Hi everyone. My name is Haley, I play in a band, and I purchased our first band van this week. I'm fairly mechanically inclined, and have worked in auto parts for 5 years. But I've been a jeep enthusiast my entire automotive career. I've never bothered with fords until now.

I like the can a lot. Its a 1996 E350 Club Wagon with a heavy duty tow package. 11 passenger, was used as a delivery van on a farm. Its full of dust and hay, but its got 123,600 miles, and I got all the service records with it. $1200 purchase. The CEL is on, the owner told me it was a cylinder 1 misfire due to a bad exhaust valve. There is a definite loud tick tick tick when you accelerate. I don't mind diving into pulling the heads for a valve job and essentially going through the top end. I have resources as to ford enthusiast friends, and mechanics I've worked with over the years, so its not very intimidating. I also bought a tune up, so I'll get all that installed in a couple days (I've been too busy to have any free time).

I took it to work yesterday to scan it to see if there were any other codes to be aware about (it runs and drives great, just can feel that misfire a little bit and hear the ticking). Now.....the scanner wouldn't connect so I checked the fuses and they are all good. Then.....the power driver seat wouldn't move after I'd done that. Power was off, key was out, I've checked a billion fuses for people, scanned a ton of vehicles. Lol....

I guess does anyone have any ideas or direction for me to take to get that diagnostic plug working?

 

welcome to the sight Haley, that van should be the obd one and the plug should be under the hood. it would be a good idea to have the bottom end checked as well when redoing the top end. it's been my luck that if only doing top end only the engine has a problem in the bottom later due to the compression gets to be more than it can handle. it might be wise to inspect the lifters as well while you're in the engine that deep

 

Hi Haley, welcome!
From your description are we sure the noise you hear is a valve and not an exhaust manifold leak?

 

Grindman, 1996 should be OBD2 right? The OBd2 plug is right there under the dash, but I'll check tomorrow to see if there's also a 1 under the hood, in case it's some weird transition month. Can't hurt! Hanky, I'm hoping it's a gasket leak! I need to do a compression test this weekend, and I got a new stethoscope (since I stepped on my old one and broke it). Otherwise new heads from work are $175 each with my discount...

 

either case being as how you work at a parts supply you should be able to find the right scanner it might be a good idea to check the wiring harness and see if that van had a few vermin living in it you said that it was used on a farm and ticking noise could be from bent push rod. the lifters could be weak and not be pumped up to the right pressure. someone once told me if one hears a ticking while the engine is running it's almost always electrical, so be sure the plug wires are good and on the plugs good and tight along with making sure the boots aren't cracked or worn

 

DLC for 95 up was in the interior..

Common problem was when the fuse popped for the cig lighter it disables the DLC..

 

Yeah the plug is in the interior, the fuses seemed good, but I got a fuse tester and pack of fuses to make sure I didn't overlook something. I got a full tune up for it, so that's on the to do list as well. All motorcraft and Borg Warner parts. I also need to take a whole day to just go through everything, change oil and diff fluid, etc. but I should be able to run a compression test and get the tune up done this afternoon.

 

So all the fuses test good, the cigar lighter works, but the OBD plug does not. Idk where to go next guys. I checked to see if any wires were pulled out of the plug, but they are all solid. Suggestions?

 

you'll get it fixed that I'm sure of so good luck with it