98 Windstar low idle

[jparis]

I have a 98 windstar with 77k miles. I was having problems with it stalling as I came to a stop.
While looking for the cause, I found that the PCV hose had disentigrated. I replaced the hose & valve, cleaned & tested the IAC and checked all of the vacuum lines since I had the cowling off.

I did have DTC P0171 & P0174. I cleared the codes with the scanner and they have not come back so far. Could the bad hose/PCV valve have caused these codes?

The van runs okay while driving but still idles very low-kind of rough while in gear. In park or neutral it seems fine although a bit rough.

I have seen many posts on cleaning the EGR ports and I'm wondering if these might be the culprit. It doesn't look like an overly difficult job but I'd like to rule out as much as possible before taking on something like this.

Any ideas? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Joe

[FIXMALL]

Originally Posted by jparis

I have a 98 windstar with 77k miles. I was having problems with it stalling as I came to a stop.
While looking for the cause, I found that the PCV hose had disentigrated. I replaced the hose & valve, cleaned & tested the IAC and checked all of the vacuum lines since I had the cowling off.

I did have DTC P0171 & P0174. I cleared the codes with the scanner and they have not come back so far. Could the bad hose/PCV valve have caused these codes?

The van runs okay while driving but still idles very low-kind of rough while in gear. In park or neutral it seems fine although a bit rough.

I have seen many posts on cleaning the EGR ports and I'm wondering if these might be the culprit. It doesn't look like an overly difficult job but I'd like to rule out as much as possible before taking on something like this.

Any ideas? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Joe

I ALSO HAD THE EXACT SAME PROBLEM RESULTING IN THE EXACT SAME CODES AND IT WAS A CRACKED PCV HOSE .REPLACED HOSE AND PCV NO MORE CODES .RAN GREAT TILL I DEVELOPED THE LOW IDLE ALMOST STALL SITUATION. HAD CODES 304&301 THEN CODE 300.WAS TOLD OF A TEMPORARY QUICK FIX FOR THE PROBLEM WHILE I WAITED FOR MY PLENUM GASKETS TO COME IN.ADDED A CAN OF SEA-FOAM ABOUT 5OZ. POURED SLOWLYTHROUGH A MANIFOLD VACUUM SOURCE(BRAKE BOOSTER HOSE).LET IT RUN AT IDLE FOR ABOUT 5 MINUTES CARBON POURED OUT THE EXHAUST.I PUT THE REST IN THE GAS TANK.I DONT KNOW IF THIS WAS THE RIGHT OR WRONG THING TO DO ,ALL I KNOW IS THAT IT WORKED AND CONFIRMED THE NEED TO CLEAN THE EGR PORTS AND FUEL INJECTORS. I WISH YOU MUCH SUCESS

[DRW1000]

171/174 indicate a lean condition as read by the O2 sensors. It is very often the result of an intake leak such as the one you had due to your PCV hose.

[jparis]

Originally Posted by DRW1000

171/174 indicate a lean condition as read by the O2 sensors. It is very often the result of an intake leak such as the one you had due to your PCV hose.

Thank you both for the reply, I did some more reading on the codes and I guess it pays to read all of the instructions! Apparently the computer "learns" as you use the vehicle. There is no telling how long the PCV hose was bad so according to the book it may have adjusted itself to try and compensate for the leak. I disconnected the battery for about 10 minutes -per the instructions to "start from scratch" and drove around for about 30 miles. It hasn't stalled once and no codes. It does seem to have smoothed out some.

I still think I'm going to clean the EGR ports in the near future as they have never been done.

I'll let you know how it goes. Again thanks for the info.

Joe

[billmore]

[quote=jparis]I have a 98 windstar with 77k miles. I was having problems with it stalling as I came to a stop.
While looking for the cause, I found that the PCV hose had disentigrated. I replaced the hose & valve, cleaned & tested the IAC and checked all of the vacuum lines since I had the cowling off.

I did have DTC P0171 & P0174. I cleared the codes with the scanner and they have not come back so far. Could the bad hose/PCV valve have caused these codes?

The van runs okay while driving but still idles very low-kind of rough while in gear. In park or neutral it seems fine although a bit rough.

I have seen many posts on cleaning the EGR ports and I'm wondering if these might be the culprit. It doesn't look like an overly difficult job but I'd like to rule out as much as possible before taking on something like this.

Any ideas? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

This VERY, VERY, common in Windstars. It is the EGR valve that is dirty. This causes the engine to idle rough because ther is not enough presure to get fuel to the number one piston.
Your can replace the valve for about 50 bucks plus labor or blow it out with air. This usually does work for a short time until some more carbon or dirt blocks it again. I finally just disconected it and cleared the codes