Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Whats this part & why did removing it fix my car?

To make a long story short, every morning when I started up the car (1996 GL ATX w/ 2.5l v6), it would start but when you went to give it gas in drive, you would get NO power. I'd hum at 2-3 mph for about 1-2 minutes and then the power would gradually build. If I let the car idle and warm up for a full three minutes, the problem would be greatly reduced. This went on for about a year, very consistant, every time. Tried lots of stuff like the wire harness "recall" and replacing the coolant temp sensor but nothing worked.
Finally on a whim, I removed a part which I can only guess what it is (some kind of vacuum solenoid regulator), Ford couldn't even name it with the part number (part # E8AE-9H465-BA). Basically it looks like a smaller version of the EGR Solenoid valve but with a harness attachment. It is positioned just to the left and below (but on the same mounting plate) as the exhaust gas diff pressure sensor (DPFE?). The vacuum supply to the IMRC (intake manifold runner control) soleniod seems to go through this part. I'm guessing its regulated by the computer because it does have a harness connection.
Anyway, I disconnected the harness and fed the vacuum feed straight to the IMRC, bypassing this piece and now everything works great. Only problem is:
1. It's killing me not knowing WHY this fixed my car and;
2. Is it hurting my car to run it w/o this piece (till I can replace it?
Thanks

sounds like the vacuum selenoid module, is it black plastic with two wires to it and two vacuum hoses attached to it?? if so it was probably defective and taking it off let your car run correctly...

I was under the impression that all 96 Duratecs ran under OBD-II and had an Electronic IMRC ?

If yours is indeed vacuum, you have to be one of the rarest,
or your 96 engine was replaced with a 95 engine and electronics.

Anyway, it sounds like the IMRC Vacuum Solenoid went bad on you
and was constantly leaking vacuum to the IMRC keeping it OPEN and you got the symptoms you described.
Since you removed it, the full amount of vacuum is now applied to the IMRC keeing it CLOSED,
which is what it should be at, below 3500 rpm.
Eventually you will get a code for the disconnected module.

RoadRunner, your pretty sharp. I screwed up on my sig and post, the car is in fact a 95. So you are thinking that the regulator ( the thing with the 2 vac attachments and the 2 wire attachments (one harness)) is probably not actually the problem but that its actually the vacuum solenoid that interfaces with the manifold "butterflys"? If so, any way I can test it?

Suggest you change your sig.

If a '95 are you talking about devices mounted on firewall?

sig repaired..

though the Haynes manual does show this as mounted on the firewall, it is not on my car. The plate is mounted either to the block or lower intake manifold and it is well below the EGR sensor, and more toward the center of the car. It is however the some thing that is described by Haynes as being mounted on the firewall.

Haynes manual unfortunately has many Mondeo items not applicable to Contiques.

So this item is on flywheel end of motor, below EGR valve, as per pics 6.25 and 6.27 on pg 2B-7 of Haynes?

i didnt know GL's could come with the duratec.

That's right. it is mounted on the same plate as the backpressure diff. sensor pictured in 6.25. It is located just below and slightly to the left of this (from driver's fender). Seems to feed the IMRC as pictued in 6.27.