I want to start off with a big hello to the gang at Ford Forum,like you Iam a Dearborn junkie and once again a E series owner.Way back when I got out of high school I purchased a 1972 Econoline and as it was so popular back then made a certifiable ******** wagon out of it the works wheels sunroof wicked stereo carpet everywhere you name it.I had that van for many years and toured across Canada and the U.S.A and finally sold it with well in excess of one hundred thousand miles it was a great vehicle,since then I never had a van again till now,many f series trucks a couple of mustangs and a few family cars,as things turned out a ageing uncle of mine had to give up his licence at 92 and turned his 1991 E 150 Club Wagon over to me,the van is like new with a scant 80,000 KLMs on it or fifty thousand miles,full load dual heat and air,power everything,rust checked from day one,barely winter drove and original body and paint.At first I thought what will I do with this then I drove it a while and that was it I love it kickin it old school again.Now Iam on a mission to make it one hundred percent but info and parts are a problem so I came to this forum with my hat in my hand to try and find the things I need to bring this old E back and use it for hauler to the cottage.There is no fool like a old fool,I have a list of things to find that the dealer cannot help me with so in the future I will ask all of you for some help in locating supply and tech support,and hopefully add something to the forum when I can,thanks for your time.Rob

 

E magine, you have wound up with a pretty reliable vehicle. We had quite a few in the fleet and they were the true iron horse! Most had 5.8L engines some had 5.0 L. What does yours have? I may be able to share some experiences that might save you some time and expense. LOL

 

Thanks Hanky,this E has the 5.0 litre in it,and has some issues Iam trying to work through,one question that our local dealer cannot help me with is about the fuel system,on a 1986 F 250 I had it had a cartridge style filter in the bottom of the tank switcher for lack of a better term,the dealer cannot tell me if it has one and worse than that cant come up with a part number for the O ring so I can not open it to see,my 86 had one and when you opened up the bottom to change it the O ring would grow to twice its size,I searched my shop but I could not find the old package of O rings that I had,and as I forgot to mention dual tanks.You see Iam trying to narrow down a on again off again preignition under load,and I have established correct timing with spout out,replaced the inline filter,the fuel rail regulator,wires and plugs gapped correctly,wires loomed and separated, firing order correct,replaced cap and rotor,and a run of cleens combustion chamber cleaner at temp,and let sat overnight and gave her in the morning some black smoke but not huge and as I said its sometimes there and sometimes not and if pushed the engine will act like its starting to miss,I also unhooked the vacuum line to the EGR and opened it manually with a vac pump at warm idle and it ran rough when released it went back to a normal Idle,the front Y pipe and catalytic are new.So that is why I want to make sure of proper fuel flow first I know its alot to digest and finding people that have knowledge of the old eec system around here is impossible,and the dealer has no interest at all in helping with a twenty year old truck or its 55 year old obsessed owner.

 

Now I have to do some homework. I believe the part you are referring to near the switching valve is there for when you go up a hill and the fuel sloshes in the tank where you could pick up some air, that reservoir is to help prevent any fuel shortage. I'll need to double check on that. Also , there is a special arrangement of the plug wires, depending on the firing order , where improper routing can cause induced spark in the wire parallel to it. I will get all that info for you, I just have to dig it out.
I can recall those converters are large , heavy and expensive. For what it's worth, again from experience, Ford manufactured parts like brake pads, rear brake cables, and exhaust system piping lasted much longer than after market stuff.
Things like water pump replacement can be tricky because the bolts are special and can be difficult to remove and sometimes break before you can get them out.
I'll check, and if I have some of them and you need them let me know. I will probably never use them and if you ever need them, they are yours.
Will forward the info as soon as I can .

 

Hanky it is the switching valve,the bottom unscrews on my ole f 250 the bottom was shallower than it is on the E series but it is kinda serrated and is a part of the switching valve the filter that was in my 86 F looked alot like a motorcycle cartridge oil filter,back then my father was a parts manager at a ford dealer so things were easier.The O ring sat down in a groove in the removable (bowl)and the filter kinda shouldered on to a tube that came out of the bottom of the switching valve,this made sense the fuel was filtered before the high pressure pump then after with the big tin inline filter.As far as the converter goes O.E.M. from ford was not a option so I had to go aftermarket,you see this van has a lot of original parts still it is low mileage and if there is a filter on the bottom of the valve it will be twenty years old,I drove the van tonight into the falls and back and even on midgrade it will ping when coming underload IE:your in overdrive at 55 mph going over a overpass and just before it drops out of O.D it will preignite and even in 3 if you ease into it on a grade it will rattle,hook a trailer to it and forget it you would punch holes in the pistons.I also have ran a treatment of Lucas in the fuel and a shot of sea foam.Other times it has tons of power no ping and the next time you get into it its sluggish and starts to ping.Very confusing I have bought a Hayes manual to help with the pollution system,and considering replacing the ign coil and or the ign pack on the side of the distributor.With most other mechanical bases touched this is my Nemesis,I assume there is a knock sensor where is it located ?I replaced the vac can(tomato juice can) under the truck and following all the vac lines this weekend the answer is under the dog house somewhere and with help it will be solved.Rob

 

You're taxing my memory ya know!
I have a cartridge filter and the gasket that goes with it. Its a hastings GF-6A and the box says it replaces the following ;AC GF-157, Autolite FG-1, Fram CG-20, Mopar 18796119, and Wix 33271. Is this the one you're looking for?
The knock sensor on the van is located on the lower left of the intake manifold.
I did have a lot of trouble with the original old Ford coils that came with the truck. Might be wise to just replace it.
I wanted to get the correct firing order for your vehicle because, there were one or two places where two adjacent cylinders fired in the order and caused an induced voltage in the next cylinder, and until I can really find the info in my pile of stuff , if you know the correct firing order and the cylinder #s I believe cylinders 7 & 8 wires had to be placed on the opposite ends of the routing to prevent 7 from inducing spark in 8 which caused some crazy problems like preignition in the # 8 cyl.
I'll wait till I hear from you.
If you need any diagrams ,vac or elec I might be able to help you out.

 

Taxed memory eh,yea this is putting me through a ringer after years of new vehicles with long warranty's I have not worked on much since my last E series and its kinda fun,not sure about the filter you have you say gasket hmm its a o ring thats for sure,and it was a motorcraft FG something or other,I just returned with the van from a 240 mile highway round trip again runs fine until it hits inclines then you have to feather back on throttle to keep it out of the ping zone,and yes tomorrow I will get a coil and try that at the same time try and find the Knock sensor,but eventually I will have to open that valve bottom and check for a filter the O ring was pretty close as I recall to some used on liquid cooled snowmobile cyl heads,I just have to be sure enough fuel is getting through because on the hills when it begins to ping if you stay into it for 15 seconds it starts to miss,now is that from lack of fuel or spark?I will find this and then this might help somebody else down the road,tonight I sat it on cruise from toronto to hamilton set at 75 mph and it just cruised but thats flat road,and at no time has it set check engine light and when missing and pinging it does not flash the light.Hanky I will keep you informed of any progress I will stick at it as time allows but I sure do want to hook my boat to it and head to the cottage,it will have to wait thanks for your time.Rob