Episode 122 - 1997 Ford E-150 Introduction

[@truck_dude]

My grandpa has this van but purple color and it's very clean, little to none rust and he is giving me his van when I turn 16 and very excited to drive his van

[@MazdaB3K]

If it's around the same year it has a good engine and transmission. Loves to drink gas though, keep that in mind. Hopefully your grandpa has kept the van up. If not, I have tons of content to fix most of the common things that go wrong with this van.

[@Jose-sy1je]

I love those vans and actually clicked on this video before I realized before it was from your channel. But a question remains, why would you have bought a Transit Connect back then if now you replace it with this car? What drew you to the Transit Connect instead of a car like this back then? I hope you can save that engine. But it really sounds as if it could have been massively worn down with all this coolant in the oil.

[@MazdaB3K]

Different setup when I bought my TC back in 2017. Interest rates were extremely low, used vehicle prices were not overly inflated and I had less children. Back then I was able to buy a very nice, lightly used (less than 20k) vehicle for just under 20k with a trade in. Also at the time I worked in the city near where I lived so my wife and I both drove everyday and we needed two decently fuel efficient vehicles. Today, I have more kids and I work from home. Interest rates are the highest they've been for decades and used car market is severely overinflated price wise. Another key difference is that I've developed my skills as a mechanic quite a bit, as well as having the tools to handle most situations. I can afford now to roll the dice on a facebook purchase like this as I have the ability to repair it, something I could not do back in 2017.

[@Jose-sy1je]

@@MazdaB3K But don't you get worried that these old cars may not pass smog? It happened to me before with a Ford Explorer I bought. Smog tests on those cars are due every two years and it didn't pass smog, so the car was trash then. So on one hand that makes me reluctant to buy used cars, on the other I can't afford those new cars. It's amazing how much the average new car costs nowadays. Btw, towards the end of the video you were talking about the sound of the engine. Something about the crankshaft and different sounds. How can you tell if an engine sounds good? My car started vibrating a little when I'm standing at lights or put it in reverse. I always wondered why that started.

[@MazdaB3K]

Florida does not have emissions testing. That being said, I strive to keep my vehicles in good running order so they could pass smog if needed. What I was referring to was the sound of the engine cranking. Depending on the health of the cylinder heads and gaskets the crank will sound different. A cylinder with low or no compression will make a different sound than a healthy one, resulting in a "galloping" crank. No compression or low compression on multiple cylinders results in a very fast crank as there is no resistance from compression to slow the crank down. A slow crank normally means a weak battery or starter, or possibly bad wiring between the battery and starter. In your situation, if you have enough miles on the engine, you could have worn motor mounts or other noise, vibration, harshness (NVH) items that are wearing out, resulting in more vibrations being created or less vibrations being dampened.

[@Jose-sy1je]

@@MazdaB3K So usually these sounds I refer to pertain to low to no compression and are probably due to worn cylinders, etc.? I tried a thicker oil, but the vibration may have been worse. I know that some people wipe the muffler when they buy a vehicle. Is that to check carbon deposits? I noticed today that my car's muffler is super black. Could that be from the engine burning oil? Some people swear on products like 505 and say it would get rid of all these deposits. Ever tried it?

[@MazdaB3K]

Worn cylinders may have lower compression but they would still be doing work. A "loose" piston will have piston slap and that's a very distinct sound. If you are getting some new garden variety vibrations I would chalk that up to NVH wearing out, possibly motor mounts wearing out. You also have to think about suspension components wearing down, and body mounts. All of those things can create new noises as they age and wear. For the exhaust you can wipe the interior of the pipe and from what wipes up you can gain some understanding of the health of your engine. Dark black and sooty would mean running rich, super clean (for an exhaust pipe) might mean coolant is being burned. You can learn these things and more if you pull a spark plug from time to time and look at how they are burning. To get rid of deposits, if you have any I would go with some berryman's b12 down a vacuum port to the intake. Another time honored tradition is the Italian tune-up. This is finding a quiet road somewhere and driving the engine aggressively and hard to get it warmer than normal which will burn off deposits.

[@surfbug1]

quaaludes! yeah man just kidding .....nice video I'm getting one! 1997

[@MazdaB3K]

It was a huge effort to get this van to where it's a daily. Even now there's a half-dozen small things that I still need to fix to get the van up to my standards. This thing was just about run into the ground even though the exterior and interior are in really good shape.

[@surfbug1]

how much was the metal lower intake, and where didja get it? and check the spark plugs and the torque! read up on that.....

[@MazdaB3K]

5.4L two valves do have an issue where if the torque is too low it will eject the plug, but I haven't had this issue. I always tighten until snug, then a smidge more. Never failed me. I purchased the metal intake from the local part store, and it was not cheap. Could probably find it for cheaper on eBay or Amazon. If you are deep enough that you need the new metal lower intake, I would try to go for the PI cylinder heads. They came out in 1999 and increased horsepower and torque by a decent amount. You would need the '99 cylinder heads, '99 metal intake to pair with the metal lower. I didn't have the time to pursue this when I was making the videos.

[@gregturner7886]

Where can I purchase the rear AC fan motor for the 1997 van with that custom kit. I have one just like it

[@MazdaB3K]

I haven't made any purchases yet, but this website seems to carry Pro Air parts. Pro Air itself went out of business a few years ago, so get the parts while you can. www.comfortairgr.com/

[@michelleklein8979]

I'm looking for a t square window for a 97 e150 conversion. Left side behind the driver it's driving me nuts

[@MazdaB3K]

Have you tried looking on ebay, or a salvage yard network? I use www.car-part.com for harder to find car items. Shipping can be expensive, and some salvage yards won't sell to non-businesses but it's a place to look.