Well, fired the van up last week to take it out and stretch its legs to get ready for another trip to Arizona. Wouldn't you know it, starts stumbling. Check engine light stars flashing. Back home we go. Hook up the scanner and get the P0306 and P0316 codes. Well, one of 6 options. Plug, wire, coil, injector, injector wiring or CPU. Since its been 100,000 miles since I replaced the wires and coil and 75,000 miles for the plugs, I order plugs (NGK TR55IX), wires and coil from RockAuto.com

$88 in parts, 1.5 hours of taking my time, some nickel anti-sieze (pug threads), di-electrical grease (wire boots, coil mounting contacts and electrical hook-up) and 2 cups of coffee later the van is back to purring like a new kitten again.

 

Ok,, now I'm feel n guilty, my SD is in need of some attention before summer..

 

That's OK...

I still need to pull my brakes apart like I do every spring and fall and go thru them. Also time for a new fuel filter. It's still setting on the work bench. Saw it, knew it, figured "Later" . But I did drop it off yesterday for the alignment I needed after having the front crank seal replaced. It also needs a good scrubbing outside after this winter, but apparently Gremlins don't wash vehicles...They just cause problems.

 

Hello "Common Sense",
I have followed a lot of your Freestar adventures". I Had a similar experience last week on a trip to New Mexico, Stumbling engine, loss of throttle response and serious loss of power. It reset itself and ran fine for a while then repeated the same symptoms, only this time the AC went off and the heater came on which wasn't too pleasant at 95 Degrees outside temp, even with the windows down. While stopped for lunch in Santa Rosa it reset itself and ran fine for a while then limped into Albuquerque. Parked for a few days and it was fine again. On the way home I treated it with kid gloves and the couple times that it acted as if it wanted to stumble I backed off of the throttle a little and it would recover. At home I got up the next morning and removed and cleaned all of the ground connections under the radiator cover by scraping the paint off of the body and sanding all of the connectors. Haven't had any problems driving here in town for a week so It may be cured. The heater and AC kicking off and on gives me a clue that the problem might be electrical and ground is usually the culprit. I have a friend that can clear the codes for me but was curious if there is a way to do that at home?

 

Have to love all of the grounds on the Freestar. They're great for breeding Gremlins . Not sure if disconnecting the battery will actually clear codes. May do some, but not all. A basic code reader will do most emissions related codes, but not ABS, Tranny, Airbag codes. I use an Autel Maxidiag Elite Md802 for 4 System with Data Stream Model Engine, Transmission, ABS and Airbag Code Scanner.

I would get the codes pulled before clearing. That way, you'll have a reference to see if any of the recorded codes come back. You're local Autozone could clear them also, just log before clearing as some codes can be by-products of an issue.