This 1994 Ford E350 surges and runs rough when it warms up, but there are no codes, no clues, and no way to test the problem. Send us a postcard: Watch Wes Work P.O. Box 106 Fulton, IL 61252 Send us an email: mail@watchweswork.com
It's lucky the electrolytic fluid itself didn't ruin the board traces. Surprisingly few caps on there - I suppose the engineers at the time thought they were a possible weak point. My mind boggles however at how many 30-odd year vehicles there are out there, and the caps are just waiting to wreak havoc.
Awesome job Wes! But you were about three years too late to help me out. I had the same situation about 3 years ago in my 95 E350 cube van with same exact drivetrain and identical symptoms. I unfortunately did not have any fancy diagnostic tools to help me pinpoint the problem. I spent many days trouble shooting and replacing various "bad" components... basically chasing the first few things you had thought it was... I love your little sketches, lists and flow charts. It ran better every time I "fixed" something but idle was still horrible. After talking to everyone I knew about what it could be and relentless internet searching, I figured maybe the computer was bad. After seeing that it was not even available anymore and for some outrageous price I could send it out for rebuilding, I decided to open it up and found the leaking capacitors. No stores close to me on the North Carolina shore sell capacitors anymore(where is radio shack when you need them?) but after a search on ebay I found a guy selling the three caps as a kit. Replaced all three and ran better than when I bought it 20 years ago! The best part of this story is that during my internet search I ran across your youtube channel because of that old E350 based flatbed you were working on. I have watched every video you have produced since. I really appreciate all the information you have put out there for everyone. I also have that disease where if its broken and I cant figure it out, it bugs me so much that I spend way more time and money than it is worth to fix it... but I am happy... I think? Broke but happy. Oh well, I never liked paying bills anyways...
ah, Radio Shack. My first stop on payday. Back then I was single and didn't have to sneak new stuff in the house. Once your married, the wife notices new things, like 4 floor standing speaker towers or another vcr stacked up. lol ☺
Videos like this are exactly why we watch, Wes. Watching you solve a difficult problem, and then do the repairs that nobody else would do is so awesome!
"...when I figure it out it makes me happy, but it typically doesn't make me money." I genuinely hope that your customers appreciate you Wes, I'd pay triple to live near enough to have you as my go to mechanic! Great diagnostic process, explanation, video, humour and outtro and it made sense to me. Thank you Wes 👍🏻.
Ya , I have paid triple,when I knew the mechanic was like Wes. They’ll stay a little long but when they know .they should be rewarded what’s happened to this Great America. I would think he was raised like this.
As a electronics engineer facilty assistant who repaired the school's lab equipment, I approve of your printed circuit board repair. I would add heat to free the legs rather than cold working them free but no big deal. Always enjoy. Stay broke, stay happy!
Hey there hive minde. Can anyone explain or point me in the direction of understanding what "open loop" and "closed loop" are. Wes has probably explained it in another video
That is hugely impressive. A car mechanic who not only knows what a capacitor is, but can find one of the right value and voltage rating from his bits and pieces drawers. Respect!!!
Having been working on EEC-IV Fords for half my life, I was saying to the screen many times "bad caps in the EEC" You did a great job of troubleshooting this problem though as well as the repair. Also, for Ford stuff of this era, look up "TMoss Porting" if you haven't already. He's got a lot of documents on his site about the Ford EEC controls of this era and how they work written by some very knowledgeable people.
Is it really that common of a problem?? I have fired the parts cannon on my truck with issues like this...now I'm thinking it couldn't hurt to look in the computer
Wes, you got big ones! Not 1 in a 100 techs would mess with a PCM board. Good Job! I have some experience with early automotive electronic controls and it was almost never the PCM/ECM. It sure was this time. Thanks for sharing. You and South Main Auto are the only ones I see making drawings or consulting schematics. Keep it cup!
Back then, the circuit boards in the ECMs were reliable, unless it had a cracked trace or the board warping and contacting the case, we found these by doing a "tap test". Nowadays, most caps over 10 years old are failing, it's not just ECMs, but anything using them. Old home PCs are especially prone to it, I've had several I've had to recap
"Pays to be a hoarder" is something I say every time I use that one fastener or odd piece I've kept in the garage for like 10 years lol. Mountains of crap in storage because you never know when you might just need something obscure.
Best part of this channel is watching your problem solving skills in action. I really enjoy seeing you sketch things out, make notes, and talk your way through it 👍
Several years ago we had a guy show up at my shop in an old Chevrolet conversion camper. He was living in it and the engine blew up. He was stranded and no one else would work on it. We ended up replacing the engine with him living inside the van. He would just wander off during the day and then we pushed the van back outside at night and he'd sleep in the parking lot. Interesting experience. Probably not One I would repeat.
My step van conversion died on me on A1A in Ponte Vedra. Had it towed back to Jax Beach, got a job pumping gas at a Gulf station and the owner fixed it while I lived in it. Great experience. 👍🔧
WES, 37years workin in the electronics field, got paid by the hour.didnt really have time to delve into "fixing the problem" like you do, just plug and play equipment. Dude !!!! Your tenacity to go all in?.... Ain't no one else who would Give a SH ! π ! Thanks for sharing your abilities to help others! You Da Man!
9:09 "I have to figure it out". This is exactly why I watch your channel Wes! There are dozens of car repair channels out there, but this one is where you actually LEARN stuff. Thanks again for the excellent content.
Wes I can’t tell you the recent occasions in the U.K. when I’ve had garages not help with relatively minor stuff they just didn’t want to do and announced to my friends “where’s our version of Wes or Rainman Ray”? It’s admirable your knowledge and sheer determination that something can be found and potentially fixed.
You're a dedicated wrench head Wes. Not many would take it as a personal challenge to track down as obscure malfunction and put it right. Fine bit of work.
Wes, the reason you didn't refuse to work on this RV and stuck with it is that you, like me and many others, have an obsessive compulsion to problem solve. We see, or hear, about a problem and our brain goes into problem solving mode, and we won't stop until we've either fixed it or broken it completely...🤣🤣 Basically you are one of the good ones that doesn't let a problem beat you and chases the knowledge/satisfaction of the fix for that personal endorphine/dopamine rush, rather than for gratitude or financial reward. Excellent work as always Wes, keep it up. ❤❤
I had to laugh when you went past the "road closed" sign. The last time i did that, a less than understanding sheriffs deputy asked me if i was confused on what "road closed" meant... 🤦♂️🤣
Just when I thought I’d seen everything about fixing impossible problems this channel pops up virtually out of nowhere. Wow, Wes is a true genius that has the human touch and attitude that we desperately need in our quest to solve our baffling vehicle problems that no one wants to tackle. Or hardly lessen to us. I had an undiagnosed starting issue that took 5 years to find someone who could diagnose and solve it! The cost was high but worth it to me as I wanted to keep an older but beloved vehicle.
Good video!! A tip for you that might help with the soldering, you should be able to remove the conformal coating with either isopropyl alcohol or acetone. If you use a UV flashlight you'll see where the coating is (it will glow under the UV) Keep up the great work!!!
Acetone might be good for removal of the conformal coating, but can also soften the pcb (on certain pcb formulations) and cause swelling, leading to delamination , and the breaking of via's on multi-layer boards. It can also cause the degradation or dissolvement of other components such as smd's, thru-hole capacitor covers, led's, lcd's, etc.
Great video! That strange difference in the reference voltage you measured may have been affected by the faulty electrolytic cap. Your DVOM reacts relatively slowly and measured 5.0XX volts while your scan tool may have been reading noise pulses that the cap would have normally smoothed over, thus the 6.0++ reading. At any rate, the faulty filter cap caused it. I noticed you wisely chose the replacement cap with the higher voltage, but I would suspect the 50V cap would have been just fine as there is no voltage higher than battery voltage inside the PCM frame, (Maybe 14 to 15 volts when charging?) Chances are the 63V caps were a supply chain issue when the computer was built. Anything over double the nominal supply voltage would have been just fine.
Wes. Your diagnostic skills are from out of this world. You amaze me every time you find the problem in the most unlikely places. Some super heroes don't wear capes.
I bought that exact setup in 2015 and had the same issue. 40000 miles. You could overcome the bucking and coughing by running the ac but gas milage suffered. I finally pulled computer and discovered the blown capacitors. $10 in parts and the thing never missed another beat. It was still an absolute pig to drive but great for our family travels. The best part was when I sold it in 2021 for $5k more than I paid for it! A rare win in the rv world. Keep it real Wes! Cheers
Wes this is why I love to watch your channel. At one time in my life I was a great trouble shooter because I understood how everything in a vehicle was supposed to work. In these days I can’t understand why or how they manage to make these engines run. So we have now raised a generation of parts changers in stead of trouble shooters. But not Wes he will dig and prod until he finds something that doesn’t look right and fix it. Great video thanks.
Wes, Great work! That RV looks like it's in nice shape, worth getting it right for the owner. I have a lot of older vehicles that no one will fix for me, no matter what I pay, so I appreciate what you did there. As a mechanic for 57yrs starting in 1965 and having worked in emissions fuel economy and drivability at GM for 36 concurrent, 1979-2016, I know the difficulties wading through the logic of engine controls for 1994. That year was a transition period from pre 1993 thru 1996 for that wt class. Engineers manipulated engine controls with fancy software to stay just under the emiss std w/ out adding more parts. That makes the control just crazy. But I'll bet that Ford 460 V8 is a nice combo for that class C E-350 RV, at about 12,000Lbs. And yes all high profile vehicles are a bear in windy conditions, you have to slow down. One time I went and hid behind a tall bldg while a tornado passed about a half a mile away! It was hairy. When it passed, trees were down, power poles were snapped off and I had no electricity for a week when I got home. Thank you for posting and making the guy's RV run nice again. ben/ michigan
As these vehicles age this seems to be becoming more of a problem with the caps inside. Another RU-vidr I watch has posted about 2 or 3 of these, all with bad caps, some so bad its eaten the traces on the board. Good on you Wes for finding it and gettng that rig back on the road.
@@robpeters5204And that's why most Americans are in debt up to their eyeballs. Maybe they should pay for and keep their cars instead of leasing (renting). Still cheaper to maintain a paid off vehicle than buy a new one like the dealers/banks want you to.
As an electronics technician by trade for twenty years, that Hakko is an excellent solder sucker. I have the same unit and it has worked for over a decade. It is even possible to replace the pump diaprams when they get all gunked up with flux fumes. Nice repair Wes, professional job! I would have done the exact same thing. That is one fancy stand!
I'm quite possibly the world's worst mechanic but really enjoy your videos. Your calm demeanor and ability to continue thinking through the problem until you solve it is refreshing.
Next time you get a ‘94 F350 plow truck with the same symptoms just think how much time you will save and money you will make repairing it in 45 minutes and STILL not know how or why!😊 Wes, I wish you lived in the Atlanta area, NO one else would work on my car! My mechanic of 40 years recently retired and I don’t know what I will do for a new mechanic. Too many “parts cannons” out there in my area and shop labor rates are currently $150/hour. My impression of you, from watching your videos, is you are a honest, hard working and trustworthy man, with a more colorful vocabulary than you display in your videos.😊
Yes, I am glad to see Max was able to take time out of his busy day to make an appearance! It makes me happy seeing people diagnose and repair electronic side of things. Generally an easy fix once you are comfortable soldering circuit boards.
Right when you showed the info from the scan tool I said to myself "it's probably the PCM". I've had a bunch of old Ford trucks and one of them ran me in circles worse than this and it ended up being a bad PCM. Your channel brings back some of the excitement I used to have when I first started out as a mechanic.
Wes it's good to exercise your brain that's why people bring you the types of vehicles they do because they know you won't give up like most mechanics would. Love your determination to find the problems
Thank you for working on the RV. I too have an older 460 RV that is tough to find someone to work on. I am very grateful when I find a good mechanic that’s willing to tackle it. Watching you figure out the cause of the problem is very entertaining and educational. Good work!
Wes, we love to watch you solve problems, great video. The very best part of your video is you teaching you boy to be a boy along with other kids in the flooded areas! Keep showing how to have fun, enjoy the advantages of living in rural areas and just being a kid.
Wes I really love how you stayed with it and found/ fix the issue. I would never have guessed it was the PCM. I stopped working on Ford E series after I learned the hard way/ lost $$, that I didn't have the knowledge or resources to dig very far, and that they are just too cramped for a big guy 😂. Love the vids and knowledge you share. Keep em coming plz 😁
Hey Wes, that was most impressive and you even had the capacitors in stock! Using higher voltage is ok, we all do that. VREF = Voltage Reference, something for it to compare against to make its calculations. If you accidently have a "track delete" you can use the capacitor leads as a track. Yeah, that was good thanks for showing.
Vref of 5 volts is actually the power supply voltage to every chip in there. those are power supply filter caps to keep the voltage stable across load changes, the mad thing is, once over 5.5V with much of that, it can possibly fry the electronics. Going a bit heavy on the uF is generally ok in most circuits These days, one could pay a bit more for tantalum caps in those ranges, they don't have that pesky electrolytic leakage/drying out issue.
I was an electronics bench tech for about 18 years and I see no issues with your soldering. Gotta love an ECU that was actually somewhat serviceable too! Nice one!
I owned a '94 E350 motorhome. Had it a couple years and it started surging and doing stupid stuff. I confirmed a lot of stuff, determined that it wasn't actually misfiring. I searched the forums online for days, just trying to get another angle of what could be the issue. I found a post with pictures of the inside of the ECU, showing damaged capacitors. I removed my ECU, inspected and found all three damaged capacitors. I don't have the skilled to replace them so I ordered a 'rebuilt' ECU. Installed it and it did the same thing. The rebuilt ECU had 'don't tamper' tape on it, I carefully removed the screwed, not to damage the tape, and discovered the same damage to all three capacitors. I contacted the company, asked them if they replaced them. They advised to send it back and they would inspect. Pretty sure I received a different ECU, this time it was super taped, no way to examine the inside without damaging the tape. Installed the ECU and it ran perfect. I sold it shortly afterwards. Good job Wes!!!
I have no issue with your pronunciation of solder, being from the UK, it's exactly how we would pronounce it. Very informative video as always, cheers wes
That's sick, not many mechanics will mess with a ECM & solder in some new Caps like that. The difference between a back yard mechanic & a tradesmen is diagnostic skill. Much respect for the highly skilled tradesman.
Hats off to you sir, love your attitude on solving problems, wished there were more shops as dedicated to the profession of solving problems and not just changing parts. Thanks for the tag along vid Wes.
My brain boggles at some of your repairs. The diagnosis is heavy enough but then you start working on PCBs. Super impressed. Way beyond my abilities. Thank you.
Hell at this point and going into the future you're not only gonna need Mechanical Training but also Computer Science learning. Completely screws over shade tree mechanics like myself 😅😅😅😅
After watching this one I sure wish I could take our 2002 CR V with 409,000 Km for repairs that would inject new life into it. No one I’ve seen could match your incredible diagnostic ability and remarkable persistence. That’s why your shop is surrounded by vehicles of all types waiting patiently to be given a new lease on life!!! And amazingly you remain good natured about everything!!!
Wes you’re so much like a friend of mine. He’s got an identical working garage as we all say in the old days a one-man band get a problem that somebody else can’t fix and he won’t leave alone until he gets to the bottom of it no matter how long it would take and then he finishes up really losing money in one way but he will pursue it until he gets to the bottom of it and get it done. Well done to you and good luck. Keep up the good work you do
Soon as you had the scan tool reading 6v vs the 5v the multimeter was reading, I knew there was a problem with the PCM. Great diag! I love this channel for that reason.
@ROGER TUCKER I must have missed that part. I just saw the initial clip and my head was like... well... there's something wrong with the PCM, cause it's what sending data to the scan tool. Who knows... magic. Lol!
Wes, you really impress me. It's not often that a wrench ape (not inferring you as such) would even attempt a board level repair. Most are a r&r only. Great Job and thank you for taking the time to share.
Your process made absolute sense, the Vref may just be a calibration error in your scantool, but every step you made was logical. Nice job, most shops would have sold them an new ECU if they got that far
Nice find! Every vehicle that has electrolytic capacitors is a ticking timebomb. Eventually they will fail. However, most of the time the capacitors will outlast the rust (at least here in the rustbelt) before the vehicle reaches end-of-life. WRT the secondary air injection, I thought SAI was only active during cold engine start up and used to accelerate the O2 warm up for closed loop operation. Once the engine goes into closed loop operation, the SAI would be disabled. Might be different for different makes/models. Nice shoots of the flooding. Tough year with the snow melt and rains. Hopefully summer is much less eventful, weatherwise. Thanks for the videos!
@@WatchWesWork I commented elsewhere but I suspect that cycle is used to poll the O2 sensor and update the idle mixture, but that it has a 2-way cat that just needs a lean mixture.
As an ex computer tech I completely understand the concept of sometimes taking your payment in knowledge and satisfaction rather than money. I had several customers with very old and/or problematic computer systems that I knew I was going to lose money on but they were such nice people doing excellent work I just treated it as my contribution to their operations. Luckily I had enough big clients that paid well so I could afford to do a bit of "charity" work now and then. Some of those clients become friends who I still see and help out occasionally, as good friends do. Eventually I got so addicted to the feel-good aspect that I quit the IT game and now run a little second-hand bookshop that makes next to no money. It makes a lot of people happy, including me, so I have no regrets at all. I much prefer being broke and happy to loaded and miserable, which is what I was before. I realise I sound like I'm trying to justify being broke by saying money is over-rated, but the old saying "you can't buy happiness" is absolutely true. Good on you Wes, keep on keeping on mate.
It was very nice of Mrs. Wes to give you one of the reject pencils from her classroom. I'm sure Mrs. Wes appreciates the fine quality of Ticonderoga pencils and refuses to have her nice pencil sharpeners destroyed by the sparkle pencils!!
Well done Wes. Don’t spend a lot of time trying to figure out all the complicated communications in these rigs, just take the WIN and proceed to the next job. 👍
I would like to see the program in the ecu. I think that would explain a lot. I think it runs more than we realize without other sensor input. I also think the 5v ref reading 6v is just the obd1 setup to read on a scanner. Curious what others readings would be in comparison. Wes as always you do a great job. I never would have guessed ECU. God bless you and your family. Love you videos.😊
Brilliant analysis...you are amazing in your ability to deal with mechanical and electrical issues in a most sophisticated manner...you do great videos
Many shops give up too quickly. They are profit and time driven, not customer satisfaction and actually fixing the issue focused. I like to go the extra mile myself for my customers. In the end, the personal gratification and happy customer often offset the lower profits and additional time spent on the repair. Additionally, the referrals continue to come in like crazy. Another great repair Wes.
I've seen Shango066 fix several of those ECMs with various damage level from leaking capacitors, i'm guessing it's a common problem with this era ECMs. Great repair as always Wes
This actually hit close to home for me, I've got a 1992 bmw 325i out here that does the same thing, runs rough, guzzles fuel and won't go into closed loop. I think I'm gonna have a look see in the ecu before I throw any more money at it. Thanks for the video Wes, always a pleasure learning something from you.
With your skill set and knowledge you will never be out of work for sure, when you get a simple job in, I hope you go home just as happy. Great channel.
My Ford E350 Rv is having almost exact same problem and failing smog. This was a big help. You don't need to apologize. I haven't run into many mechanics that would actually try and repair a board instead of just charging the customer for a new one weather he needed it or not. That's integrity and tenacity on your part.
