E-350 No Start......

[plastic van]

Hi,

I just found your forum and am very happy about it!

I work for a company that has a Ford E-350 van that runs on CNG only.
Everything was fine until about a month ago, now it won't start.

It started to show up as excessive cranking followed by stumbling and missing. After a few miles it would clear up. Now it just plain won't fire.

The truck has about 90,000 miles on it and is spotless. When it ran, it was really a nice vehicle.

It is my job to repair it, but I have no manuals or documentation. Does anybody have a logical repair path in mind?

If I remember correctly, a shot of starting fluid did nothing, this leads me to believe that it is ignition related. Is there a common issue with this engine?

It is a 5.4 liter v-8.
Thank you.

[plastic van]

Re: E-350 No Start......

Hello,
Found out more today...
A local Ford dealer that used to work on CNG vehicles took a look at the truck and removed and cleaned the injectors. It runs now. Turns out that the injectors were seized up. They said that the fuel tanks are supposed to have a small amount of oil in them, from the fuel filling compressor. The compressor we use is OILLESS! It is a "Fuelmaker". Is any of this true?
The dealer said that a TSB came from Ford, explaining this.
They knew right away what the issue was when they removed the fuel filter from the frame rail and found NO oil inside.
Last I knew, we all tried to keep oil out of our gas systems.....

[jblue]

Re: E-350 No Start......

It runs now.

Well that was a nice and easy fix. How much did that set ya back?

[siai47]

Re: E-350 No Start......

Although I posted this link on the Cavalier site, it is for the Ford and explains the reason for the TSB. Some oil in the fuel is necessary--too much or too little (as in this case) is a problem .


http://fcsdchemicalsandlubricants.co.../tsb/03206.pdf

[plastic van]

Re: E-350 No Start......

That paper is really interesting!
What is the best way to permanently fix this situation?
Should I add an oil injector to the FuelMaker Brand gas compressor? If so, where do I get this and what oil should I use? I have used oil drip units on compressed air systems in industry, but never had one that was rated for 4000 psi.
Should I buy new injectors, I found some for what seems like quite a high price. About $100 each. The van has 90,000 miles on it.
If I do these repairs, is this a reliable machine? Is it worth putting money into? How good is this 5.4 v-8? I heard something about the heads being a problem....
Ford no longer really supports this red headed stepchild, does this make it a bad investment?

[siai47]

Re: E-350 No Start......

Looking at the bulletin, it appears that excess oil is more of a problem then no oil. I have a Civic GX that, after 10,000 miles, has no oil whatsoever in the bowl on the primary filter. CNG has some lubrication qualities in the gas itself, usually enough to satisfy the injectors. The bulletin points out that if the gas is derived from LNG and then used as CNG, then there is a problem. I am not an expert on Fords (or on anything for that matter ) but it appears that oil is allowed in the filter bowl up to the ring on the element. I suppose a small quanity of light machine oil could be added to the bowl up to that level and then check it after a few tanks of fuel have gone through to see if it was picked up into the gas stream. I don't think it will because the purpose of the sump in the filter is to collect everthing that is not gas and let it settle there. Whatever you do, don't add any oil to the inlet of the fuelmaker---that would be a no-no. Hopefully, someone on this forum that is an expert on this matter might be able to help you .

[plastic van]

Re: E-350 No Start......

I was thinking about an oiler on the output of the fueling device.....