HateWhatOwnsYou

how do i test it to find out if its good? car runs fine, just guzzles up gas

i have a a CEL: banks 1 & 2 are rich.


this is on my 00 crown vic

cliffyk

What are the exact codes?

There are 5 or 6 codes for each bank that have "rich" in the description--they all indicate different problems...

HateWhatOwnsYou

i didnt get the codes, the dude at autozone said banks 1 and 2 are rich. will they tell me codes?

cliffyk

I don't see why not, and frankly the opinion of the "dude at autozone" as to what's wrong, based upon pulling codes with a generic scantool, is pretty much worthless.

Get the codes and look 'em up here...

HateWhatOwnsYou

p0102 Mass Air Flow (MAF) Circuit Low Input
p0175 System too Rich (Bank 2)
p0172 System too Rich (Bank 1)


i put seafoam in the brake booster vac line before i started driving the car, could it have done harm?

so 102 is saying the maf is messing up and the other 2 are saying the car is running rich. i pulled the maf sensor off and its clean so how do i check it?

cliffyk

There is no "brake booster vacuum line" on our cars--the Hydroboost braking system is powered by the power steering pump. What hose did you pull to inject the snake-oil?

Seafoam was developed in the 40's for use in marine engines (hence the name) that habitually ran cold and/or were otherwise poorly maintained or stored unused for extended periods (think winter, in a shed on a wharf in Maine).

It has no place being used in a modern properly maintained engine. Ford specifically states in its manuals that snake-oil intake "cleansers" and oil additives should NOT be used under any circumstances. If I owned any engine that could possibly benefit from Seafoam I'd take it apart an rebuild it...

OK, that aside, there isn't any menaingful "out-of-vehicle" test for the MAF, the best way to test it is to backprobe the output signal--on our cars the light blue/red (+) and tan/light blue (-) wires at the MAF.

Here are the reference values from the '03 shop manual:


Depending on where the Seafoam was injected it may have contaminated the MAF as the intake air pulsed. Many have cleaned their MAF successfuly with rattle can TB cleaner.

The O2 sensors may also have been contaminated/damaged by the snake-oil, depending on how fast and how much was ingested. They may burn themselves clean after a while, you might try taking the car for a 20-25 trip on the interstate.

HateWhatOwnsYou

i said this is on my crown vic, it has a brake booster vac line. i did do more than the can reccomends. its actually still smoking from it(or atleast i think).

that actually might be my answer.


eff me

cliffyk

I'm sorry, I missed that--a good long cruise on the highway may blow 'em clean...

HateWhatOwnsYou

but seafoam wouldnt be able to cause this code tho would it?
p0102 Mass Air Flow (MAF) Circuit Low Input

cliffyk

Sure it could, if it contaminated the MAF or O2 sensors, which are designed to have gasoline mist, and gasoline created exhaust gasses thrown at them--not kerosene and who knows what else...