get lots of help. If one of the EGR codes is P0401 or P0402 there's a good chance it's the DPFE sensor, especially if it's the original metal one that corrodes...the new sensors are plastic. Don't know if that would cause the O2 sensor code, probably not.

If one of the codes is P0420 or P0430 it could be the mil eliminator. Another possibility is the ECT (engine coolant temperature) sensor. It's cheap ~$14 and now would be a good time while you have coolant drained and if you do replace the dpfe. You'll have to take a few things off just to get to the dpfe and the ect is in the same general area.

You can seafoam through the intake, in the gas and oil. Some are leary about putting it in the oil. I just did mine, drove it a couple hundred miles and changed oil. Don't know if it helped, but it didn't hurt anything.

Can't confirm 10qts on the coolant. If it were me, I'd just buy two 1-gallon jugs of coolant and mix one 50/50, fill the radiator, overflow, etc. When you're done, if you don't need the second one, just return it.

Your transmission flush method sounds good...someone may chime in with an easier quicker way.

Good luck on the AC..that's been on my list for about 5yrs now!
 
can i get the PCV, DPFE, and ECT from autozone or advance?? thats what i planned on doing for the coolant flush. i have never ran straight coolant. my ac been on the list for about two years now. is there how to for all these sensors and fuel filter?? no idea where it even is
 
fuel filter is cheap and easy Jim. its under the pass side edge of the car by the gas tank. pcv was hard for me to find locally the others i have never tried for so idk.
 
i changed my pcv when i did the intake cleaning, but i think i got it and the fuel filter from walmart. i also changed the hose that connects to it while i was in there and had to buy it from ford. i don't remember it being expensive either.
 
ok well i just got the codes and some of the parts

P0156-Bank 2 Sensor 2
P0401-EGR
P0402-EGR

I got the DPFE, PCV valve, fuel filter, temp sensor from advance. Some oil, oil filter, and sea foam for now. They didnt have any plugs so i gotta get them from another place. Everything was cheap other then the DPFE and oil.

Heres my plan. Run the sea foam through the brake booster hose in the top of the uim. Then once its done ill swap the mils, unhook the battery and then drive it around till the engine light comes on and get it checked. If the code comes back as the same(0156) does that mean it is the sensor and not the mil? If its the sensor i can replace that easy, if its the mil do i just gotta go get a new mil?? I got them from nautilus and they only been in a couple of months. Then install the DPFE, PCV, fuel filter, oil change, plug change and see if i get any codes.

One question: the seafoam says to use 1/3 of a pint very slowly. Can i use the whole pint or no?? As far as i know you unhook the far right hose on top of the uim and pour the sea foam in. Do i pour it in as the car is running or no and how long should i run the car for??
 
If it says use 1/3 of a pint, then use 1/3 of a pint. The engine will have to be running for the vacuum to pull the Seafoam in. Be prepared, it's gonna make a hell of a lot of white smoke.

Headlights... check the fuses and bulbs. Chances are there's a short somewhere. Personally, I'd get the headlights and the CEL taken care of first, so the car will pass inspection. The A/C isn't a big priority, it's already getting closer to the end of the summer, and you don't sound like you'll be driving it a whole ton anyways.
 
yea the ac is last on my list actually. as far as the headlights go all the fuses are find and i cant find any shorts. when they stopped working i was messing with the leds on the back of the gauge cluster so im gonna replace the green circuit board cause one of the signal light indicators got burnt up to a short in the led and see if that fixes it. if that doesnt work i will look harder for shorts and what not. are there a how to on the dpfe sensor or the pcv valve or atleast could u tell me where they are located on the motor.
 
PCV is located under and to the right of the throttle body. Once you see it you won't need a how-to, its just a matter of pulling the old one out and putting the new one in. Can't help with the dpfe I'm afraid.
 
i mean i can put in about 20 cents and then it stops and i gotta wait a lil bit then try again. ive tried all the turn the pump counter clock wise, upside down, 1/4 out, start slow and slowly speed up. nothing works. ive only been able to get 5 dollars in each time cause i get so annoyed with it and half the time i end up spilling gas out. im thinking of trying the coat hanger thing to see if that works.
 
when i went to do the sea foam this morning i unplugged the brake booster line and started the car up and all i hear is sucking like the air filter is sucking air and the cars idles high then drops low high then dies. very eratic. any ideas?
 
Well by pulling that hose you created a big vacuum leak so it makes sense that the car is trying to die. Keep your thumb over the holes until you can get the hose in the bottle.
 
well thats what i figured and i got it done. the sea foam smoke a lil but i had to give it throttle to get it to some more. i found the reason behind one code. my mil on bank 2 sensor 2 wasnt plugged into the sensor. one end othe the connector came undone so i rewired that up. then i installed the DPFE and PCV valve. next is the fuel filter then to try and put fuel in with a hanger.
 
yeah and reminding myself why i dislike working on this car. haha. the DPFE sensor looked much harder then it really was just had to remove half the engine to get to it. haha

Update: coat hanger did not work. still cant get gas to flow quicker. its really irritating.
 
im gonna go do the fuel filter, oil change, and plugs. then get to the brakes and rotors but ive never done a brake job before. is there a how to or anything on here on how to do it and replacing the brake fluid?? my step dad said he would help me but hes not around, he is a little impatient and not good with tools in my opinion, and he never replaces the brake fluid when he does his brakes so i would rather do it now anyway.
 
got everything done today except the brakes. turn it for a drive after the plugs and its hesitating a little at low rpms.i think i may just have a boot not snapped on all the way. ill check it tomorrow. it was hesitating a little before i did the plug change but i thought it was getting used to the new sensors. also the engine light came back on so ill get that checked tomorrow.

P0401-egr still. any ideas? ive cleaned the passage ways twice now. maybe a third time would work. haha.
 
finally got the brakes done. it was an all day job. first time ive ever done it and it was pretty frustrating. i would rather swap another motor into my bike. the end results are more worth it. things i got left to do is figure out the p0401 code, try and find a fix for my gas tank issue, headlights, and now i gotta look into the blower motor switch. thing started cutting in and out today when i was messing with it.
 
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