Transmission fix, water leak solutions, test drive, worries about mountians

[concretebox]

I've been working in Illinois for the last six months. The fall weather has arrived, and I'm anxious to get out of here before it gets really cold and snowy. For the last two months I've left the RV/Van in "dry dock" at my parents house while I sleep on a mattress in a friend's spare bedroom.

It's been really nice having her full kitchen, shower and lots of room to spread out. However I feel I've been losing something by not getting more experience living in the van. I think before I head out west I'm going to have to take the RV out on some weekend adventures to used to living in a small space again.

For those who don't know I have having issues with water/rain leaks in the bed area. I think I've solved those. I bought a piece of vinyl "J-channel," you've probably seen this on houses with vinyl siding, it's the piece that caps the bottom/sides of the vinyl siding. Using two-part epoxy I glued it above the ineffective factory rain gutter. I hope is it will divert rain water away from the rear doors so that even if the new weatherstripping isn't 100% water tight, water won't run down towards it anyway.

I also was having issues with the transmission slipping. I dropped the pan, replaced the transmission fluid filter and did a ATF flush. It was surprisingly easy. I did however mess up and spill quite a bit of fluid on the driveway. All-in-all it was a pretty cheep fix. The transmission is no longer slipping.

However, when I took it for a test drive yesterday I noticed a loss in engine power. I know I drove it home on the interstate after the engine was replaced so I'm sure it got up to 60-70mph. Yesterday going flat and straight I was only able to get her up to 55mph with the petal to the metal. That speed is fine, but I'm worried about her ability to climb hills. Crossing the mountains maybe impossible. Any ideas what might be causing that?

My goal is to head west on November 1, stopping in Slab City, CA then staying in/near San Diego until spring. Is it hard to cross the Rocky's in the south?

 

[Zil]

Sudden loss of power, computer problem "limp home" mode, are any warning lights on? Bad fuel, lose wire, vacuum leak, sensor failure. What is your ride, make and year, model?
Cat litter will help clean oil spills. Don't leave it in rain. Sprinkle it on and scoop it up for heavy spill. Sprinkle it on and scrub with brush or broom. Sweep it up for final cleaning. If driveway is asphalt do it quickly as the oil will soften that stuff.

 

[concretebox]

1989 Ford econoline e-350

 

[Patrick46]

tell us about this *new* engine.

was this a new engine, a junkyard swap, or did you rebuild the original??
Where did you get it?? Private or business??

struggling to do 55 mph is not right!

you say you changed out the tranny fluid. at 55 mph...did the engine sound like it was running OK, or was it working hard?? Is it possible that your trans is still slipping??

yeah....there's definately a problem somewhere that needs to be addressed

 

[concretebox]

Junkyard swap at a shade tree mechanic in rural MO. It sounds like the trans is shifting late. It feels like the engine is really hot, but the collient temp was steady at 166 degrees.

 

[LeeRevell]

Check the air filter, and the fuel filter. Either one could cause fuel starvation or running rich issues.

 

[user 423]

Are you checking the level the correct,factory spedified way? I don't know about Fords but Dodges need to be checked while idling in neutral (NOT park) after reaching operating temp.

Also,make sure you've put in the correct fluid.

PS: There's a couple of good sized hills before you get to Las Cruces,NM and also west of Tucson. 2nd. gear at 35mph in my old Dodge Class B...YMMV. They're not like what's in CO though.

 

[SternWake]

Coolant temp should be higher. If coolant temp SENDer reads cool temps it enrichens fuel air mixture reducing power.

Tech might have decided to not use a thermostat. With engine fully cold remove radiator cap, start engine and look inside. if coolant is flowing rapidly either the thermostat was removed or it is stuck open allowing the engine to run too cool.

Another possibility not yet mentioned is a plugged catalytic converter. These will make it seem that the engine is very hot as the restriction causes excessive heating of the exhaust manifolds and exhaust pipe leading to the catcon.

Often you can tell if a cat con is plugged by banging on it with a fist, if it rattles, it is toast. Do not do so when hot for obvious reasons.

 

[ccbreder]

Have you checked the error codes?

 

[Terry]

Not sure when the change was made but older type catalytic converters should have a rattling noise and later types were a honeycomb type construction where there is nothing that should get loose and start rattling. Noise is no way to check a catalytic converter. The best way to check the catalytic converter, for the weekend mechanic, is to disconnect it someway. If nothing else, just take it loose at the first connection before the converter and tie it up and go for a test drive. Not sure about your van but Ford has put as many as three catalytic converters in some cars that I know about. What is a common practice among SOME used car dealers is to take and ream a hole through the honeycomb part of the later type. The one I saw do it used a piece of 3/4 inch conduit with a series of jagged cuts on the end that he did the reaming with. Just use vice grips to get a grip on the pipe and press inwards while rotating with the vice grips back and forth. I recon round and round would work if there is enough room to spin the vice grips all the way around.

 

[Patrick46]

If coolant temp SENDer reads cool temps it enrichens fuel air mixture reducing power.

this is an 89, an I'm not so sure these guys had computers in 'em at that point.

I'm thinking that his tranny may still be slipping

 

[ccbreder]

1989 ford 350 does have a computer.

 

[highdesertranger]

well it does have a computer 1st or 2nd generation. I will agree you do have a problem. what it is I don't know, could be any number of things. is your check engine light on? does it even work? what size engine is it? what is the fuel delivery system carb or fi? was the trans fluid burnt? any funny smells? give us some more info. highdesertranger

 

[concretebox]

OK. I replaced the air filter, thermostat, and coolant temp sender. I added coolant to replace what was lost during this replacement. I then took it out for a road test. It died on the road! Before it died the engine shuttered and I lost speed. Coolant temp climbed rapidly to 207 degrees. Just before it died I was limping along at 10mph. I let cool for an hour, then it started but the engine was sputtering. I got it to go about 100 feet at 5mph before it died again.

I towed it home and checked the thermostat. I thought I might have put it in backwards, but I didn't. Turned out it was out of gas!

Then I put two gallons of gas in the front tank and drove it about 15 minutes. The temp got up to 218. The transmission was slipping at first but that stopped when it got up to temperature. Then as I was checking the transmission oil in the driveway it died again. I added a little more gas and it stated again. Now I'm worried about how much fuel it seems to be using. Any idea what could be causing that?

 

[highdesertranger]

I whish you would have replied to my questions in post #13. without some more info, any answer I could give is pure speculation and you would probably be buying more parts you don't need. I have a few ideas but reply with what I asked for and we can go from there. highdesertranger

 

[concretebox]

Computer? Yes, OBT-I
Check engine light is not on.
Does it work? Not sure what you mean, it starts and runs.
Engine is 5.8L E350 Econoline gasoline.
It is Fuel Injection.
Trans fluid was dark, not sure if burnt, when I did a trans flush two weeks ago. I dropped the pan and replaced the trans filter too.
No strange smells.

 

[highdesertranger]

does the check engine light work? with the vehicle not running turn the key to run but do not start. all your warning lights should turn on including your check engine light, this tells you if the light is working. ok now we got some info. when was the last time the fuel filter was changed? If the trans slips when cold and the slipping goes away when the vehicle warms up usually means you are low on trans fluid. check the trans fluid when hot on level ground with the vehicle running in park or neutral. do you have a thermometer to check the accuracy of your water temp gauge? without even an answer I will give some advice. if you don't know when the fuel filter was last changed or you have more than 60k on it, change it. also make sure to check the trans fluid level is correct. reply to this and we will go from there. shouldn't this be in the mechanical section. highdsertranger

 

[concretebox]

The Check Engine light works. I've done as you described many times. This unit has two fuel filters, one in the tank and one on the rail. I replaced the one on the rail a little over a year ago.

I have a thermometer, yes.

 

[ccbreder]

Is there any smoke from exhaust? What color, dark, white, blue tinted? Has anyone run the codes for errors? I would bet a sensor is disconnected or bad.

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

No one else seems to have asked this question yet.

A "shade tree mechanic" put a "junkyard engine" in the van.

Was it from the SAME YEAR as the van?

Did he reuse your original computer, or did he get the engine control computer from the junkyard to match the engine?

Is it possible we are looking at an engine-computer mismatch?

Would that generate error codes or not? (OP says he's not getting any)

Regards
John