401 CEL on Ford Windstar 2000

Hey everyone. My car is running great overall. However, my stepson has literally gone berserk, he's 18, and pulled a bunch of things. When I was working on the car before, I had had my landlord dope the engine with anti-freeze.

This resulted in a legit repair for a cylinder one exhaust valve spring repair, and then the IMRC also. We also did the leckemby procedure and the chang one on google, for cleaning the egr.

Saturday, the car did a cel. Before this, the step kid was driving, was angry beyond belief for no real reason, and before he had purposely sabotaged the car, mainly with the cowling in front. He didn't tighten the driver windshield wiper nut, broke most of the plastic rivets, and then broke the passenger windshield wiper blade, by purposely over-tightening. Before this, just before we finished the car, he had threatened to kill me, stole money and some other things including personal stuff, and then tried playing us off other adults, including the friend who leant us the air comp. We did not fall for it. The kid does not deal with his problems. He acts cocky, fools no one, and goes into denial.

In the parking lot, I had him look at the car, while I took a short walk. The windshoield wiper fluid as not spraying, and then stopped. He had purposely disconnected the rubber tubes in the cowling in the past, which gave us a major problem when a rainstorm hit, the wipers and sprayers did not work and the dust obscured the windshield despite the downpour. I connected the tubes, it was fine.

This time, he kept shuffling his hand, spent 5 minutes doing it, and claimed the cel came due to my re-filling the windshield wiper reservoir. Nowm, when I try sprayign it ,the tubes are gone, the fluid drips off the back of the engine, and a cel comes up. I was not able to see it, the autozone guy told me (refusing to show it) that it was a 401.

So, I'm wondering a few things:

1. Does anyone know the replacement numbers for the parts for the rubber tubes that connect the reservoir lines to the holes in the cowling?
2. Is it just due to this, or do I need to open up the plenum again, and check to see if the egr ports are blocked?
3. Autozone dude who wouldn't let me see the number, told me to do the egr tube disconnect, to see. Can anyone refresh my memory as to how this is done?

Thanks in advance! I paid for the lawyer to rescue this kid from a Dad who was beating him, even for wetting the bed, and doing other awful things too. So much for thanks. It has been 11 years, I got the shaft.

I did reconcile with the oldest boy, who is due to Afghanistan in October.


Any suggestions for the car? No performance problems at all, but I did dump b-12 chemtool in, entire bottle, no other problems except the light and the dipstick kid's damage.

Sorry to hear about all those problems.

The P0401 is a problem with the EGR flow; I would make sure the vacuum hose on top of the EGR valve is properly seated at both, the EGR valve (UFO like thing at the front of the engine with green vacuum line) and t the back of the upper manifold by the passenger side. I'm pretty sure one of either side is loose. Also check the DPFE sensor to make sure the electrical connector is properly seated and both rubber hoses are properly attached to the EGR tube on the front exhaust manifold.

I don't know about part number for the wiper hoses, but you could ask for either regular nylon hoses or rubber hoses, when one of mines broke I replaced it with a rubber piece and has been working fine. Also make sure the "L" shaped connector right below the wiper cowling (passenger side) and close to the A/C tubes is properly seated too.

Hope this helps,

Oscar.

Sorry to hear about all those problems.


I don't know about part number for the wiper hoses, but you could ask for either regular nylon hoses or rubber hoses, when one of mines broke I replaced it with a rubber piece and has been working fine. Also make sure the "L" shaped connector right below the wiper cowling (passenger side) and close to the A/C tubes is properly seated too.

Hope this helps,

Oscar.

This was awesome, Oscar!

I did everything but check the rear passenger side, and open up the plenum. I pulled the vacuum hose off of the egr, and the car slowed down the engine. I felt no suck or blow on the hose.

Does that sound right to you?

The l-shaped connector and the hose are ALL completely gone!

I found the replacement, of all places, on amazon. It's right here...

http://www.amazon.com/Dorman-924-250-Windshield-Washer-Hose/dp/B0026MCTL8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1337840323&sr=8-1

I can order this thru autozone! Awesome idea! I'll get the carb cleaner tomorrow, and clean it all out!

Thank you, Oscar!

You're welcome!

That looks like a good replacement; I'm not sure but I think the diameter was either 5/16" or 1/4"; I can take a look at it later today if you still want the size.

About the EGR, just make sure the hose is OK and properly attached at both sides, in this case you mention the hose and L shaped connector was missing and since it's very close to the spot at the back where the EGR hose attaches, there is a chance that has been disconnected too ;) . Just remember that THERE IS NO NEED to open the plenum to check the hoses, removing the snorkel between the air filter and the throttle body should be enough to reach your arm behind the upper intake manifold.

If I remember correctly there should be no or low EGR flow at idle on the hose, you can try revving the engine up to 2k RPM's and see if the vacuum increases.

You're welcome!

That looks like a good replacement; I'm not sure but I think the diameter was either 5/16" or 1/4"; I can take a look at it later today if you still want the size.

About the EGR, just make sure the hose is OK and properly attached at both sides, in this case you mention the hose and L shaped connector was missing and since it's very close to the spot at the back where the EGR hose attaches, there is a chance that has been disconnected too ;) . Just remember that THERE IS NO NEED to open the plenum to check the hoses, removing the snorkel between the air filter and the throttle body should be enough to reach your arm behind the upper intake manifold.

If I remember correctly there should be no or low EGR flow at idle on the hose, you can try revving the engine up to 2k RPM's and see if the vacuum increases.

I did not need to replace the hose, just connect it. A little afterwards,
I cleared the trouble codes, check the hoses as best as I could, and then drove around on it.

The CEL came back. I also heard a light ticking sound when pulling away from the cemetary yesterday, and have never been shown the obd 2 scanner result despite asking, so I am just going to go ahead and take off the plenum, and then disconnect the EGR hoses in back, and remove the valve cover. I think it could be that the ticking sound is made by the valve head coming loose, so I will check it to see.

There was no decrease whatsoever in power, and the EGR valves were very clean.

Is there something else I could be missing? Anything else to check?:runaround:

Is there any other autoparts store (NAPA, O'Reillys, etc) where you can go and have it scanned instead of Autozone?.

It's your choice to remove the plenum or not, but I'm pretty sure you DON'T need to since the EGR system is quite simple and there is nothing else that can fail. It's main components are the EGR valve(UFO shaped thing), EGR tube (connected to the front exhaust manifold) and DPFE sensor (connected to the EGR tube with 2 hoses). Make sure the DPFE hoses are ok and that the EGR tube is not corroded. If you heard a thicking sound, there is a chance that it could be an exhaust leak at the EGR tube; that would trigger an EGR code.

These are all assumptions unless we know the exact code...

Oscar.