3 codes on my wifes 96 windstar (301,161,102)

[wiswind]

Well.....let's see if the new battery helps.....
A low battery certainly won't help......
1 more load from the Alternator trying to charge into a bad battery.
2, a certain minimum voltage is required to activate the relays....and 1 relay activates the fuel pump.....
3. Less voltage to the fuel pump.....it may have trouble maintaining the flow and pressure needed.

It is not for certain that the battery caused the problem....but it could......and you now need to replace it.....
So....hopefully it will solve the other problems.

[cswilson1976]

Well, changing the battery didn't fix it !

now after alot more playing with things, we have noticed a few things

Still getting p0301. and only p0301. I have checked compresion, its good, I changed the sparkplug with a new iridum one(made some diffrence, but not much), I checked for spark on plug one, and it has a orange spark(thought they were spose to be blue)
when driving it runs fine for 1-10 min then starts throwing p0301 constantly. even just ideling it with start to thro p0301's, but if wh shut it off then restart it 3-5 seconds later there is no more misfires for 1-10 min, then once it starts we can shut off and repeat.
right now I have a simple code reader/reseter and I just ordered a higher end one from scantools to see if I can pull extra info from the obdc

[cswilson1976]

Well after doing alot more probing around The problem is solved.

started doing a bunch of voltage checks all over and found these measurements on the alt

Bat neg to B - 14.56 v
bat neg to A - 14.56 v
Bat neg to I - 14.27 v

the problem being that I should be 13-14v and aprox .8-.9v lower then A or B

Changed out the alt, and of course it has a slightly smaller pulley, so i picked a slightly smaller belt today as the tensioner is right against its stop, and the belt is slipping a bit especialy when turning the stearing wheel. orginal belt is 1037v6 (that is currently on it) replacing with 1025v6 which should be 22mm shorter, or should i go with a shorter belt?

[wiswind]

I would give the 22mm belt a try.
They list 2 belts for the '96 windstar......If you currently have the longer one, the shorter one should be OK.