What is a DPFE?

Deep6

Registered User
I've got my car at a dealership right now for a set of system codes that has been causing the car to basically not even run with any power.

According to the tech who has finally gotten a chance to get around to reading the codes, they told me that there were like 8 codes stored in memory. One of them was the EGR code set because i pulled the vacuum line to it thinking that was the problem. However, the tech was talking about a DPFE or some sort of fuel pressure feedback valve. I've never heard of this, and they want to do more tech work which is going to run me in excess of $500 so I want to make sure these people aren't yanking my chain.

Beleive me, I would have taken this to my buddy at Metro ford in schennectady, but the car couldn't even drive 20 mph on flat road, I would have never made it back up to albany from where my parents live. I had no choice but to have it towed to a local dealership. The name of the dealership is "Brewster Ford" if anyone from the Putnam county/westchester county area knows of it, maybe you've had experience.
 
Sorry I can't offer advise on your question. But it sounds like it maybe worthwhile to tow your car to your friend.

Anthony
 
I think that helps me understand it better! Thanks George...

Well, I contacted the dealer back and they said they are going to throw a new DPFE sensor on the car and hopefully that will get me back up and running.

I suggested that perhaps the situation lies in a stuck open EGR valve. Certainly the tech hasn't ruled it out but would like to start with the more "simple" stuff first.

There is no way I am going to have time to replace the EGR valve if that is what needs replacement, before Carlisle. If that is what needs replacement, then I'll just have to have the tech do it.

Unless of course, replacing the EGR valve is something rather easy to do, but if I recall, it was located behind the inlet plenum and looked like a major PITA to get to unless one were to remove the inlet plenum and supercharger.
 
I'm not there to diagnose it, of course. Nor can I know everything the shop is seeing, but I have yet to see an EGR/DPFE concern that would not allow the car to go over 20mph. A stuck open EGR valve usually results in a stall at stops.

I also find it interesting to note that a clogged exhaust can result in both reduced speed and DPFE codes. We also know that the cats on these cars frequently have problems which can result in clogged exhaust.

I cannnot state categorically that the shop is wrong, but I'm mighty suspicious based on the info given.

Oh, and you're not likely to get them to change their minds about how they want to go about correcting the problem, so I wouldn't bother trying.
 
Wow, I didn't think in that direction...

Parker,

It's interesting that you mention a clogged up exhaust. I had been noticing a rattling noise underneath the car for quite some time now. I thought that the replacement of the engine mounts would solve my problem, but no luck there. If anything upon startup the rattling was worse, and it would just go away in a matter of a few seconds.

Perhaps there was some loose CAT material that blew downstream into the resonator? That could be causing my blockage.

When I was drivng home, the loss of power was almost instantaneous. However, I drove the car for another day and the condition didn't change.
The day after, it was so slow it was sad. I stalled the car going up my dad's driveway and I couldn't get it restarted. That's when I got it towed...

Great, i wonder if this is going to be that they want to replace my cats?
Ugh, I get the feeling I'm not making it down to Carlisle....
 
Deep6 said:
Great, i wonder if this is going to be that they want to replace my cats?


Well, if that is actually the problem they'll get around to them. Eventually.

I can almost guarantee that the tech looked at concern on the repair order, checked for codes, got codes, and then told the Service Advisor those items the codes refer to need to be replaced first. Probably took all of 5 minutes. Not that they'll tell you that. If pressed they'll give some story about having done this, that, and the other test.

They're fully aware that this probably won't fix it, but they also know you don't know how to fix it either.

It is true that sometimes you need to fix one issue before you can determine if that was the only problem or if more work is needed. But this one just doesn't add up to that sort of situtation from the info provided, IMO.

In the techs' defense the pay system at a dealer (and mass merchandiser facility) does not encourage anything beyond parts swapping. In fact if he was conscientious and did do some actual testing he'd be taking a financial hit to diagnose and fix your car. It sucks, but that's how the game is played today.

Further, these cars are waaay old news at a dealer. Many do not have repair reference info as old as most of these cars are. One local dealer has a full set of 1990 manuals, the other two dealers only have info back to about 1996 (and I'm trying to score that 1990 set when they throw them out :) ) This isn't the case everywhere of course, but you see my point. Dealers work on cars that are a couple-three years old for the most part and the techs simply hate when an old dinosaur comes in with problems. You'd be amazed at just how much of what passes for "diagnosis" at a dealer is just word-of-mouth. A tech gets something he hasn't seen before and the first reference he checks is his buddies to see if they've ever had a similar problem. 9 times out of 10 this gets him some info to replace one part or another and ship the car out. He'll do that, send the car out as fixed and if the customer brings it back, then he'll throw another part at it. This will repeat until the vehicle is eventually fixed or the customer goes ballistic and makes it a heat case. If it gets to the heat-case stage that's whe the tech will be told to call Tech Support, who will in turn tell him to do a few pinpoint tests and then replace some other item if the pinpoint tests check out. the tech will of course skip the pinpoint tests and replace the suggested item FIRST. Remember time is money.

The rub in this for SC's is that they're old by dealer repair standards. So there's no word-of-mouth info because no one has worked there that long, might not have the proper repair manuals anymore, and permission to use Tech Support is still a hopping-mad customer away (not that they'll know anything either). IMO the car needs to go to a shop familiar with Fords of the period and SC's in particular but I don't know your area so someone like that may not be available.
 
Thanks Parker!

I hear what you're saying buddy. Most dealerships don't know their A$$ from their elbow when it comes to this car. However, There is a mechanic at a dealership local to me that knows these cars and my car specifically, but I couldn't drive it up to him.

I'm hoping these dolts can get my car running enough to at least drive it to him.

I haven't gotten the chance to contact them today, so I don't know their progress. But I did mention to the advisor yesterday of your advice that the DPFE code could be caused by a clogged exahust. He said he'd relay the info to the tech to hopefully get it sorted out.

I'll keep everyone updated tommarow.
 
The Jacobs Ceramic Boot Plug Wires may be the problem, especially if you are in a humid climate or had a lot of rain about the time the car started running poorly. Putting the recommended dielectric grease on the inside of the spark plug boots should help, but I'm not sure what Jacobs instructions are for proper installation. This is the only thing I can think of that would cause so many PTC's, but of course, I'm new at this...

discipled1
 
Update...

Dicipled:

I've had the Jacob's on the car for quite some time now, and when I put them on, I made sure to use dielectric grease. Plus, the techs didn't diagnose any ignition problems. It was not raining or humid on the day that I had the failure. But thanks for thinking about it for me!

parker dean:

You were right. i called the advisor today and sure as S#!T the exhaust was "stuffed up". He told me that they got the car to run better with pulling the O2 sensors out and running it. So now I am looking at having to replace the catylitic converters. A cost that I can't handle right now. I might as well get a full exhaust done.

I don't think I'm gonna make it down to carlisle with the way things are going.
They aren't going to be able to touch it on saturday and they are off on monday (memorial day). I'm also concerned that I might have damaged my headgaskets...

Basically I told the advisor if they could get my car drivable. He won't hollow the cats for me, is there any other option?
 
Wow, they actually listened to a customer. Amazing.

Anyway, no there's really no legal choice for a car used on public roads, the cats must be replaced. The fines for a shop removing, or otherwise tampering with, the emissions control equipment can be pretty stiff, so it's no wonder they won't do anything like that for you. They probably won't even install a part that they have reason to believe has been tampered with (ie they remove the Y pipe and give it to you " to match up with another part" and you go away and hollow the cats yourself and return with a "new" Y pipe). You might be able to find an exhaust shop on the "wrong" side of town that'll do anything for a buck, but that's your call
 
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