V10, no power.

[Diamondpilot]

After you count the spark plugs to see if they are all there!!!
You could start it up in the dark and look for wires jumping fire. I have seen engines put on a real light show.
It's possible that the muffler is partially stopped up. I have seen that on 1 ton Ford Parcel (Box) Vans.

No wires. Coil on plugs.

Chris

 

[timswi]

One quick and dirty way to check the exhaust is to see what the flow is when being revved compared to something similar. Not scientific, but when a cat/muffler is collapsed, there was a noticeable difference in outward airflow on the rare occasion that I've run into this (once).

If you have twice pipes, this won't really work.

If you're going to pipe the converter, make sure this won't bite you later on emissions.

As far as the OBDII...The guy in the shop up the road told me that hand held scanners can send you down a very wrong path on Fords as I found out on mine...The super expensive scanners that are usually contained in the dealer can pick up the low level codes more accurately. The Ford tech told me that too, along with reminding me what a PITA the plug and coil pack replacement was going to be. I voluntarily handed him $725.00 for his troubles.

 

[kenmac]

I may have missed it but. I didn't see where you said you changed out the plugs. 180 K . it's time

 

[s219]

If the cat is plugged, it would glow cherry red after an extended drive. Of course, that can also happen if the fuel/air mix is wrong or some cylinders aren't firing.

I had to deal with a plugged cat on an ancient Oldsmobile. We basically used a hammer and chisel to bust up the innards, shook them out, then re-installed it (to keep legal appearance).

 

[wmonroe]

I didn't think about it before but my dad had a late 90's ford that the cat started to break up and the dust caused from the pieces banging around clogged the muffler. Pulled the cat and dumped/broke the rest of it and installed a new muffler and all was well. Of course he only left the gutted cat on long enough to verify the results and then installed an EPA legal setup.

 

[timswi]

I didn't think about it before but my dad had a late 90's ford that the cat started to break up and the dust caused from the pieces banging around clogged the muffler. Pulled the cat and dumped/broke the rest of it and installed a new muffler and all was well. Of course he only left the gutted cat on long enough to verify the results and then installed an EPA legal setup.

Yeah that's the problem...Piping the converter solves the problem, but will only pass visual..Tailpipe or OBD test are a guaranteed fail...Unless one can find a tech that that know their way around the system..Few and far between nowadays, too risky...They know how to do it, they just won't.

 

[deepNdirt]

The more suggestions I read here, the more I think that everyone suggesting the cat is correct. I forgot to mention that when I pulled over and put some gas in it yesterday, something did smell hot but I did not feel like crawling under the truck in the slop. I pulled the transmission dipstick and the oil was fine, clean and not hot or smelly. I was watching the rpm's, the coolant temp, etc. but all seemed in order.

I was briefly under it this evening looking around but it was raining so I did not linger. The fuel filter looked relatively clean but I need to look closer and will probably replace it anyway. The truck is titled an 04' but it has fuel return lines to the tank so per my Haynes manual that would be an 03' setup. Being a box truck, I have adequate space to pull the pump if need be. There is also a large device on the left side which I gather is an inertia switch to shut off the fuel in the event of a collision.

The cat looks involved to change out or bypass. The exhaust "T's" and tapers down in an oval shape going right into the cat. I can possible break the pipe loose where it goes into the muffler with my torch rather than cutting it in half and splicing it with a band clamp. That way I could get something into the cat to poke around and suck out the debris with my shop vac. Then if that cures it, I could replace it, heh heh.

I also need to ask around to see if someone I know has something to read the codes before I take it out on the road again. Or, maybe pick one up for myself. I never felt that I had enough use for one.

Yes it could well be the cat, I had a truck to do this, lucky to have had a hack saw with me at the time . I crawled under and cut a small wedge out of the pipe leading into the cat to relief the backed up compression . The truck sound terrible but got me back home. And actually ran better than it had for quite sometime. I wound up cutting it out and ran a section of pipe in place. I've had coils to go bad on my v/10 and it runs rough at idle and any speed. The only way it would continue to run smoothly is if 2 went out at same time on different strokes. Kinda like reducing it to a v/8. And would surely loose HP.

 

[timswi]

Yes it could well be the cat, I had a truck to do this, lucky to have had a hack saw with me at the time . I crawled under and cut a small wedge out of the pipe leading into the cat to relief the backed up compression . The truck sound terrible but got me back home. And actually ran better than it had for quite sometime. I wound up cutting it out and ran a section of pipe in place. I've had coils to go bad on my v/10 and it runs rough at idle and any speed. The only way it would continue to run smoothly is if 2 went out at same time on different strokes. Kinda like reducing it to a v/8. And would surely loose HP.

When my V10 coil went bad it only showed itself under load. Idled perfectly and ran on flat ground fine. Ergo the dealer visit to find it..Only after cleaning the MAF and replacing the fuel filter after an OBD code of lean..No misfire showed in the handheld. Took a 5 figure machine to find the problem so it seams. Common from what I hear as far as codes with Fords of older vintages anyway. I have absolutely no experience with newer ones.

As far as the cat, I would guess that you'd have to have a poor running motor to wipe one out in the first place. I ran 2 '90's GM 5.7 4x4's for over 200k miles and never had a problem with a cat...Prior to those, I'd buy GM cars with 100k or so and drive them to 140k and never replaced one on those either...The only cat failure I had to figure out belonged to someone else and that thing was running terrible for a long time due to complete neglect. Not sure that the OP falls into that category.

 

[Cat_Driver]

Had the same thing happen, it was the fuel pump 100%

 

[Diamondpilot]

I have had 2 cats fail. First was on a 89 S 10 Blazer with about 25,000 miles. Did just what the OP's truck did. It made power to pull itself but the 3500# boat I had at the time held it below 25 mph and made a rattling sound. That thing was easy to figure out glowing cherry red.

The second was on my last Saturn, a 2001. It went at 115,000 miles and was due to it burning oil from 30,000 miles on. Drove fine but would throw 4 or 5 codes and cut the mpg in half.

Blazers was covered under warranty. The Saturn was in me.

Chris

 

[QRTRHRS]

Changing out the plugs has been on my "to do" list for awhile now. I have had coil packs go bad but the engine runs smooth and while setting, the throttle reponse is normal.

My oxygen is out for my torch so I decided to cut the pipe behind the cat, gut it out then band clamp it. I will get back on the results later on today.

 

[QRTRHRS]

Had the same thing happen, it was the fuel pump 100%

Did your engine run at all before you changed the pump?

 

[OldMasterTech]

I had an issue that was similar in a class C motorhome with a V10...It lacked power and was surging under load. Turned out to be a bad coil pack.

Ditto, same here - problem worsened after a couple of days to a severe shudder, replaced two coil packs.

 

[dodge man]

So what are you saying Timswi, never pull codes? Its a computer, it spits out info, its up to the person reading it to decide what to do. I've gone to Autozone, had the codes read 2 or 3 times for free, bought the part the scanner said was bad, and fixed it. I will say when having a problem like the OP has, ALWAYS run a scanner on it first. What if he farts around with and fixes a bunch of stuff that wasn't bad, finally runs a scan on it, and some $10 part is bad.

 

[deepNdirt]

Changing out the plugs has been on my "to do" list for awhile now. I have had coil packs go bad but the engine runs smooth and while setting, the throttle reponse is normal.

My oxygen is out for my torch so I decided to cut the pipe behind the cat, gut it out then band clamp it. I will get back on the results later on today.

I thought of another car I had looked at to purchase, when I test drove the car it ran fine and idle and even up to around 35mph, but when trying to reach hwy speed of 55-60 it was a dog, I took it by our local autozone to let them pull a scan code, it wound up being th o2 sensor, I purchased the car at a cheap price because of the way it ran, fixed it for 45.00 and drove it for 3 years, doubled my $$ when I sold it,
I just saying there can be so many things to cause this, It's probably best to run a scan on it before doing allot.

 

[Loadstar]

As far as the cat, I would guess that you'd have to have a poor running motor to wipe one out in the first place. I ran 2 '90's GM 5.7 4x4's for over 200k miles and never had a problem with a cat...Prior to those, I'd buy GM cars with 100k or so and drive them to 140k and never replaced one on those either...The only cat failure I had to figure out belonged to someone else and that thing was running terrible for a long time due to complete neglect. Not sure that the OP falls into that category.

Not always, when a cat con chokes up in our fleet vehicles it is usually our slow and easy drivers. All of the vehicles are maintained the same. Had one clog at 50k.

 

[QRTRHRS]

It was already dark until I got time to work on the truck. I polished up the pipe behind the cat with my grinder and a wire wheel then cut it off leaving just enough room for the band clamp. I had mentioned possibly using my torch to break the pipe about two feet back where it goes into the muffler. That certainly would not have worked.

I found at least three baseball sized pieces of ceramic rolling around in there. Being fairly round, I figure that the last one would roll to the outlet and chock it off. I had not thought about how hard it would be to break this stuff up though I have worked with ceramics. I have gathered an assortment of long tools including a three foot point for my jack hammer. The ceramic "balls" don't want to cooperate at all but I am making headway. Everything is iced up so I would not have wanted to take the truck out anyway.

It sure would be easier just to cut the cat out and put a pipe in but when I get done at least it will look somewhat stock other than the new band clamp.

 

[timswi]

So what are you saying Timswi, never pull codes? Its a computer, it spits out info, its up to the person reading it to decide what to do. I've gone to Autozone, had the codes read 2 or 3 times for free, bought the part the scanner said was bad, and fixed it. I will say when having a problem like the OP has, ALWAYS run a scanner on it first. What if he farts around with and fixes a bunch of stuff that wasn't bad, finally runs a scan on it, and some $10 part is bad.

I didn't say don't pull the codes. The mechanic up the road said that the codes thrown by the ECM on Fords can be deceiving (he maintains a fleet of Ford trucks for a large HVAC company). He told me that the OBDII codes on a $200 scanner can send you down the wrong path. The Snap-On's and whatever the dealers use give a more complete picture...I used my scanner to diagnose my Ford and it only showed lean, no misfires when there definitely was one.

 

[QRTRHRS]

It was the cat. Using a shop vac and a piece of wire I was able to pull the heavier pieces to the rear where I could get on them with a pry bar with an angled tip. A little pressure and they would break into small enough pieces to get through the pipe. I also started the engine a few times to blow the debris out that the shop vac was not able to remove.

I also went ahead and replaced the fuel and air filters before I took it out for a spin. Usually I would have tested it with the cat gutted first then changed the filters but it was getting late. I did not push the cold engine to hard but the truck did take a couple hills just fine.

So, the plan is now to get the truck on a computer in the next few weeks and at the least put in new plugs.

Thanks for all of the suggestions.

 

[Loadstar]

Good to hear.