foamie: this post is about the isolator bolt issue:
The original rubber isolator grommets supposed to reduce the transfer of engine vibration to the intake manifold. However, the PCV system sucks oil fumes into the manifold and the rubber is affected by it. First, it becomes hard and that increases the engine noise. Second: the grommets shrink and thus leak air which causes rough idling in particular in cold weather.
The job is easy but time consuming. The grommets and the upper intake manifold seal kit cost $45 at Advance Auto Parts. It took me 4 hours, but I am a slow poke. I disconnected the battery negative cable. Then I removed the plastic cowl between the hood and the windshield and the plastic part that carries the wiper motor assembly. Then I removed the upper intake manifold (the upper plastic shell) while keeping track of the bolt locations. Next, I took off the snorkel together with the MAF sensor housing. Then I loosened the isolator bolts and lifted the spacer (lower plastic shell) off and moved it to the side. The throttle body and throttle cables are still attached. I used a socket and extension rod to push the isolator bolts out of the spacer. The old grommets (black) can be split with diagonal cutters to remove them from the sleeves. The new grommets (green and hopefully oil resistant) can be pushed over the sleeves by hand. I warmed them in my hand to make them more flexible. I cleaned the seal seats on the lower intake manifold with solvents and scraped the EGR ports open. Reassembly goes in reverse order. Obviously I had to disconnect and reconnect a lot of electrical harnesses and vacuum lines.

There are no special tools required and the Haynes manual lists the torque and tightening sequence to be used. You also can find good information and pictures here: 2000 Ford Windstar (Codes 171 and 174).

The CEL will only be triggered if the leaks are so bad that the computer cannot compensate anymore. So if you have rough idle that goes away when it is warm you can be sure it is the isolator bolt grommets.

 

In picture 3 you can see the little lever which is moving the butterfly for this bank. The butterfly is internal and you cannot see it. The same thing is on the other bank. The white plastic grommets sit in the holes of the levers. Mine has electrical IMRC controls and there are 2 more bushings at the control unit. The arms (cloth hangers) should lay flat on a table surface. One of mine was bent.

I wouldn't mess with the fuel filter. The main job of the filter is to separate water from the fuel. Today's fuel has plenty ethanol in it so any water remains in solution and poses no problem.

 

UPDATE on IMRC:

I have pics of this but need to upload them still. I got the IMRC out and replaced all of the white grommets and got the arms in there properly. When I turn the key you can hear it moving back to put the stops on the stop screws that are there, which I assume is the closed or idle position. I'm sure it moved because when I put it back on they were not in that position and after I turned the key they moved there. I am still having some idle and rough start problems. When I say rough start I mean that it shutters when I first go from a stop then once it gets more gas it will even out ans also that it revs pretty high after warm, but not as bad since I fixed the IMRC (in fact you can hear and rumbling air sound in the muffler(?) when it drops from the rev back to normal idle, which sometimes is pretty quick, like something is sticking). When it's cold it will idle high and basically drive me down the road. When it's idling high (brake keeping me stopped) it goes from a stop without the shuttering, because it's reved up I guess. The rough idling is the same when the engine is cold (going from 500 to 1000 rpms, up and down and nearly stalling. Have to put it in nuetral for it to even back out so it only happens when in drive.


Someone had put on a different forum:


"That sounds like a vacuum leak... Check all those vacuum hoses ... There´s a vacuum reservoir - its one point to leak... there should be a little backpressure valve in t-line connector --change it ...

Check those hoses from diagram, and then you see that those are working correctly... "


I am going to take the cowls back off and check all the hoses and the check valve. Is there a way to figure out if the check valave is clogged? I will take it out and inspect it and look for more loose hoses. Weird thing is I don't really remember it running as badly when before I fixed the vent issue and pluuged the hose back in that was causing the only in defrost thing. Maybe it did, I just hadn't driven it enough but I realy can't remember it being this bad. I am hoping it is a vacuum thing that doesn't require replacing the isolator bolts inside the manifold. It seems like taking the plastic manifold covers off is challenging but I'm willing to take a look if I can't find a vacuum leak. If the butterfliys are internal though I will need to get in there to check those right?

 

I am hoping it is a vacuum thing that doesn't require replacing the isolator bolts inside the manifold. It seems like taking the plastic manifold covers off is challenging but I'm willing to take a look if I can't find a vacuum leak. If the butterfliys are internal though I will need to get in there to check those right?

Oamie: did you look at this website: 2000 Ford Windstar (Codes 171 and 174)
It also shows the DPFE. If yours is made out of plastic it is probably good If it is made out of metal it is probably shot and you go the pull-a-part to replace it with one of plastic.
watch some videos on how to detect vacuum leaks. Keep in mind that Ford does allow some vacuum leaks and calibrates the computer to compensate for them. Therefore do not mess with the internal parts of the IMRC! What is the IMRC good for anyway? There are two sets of intake runners, long ones and short ones. The long ones are great for boosting torque at low rpm, up to about 3000. The short ones are great for horsepower at higher rpm, 3000 and up. Your controls were detached and therefore the short runners were never fully closed which causes rough running and loss of torque. They never opened completely either which causes loss of horsepower and rough running. Now you fixed that and the other problems show clearer.
Replace the isolator bolt grommets! It is not complicated, only time consuming! It looks complicated on the pictures. Don't be discouraged by that. Just schedule the time and order pizza rather than cooking yourself.
Replace the ignition parts while you are there. They can cause some of the same symptoms. If they fail partially the IAC will raise the idle speed to keep the engine from dying.

Git 'er done!

 

Ok, so I guess my next step is to go ahead and replace the isolator bolts and port seals. The van went from bad to worse and no idles and runs very bad. Not driving it. I changed the spark plugs and I can't find any loose or bad vacuum lines. I am going to follow the steps on the website you linked 2000 Ford Windstar (Codes 171 and 174) but I have a few questions. The steps start with messing with the valve cover but the fix seems to be mainly with the plenum removal and replacing the isolator bolts/grommets and the port seals. Are those the only parts I need to get (isloator bolts/grommets/port seals) and do I need to mess with the valve cover? Also, when I get in there I'm going to want to clean the gunk and wondered if there was more info on that. What's the best thing to use? Is mineral water really the best? And the site says to disassemble the throttle and the post you quoted said to leave them be.

Thanks so much for the help and I want to get started on this asap.

 

So in researching the parts I found that I can get the isolator bolts and rubber grommets for like $50, which honestly is all I have. What about the port seals? The kit fwith just the gaskets is another $65 and I really don't have that right now. Can I just replace the isolator bolts and rubber grommets now and if need be replace the gaskets later?

 

Don't worry about the valve cover. If the old grommets took the oil for that long the new one will as well--and you will get rid of the van before they fail.

You don't need the new bolts. Reuse the existing bolts with the new grommets. You need new port seals. There is also a seal between the spacer and the upper part of the IM. It is best to replace this one as well but I read someone managed to reuse the old one with a liberal application of 4-letter words.

Shop around. I got my grommets, port seals, and spacer to upper IM seal for under $50.00 from Advance Auto Parts. You know how the things look, so see if you can get them from RockAuto.com.

 

Is there anyway you can find the actual parts you just mentioned at either Advance or O'Reilley's? When I looked I found these:

https://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/d...tar&vi=1372766

and these:

https://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/d...tar&vi=1372766

That's $53 for just the 2 parts (isolator bolts with sleeves and grommets). Are you saying I don't need the grommets in the link above? I haven't found just the rubber parts of the isolator bolts, just the bolts with them included. Are the port seals the ones lower half (spacer) and the manifold? I need new wheel bearings too and if I get the wrong things or waste money on unneeded parts that would be a negative.

I also see the gasket for in between the two upper parts at auto stores, etc. Funny thing is is that I took the top part of the plastic intake off and there was no gasket between them that was seperate from the two. Only a blueish plastic ring that was part of and went around the whole lower half. no other gaskets there. I got the bolts out and they came out easily (have the rubber coned shaped sleeves attached), no need to bang them out from under the bottom. I haven't taken the bottom half all the way off but did lift it a little to take a look and I couldn't see where the rubber grommets were or go. And no gasket there either I don't think unless it's hidden?

One thing of note. The port seals were nearly all comletely clogged. Only the far end ones (farthest to the left) were unclogged or partially clogged. Could this be a part of the van running so rough?

Thank you so much for your time. I have the upper part off and waiting for the bolts to come in to o'reilleys tomorrow so any info on what to buy before then would be great. I plan on getting back to work on it in the morning.

 

foamie:

I think you are a nice guy, but I am also getting a little frustrated. You seem to be a wee bit sloppy reading my posts. I.e. I wrote: "Reuse the existing bolts with the new grommets." and you are now asking: "Are you saying I don't need the grommets in the link above?"

Please, take care reading my posts. I answered all your questions already.

Good luck.

 

I apologize. Wsn't sure what the grommets (all pics of product were from the top only) looked like and by reading the other sites explanation of the job I didn't realize the grommets replaced a part on the bolt assembly. I just got back from the store and yes, realized the grommets replace part of the bolt assembly. I saved money and am happy to now realize what's going on. I am so sorry, I'm new to car repair and am fixing this van by myself out of neccesity. FYI after cleaning the EGR ports I went ahead and reinstalled the old bolts and put it back to gether as a test to see if it made any difference. It helped a ton. Only rough on idle now, not on higher rpms as before. Hopefully after I get the new grommets on there and get it all sealed that will be the solution.

I really appreciate your help and apologize again for my newbiness.