Quote:
Originally Posted by catvents
THe following link is included to the third subject of the Windstar forum
Code P171/174 update.....
It is a "bible" for whom who want to fix these code and ALSO the EGR port buildup cleaning. ( it is dry carbon that you have to remove (scratch out) without using any cleaning stuff. THe pictures on this link show you some big plans to clean that. Almost everybody here on this forum has followed this important informations for how to fix that EGR ports problems.
JUst follow these clear instructions
http://leckemby.net/windstar/windstar01.html |
Okay, well mine are pretty thoroughly covered with gook. I'd already went ahead and cleaned it with mineral spirits, and was told by someone else they dry off fast, which doesn't seem to be true.
"Clean these parts with mineral spirits. " I did that, because honestly, I've never seen so much crud on it, and the guy said the same thing. He said it was grody. Mine actually had black stuff coating it. I could not remove it with the pick and towel, and was able to remove most of it with the mineral spirits soaked into the towel. It was black, and like tar.
I have left it for two hours, drying, and will hook it back up when I get back home. 3 holes were completely blocked. I do not have a shop vac, nor access to one at all. My friend refused to lend his to me, and I have no other options.
I was able to rinse some of it out. I also had to pick the rest, with a nut pick like you use at Christmas. It was gummy and like hardened black fish roe.
I asked here, basically because everyone else I spoke to told me I was over-reacting to fixing it, they said we live in the southwest, it will dry of with the 20-30% humidity we have. I posted here, didn't get a response, waited and checked again ,then dove in, so it is too late now. I also got a lot of it on my hands ,and it appears to have made me high. I do not have any rubber gloves, so I guess I'll just have to wait it out.
I plan on going home, and re-attaching the plenum top, and starting it up.
The isolator bolts did not have any black residue on them at all, and are green-shouldered, so I am guessing they have already been replaced. I was supposed to get a ride from the relative this morning, but she is crazy, and woke us up early, screaming and hreatening until I got out an mp3 player to record, and she stopped. She accused me of wrecking her computer, which I had not done, and then stormed out. When she came back ,she just refused to speak to me, apologized to my Honey, and left.
Upshot is, our car died, or was malfunctioning and misfiring. I keep telling people the same thing , do not have a car right now, have to depend on other people's judgments. My friend had been telling me to go stepwise, and originally told me the plenum was fine ,then about-faced last night, said number 1 valve was theonly clean one, must be the problem one. I checked wiswind's posted answer, and then cleaned the egr posrts, they were blocked shut, symptoms matched my experience, friend confirmed it, and I went ahead already.
I was trying to avoid any problems with explosions, because since I started this repair gig about a month or two ago, everyone has told my, one wrong addition of something to the engine could cause an explosion or engine failure. I guess I don't know what to believe, and I have had to deal with a literally psychotic relative who will promise to take me for parts, then backs out, and claims I am crazy. My honey is mentally retarded/learning disabled, freaks when this happens, and does nothing. So it has been me, dealing with blow-ups, bad information, conflicting information, and having to guess. I relied on my friend's experience, and autozone told me if I took off the plenum, instead of 6 gaskets, I'd have to buy an intake kit which cost 60$, plus rtv, and I had 35$. My relative threatened my honey if she helped pay, and we are both on disability, so I had to wait each time until my crazy relative calmed down to get a ride. Most days, all things considered, I can work on the car from noon to 5, need to buy parts in the afternoon, have no idea how things are going to go.
I'm not trying to blow you guys off, but if you get threatened enough, or yelled at, you tend to be much more likely to be reserved, and also rely on other people's judgment. My friend told me yesterday what it was, but dx'd it as the egr thing which he told me would not affect anything at all, since it just re-used gases, and also stated the cylinder was having a problem, after telling me the compression was fine.
When I do get to talk to him, I have to pre-approve it with his wife, as she decides when he does and does not. She had previously tried getting us into trouble with the state with our kids, and she is intentionally difficult and has a rep for it(she works with an org that counsels families in trouble with cps, so she has vested interest in doing that) so even tho we have passed every investigation with flying colors, she totally hates me. More so, since I was right. BTW, did I mention she had a foster kid taken out of her custody, yet still contracts for teachign parents what to do, and I helped my honey get cusotdy, full and total, or her 4 and helped raise them, with the most difficult telling me I was right with everything I did?
For tools, I have a craftsman set of socket wrenches, a pair of pliers, a jack and jackstands, a haynes book, and whatever I can borrow for the half hour I usually get to speak with him, in between the crazy rants from my relative and my helping my honey figure things out.
That's why I kept asking-I had different responses, didn't want to piss someone off I needed for parts or knowhow, and only had so much time to try.
Relative humidity is 11% right now. I was under the impression the mineral spirits would throughly dry. I could not scrape and wipe the stuff off, and two friends from church explained since it was an intake for the engine, if I just poured it and wiped, it would wash off. It did. They said it would dry, without causing an explosion. I really hope that is true.
That is where I am. In the past two days, the ranting relative went thru town, to the library, to the grocery store, telling everyone how abusive I was, and etc. I did not do anything at all. My Honey freaked, and became obedient as a way to deal with it, with her. She has since apologized.
So, I'm stuck, at 3:12 pm, wondering if my car is cleaned and fixed, or from what you guys have stated it will now ignite and become a fireball. My choice is stay where I am and wait indefinitely for it to dry, or just go take a chance. The crazy relative has admitted to me alone ,she had clicked on things going into windows which installed different drivers for usb stuff, and then uninstalled others, and downloaded "by mistake" a virus, which she blamed on me in public, but in private admitted she did. It took me 4 hours Saturday night to fix all of it. That morning, she re-booted, and the windows pop up told her to install something, and she did it, which killed it.
I've already spoken to her therapist, I know she is psychotic. But she was my ride. My friend gets home in about an hour, which means I have maybe, that half hour window of tools and help. I am going home, gonna start it up, after re-attaching the plenum cover, and hope it works. The ports are mostly clear, I dug out and washed/rinsed the egr with mineral spirits, like it seemed to say, and my two church friends told me to do.
Now you more throughly know my situation ,what would you have me do? I am going to re-attach the intake plenum top, and start it up.