Ford F-150 - 1997-2003 :: Sluggish Picking Up To 100 KPH When Began To Accelerate Up To Highway Speed
Feb 4, 2015
I have a 2001, 2wd, XLT, Super Crew with 4.6L and 180000Kms. I am the 2nd owner and have owned it for roughly 6 years. Since owning it I have towed the following: a 1500 Boat, 1000lb full utility trailer, a 2700lb boat, and most recently (Last summer) a 3500lb dry weight/4000lb full 22 foot camper trailer. None of these items ever caused me any problems til mis summer with the camper.
I have always got check engine lights for the stupid coil packs. It seems like I would replace one and a different one would go. I was camping one weekend a short hour distance from my home when I pulled onto the main highway and began to accelerate up to highway speed but it was feeling sluggish picking up to 100kph. When I merged onto the highway it was not a flat piece of ground and was a small grade of a hill, but nothing big. Before getting to the top I started to hear a strange noise, almost like a rattling, and the check engine light started to flash. After breaching the hill, it picked up speed, the light went out, and everything seemed fine.
This happened twice last summer with no other problems. At the end of the summer I once again had a check engine come on...I had blown out a plug, had it fixed and replaced 2 more COPs but still had codes showing for CC, M, F, O, OH, C, E and EV. My reader also said Freeze Frame, and MIL on. I had the truck in in Nov/Dec for an emissions test and it was given a conditional pass due to codes reading but no Check Engine light at this time.
I want to keep this truck...I will be towing the camper again, buit I'm considering getting a different truck. As it is I know I already have to have air bags installed in the rear to level out the load when towing. Hopefully that will cut back on some of the acceleration drag. At present time I have a check engine on...I'll check it again and post what its reading but most likely the same stuff.
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I have a '97 4.6L 4x4. I've had a few issues recently and am at wits end.
Symptoms: while pulling a boat at highway speed, the engine engine just died. After waiting about 20 minutes for a buddy to show up with a tow rope, it started up and ran fine...until I got home (10 miles). I parked and after approx 5 minutes of idling it died again. No CEL, and found no codes when scanned. 15 minutes pass, it fires up and works fine.
The next day, I hook the boat up again, dive to the lake, go fishing, drive home. Everything was fine. I unhook the boat and drive to work. Half way there my voltage gauge starts falling and 5 miles later all of my gauges end electric stuff dies. I drive two more miles to work and strange beep starts coming from under the dash on the passenger side (I think). After my 12 hour shift it starts and I start my 10 mile commute. Half way through I lose electrical power again but make it home. Now it doesn't have the juice to turn over.
Are these problems related, and what are the possible causes and cures? On an unrelated note, what's the easiest way to replace a rear leaf spring shackle?
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My truck is a 2002 F-150 4.2l standard trans. I noticed it was lacking a little power one day and the next day a little more so,Then the third day I was heading out to the Doctor (50 miles away) I noticed the truck was slowly and gradually getting worse to where it was hard to even do the speed limit on the highway and the light started blinking so I headed straight to the nearest Advance and had them pull the codes and it gave us 172 bank 1 too rich and 174 bank 2 too lean I replaced the two top o2 sensors (advance sold me)same thing....... plugs, wires, coil, air and fuel filters are all new... checked the PCV hoses all look good, I'm a cancer patient and need my truck for Dr's and treatments and no money to randomly buy parts, I have seen people pointing to intake gaskets and isolator bolts... Does this motor have a track record of this being a common problem?
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My 2000, F150, 4X4, 4.6V8, five speed manual idles great and sounds great and throwing no codes. It doesn't have a lot of zip, but it really never has, at least since I bought it at almost 60K miles.
I've never towed much of anything with it until recently. I started towing a 6 1/2' X 10' trailer with a 1,600 pound side by side or a 1,300 pound mower with a large grass collector. Both of these loads have lots of wind resistance.
The lack of power is REALLY showing up pulling these loads at highway speed. Sometimes, even on pretty flat ground, the cruise control will hold the throttle on the floor at 60 or 65 MPH and it can't pick up speed.
I have maintained the truck well, but there is something amiss. It is due a fuel filter, so I will change that. I've never replaced the O2 sensors, so I'm considering replacing the front ones.
I am thinking about using a vacuum gauge to see if I can detect plugged cats. As I recall, there are two on each bank. I have a scanner, so I was thinking about monitoring front and rear O2 sensors and see if I can get the 100 degree difference that indicates a properly functioning converter.
I'm thinking of cleaning the throttle body.
Something else that is odd about this truck. Being a stick shift, it does not want to go all the way back down to idle speed unless the vehicle is stopped. For illustration of what I'm saying, you can kick the transmission in neutral and coast, and it will stay above idle speed until the vehicle stops, THEN it will idle down normally. I have always thought that this might be because so few manual transmission trucks were built that this is something in the chip for an automatic that they didn't take out for the manual.
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'98 F-150 4X4 XLT began squeaking recently. Have 1/2 mile long sand & limerock driveway thru mature North Florida jungle & every root'n'bump makes it squeak.
Was certain it had to be the J.C.Whitney/Owen's running board I left on passenger side. Upon close inspection, wrestling with it & popping it with big rubber mallet was surprised to find it tight & silent.
Checked bumper & associated bolts, then exhaust & everything else I could see/touch sliding under on a moving quilt.
Does not sound like bushing or ball joint. High pitch squeak, up near the annoying frequency of nails on chalk board.
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It is a 1997 Ford f150 5.4 4x4 extended cab 175k miles. Took a 600 mile trip, first 300 no problems, then the "od" light began flashing, the truck shifted fine so I kept going, drove for about a 100 miles then stopped for fuel and read the code, (p1728) cleared the code and drove another 200 miles, no light no problem. The whole time there was no drivability issues. Yesterday I drove all over town, stop and go traffic, locking the TC and it would also unlock, no problems all day, drivability was fine. What to do?
1. Just keep driving it?
2. Does changing fluid fix this problem?
3. Rebuild the trans, because this was just the first notice.
4. Sell it quick no light and drives fine.?
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I have a 2001 Toyota Corolla 5 speed manual that is having a hard time picking up speed, but the engine will rev as high as your willing to push down the pedal. The engine runs well its just not affecting the speed of the car very quickly. We replaced the MAF sensor recently and it made little to no difference.
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I own a 1998 ford f150 4.6l triton v8. I was leaving my house to go on a snowboarding trip about three weeks ago it was a rather warm wet day and all of the sudden my check engine light began to flash. I immediately pulled over and restarted my truck, once it was started again it was solid.
I turned around and started driving towards home. I get a small amount of feedback from my speakers and usually it's a smooth whizzing sound but as i accelerated the sound began to stutter rather than remain smooth. after about 5 minutes of driving this went away and the check engine light remained on.
so today I went out it's also a wet day and it's raining quite a lot. on my way into town everything seemed okay. then on my way home the check engine light began to flash again and the feedback from the speakers became choppy again.
I would also like to mention my battery light is on but it was on prior to the first time this happened. I'm just wondering if the belt could be loose or slipping due to the wet weather?
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I have a 1997 Oldsmobile 88 (174K miles, owned only by my father-in-law and then me) with which I am experiencing a hesitation problem from time to time at highway speed. My mechanic has taken the car on several highway test drives throughout the last two days, and he has been unable to reproduce the problem. Furthermore, he has done a full diagnostic test and found no problems with the fuel system, ignition system, or anything else.
Here are the conditions under which the problem occurs:
---Attempting to accelerate gradually at highway speed (usually from 50-60 mph), but WITHOUT pushing the gas pedal down so far as to cause the transmission to downshift
---Engine fully warmed up (temp gauge at 200 F or just below)
---Occurs more often when I have been driving for at least 1-2 hours
The condition is as follows:
---Car lurches/surges noticeably and does not accelerate
---Speedometer needle reflects the lurching by fluctuating up and down about 1 to 2 mph
---Accelerates well if I step down hard enough to cause the transmission to downshift, or stops surging if I lift off the gas pedal
---NO Check Engine light at any time
Some history on the car and corrective actions taken:
---June 2009: My mother-in-law was driving the car about 6 hours into our trip and it consistently hesitated between 50 and 55 mph with the Check Engine light on for the last 30 miles or so of our trip. The next day, we took the car to the dealer where my in-laws had their cars serviced (note the past tense here), where they told us that "there's probably something wrong inside the transmission" and suggested that we replace the transmission with a new one. This transmission is the second new one the car has had (replaced the first time at 95K miles), meaning that this transmission had less than 80K miles at the time. We took the car to a local shop at the referral of a friend, and this mechanic suggested we try flushing the transmission fluid and replacing the filter to see if that would fix the problem before we started talking about replacing the whole transmission. This worked, and we were glad that we did not have to get rid of the car. Did not notice any more problems with this for over a year.
---May 2010: Experienced engine misfire, had spark plug wires replaced. Problem solved.
---March 2011: First noticed my current problem. Had fuel filter replaced (it was probably a little overdue) and had the mechanics do a fuel system cleaning.
---April 2011: Problem still occurs.
---Had throttle body thoroughly cleaned, which fixed a slight sticking in the gas pedal.
---Replaced spark plugs myself. Car running more smoothly overall, but the hesitation still occurs.
---Inspected all three ignition coil packs myself. Top coil pack had some rust on the poles, which caused the resistance to measure as zero. Cleaned most of the rust off the poles, after which all three packs bench tested at 6.23 (with 20000 ohm setting on multimeter). Car runs even more smoothly overall, but hesitation persists.
At this point, my mechanic and I are both stumped as to what could be causing the hesitation problem. My only thought right now is to try replacing the one coil pack that had rust on it, since a pack with a fault I can see may have others inside that I can't see, and maybe something like this is flaking out on an intermittent basis.
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I've tried everything I can think of and it still runs sluggish.
1. Had dealer change plugs
2. Changed Cop's
3. Cleaned MAF sensor
The 5.4L has slight miss and doesn't respond well at all when trying to pass or going uphills.
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My truck was running awesome, until, Out of NOWHERE, she started feeling super sluggish with a lot of loss of power, sounds like she is misfiring,or out of timing, and all the sudden started vibrating, the harder I accelerate, the more the vibrates.
When I start her up, she idles fine.If I try to drive her,givin he gas is like pulling a trailer with the e brake on, and she starts to vibrate. I've looked at some websites that have diagnostics from Bad timing, to spark plug wires, to plugs, to a bad fuel pump.
So I did what any other self diagnosing guy would do, I hooked up an actron scanner to see what codes she pulled up. Below are the specks of my truck, and the codes the actron scanner gave me. It just shows me codes, and have no way to interpret them..
BTW, I parked the truck till I find out what the hell I an do to fix her, not many mechanics where I live, so It looks like I'll be going at it alone.
So for the vibration, I checked the obvious, tires and rods are good and tight,had someone check the rotation, and its not alignment or balance.
Truck: '97 F-150
4.6L FI V8, SOHC 16V
Short Bed 4x4
Codes:
P0155
P0401
P0153
P0155
P1151
P0308
P1000
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2000 f150 4x4 5.4 7700 series. Problem I am having is taking off from a stop sign the engine feels like its not getting any fuel especially when out side temp gets above 90 or some higher, truck runs great other then that ,expected fuel mileage is good,no codes at all, doesn't miss or jump..
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Yesterday while driving to work I noticed my car sputtering when I began to accelerate and then the CEL came on. Well it did it some more yesterday afternoon but after sitting for about 7 hours while I was at work I drove it home last night without any issue. Then this morning drove around running errands and not one sign of sputter at all.
Stopped by the Kia dealership and they read the code which I believe was 306 and they said it was showing the number 6 cylinder misfiring/spark plug/wire problem. They said it could be a bad plug or wire or coil but wouldn't know till they looked at it which they will in about a week. But still driving and no signs of any sputter. What might have caused the temp sputter and code and how do I reset the CEL to see if the code goes off again?
Car: 2002 Kia Sedona Milage: 147,000Eng: 6 cylinder
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I have a 98 expedition with the 4.6l 4x4 and it has 158,000 on the dash had a new engine installed at 100,000 it started running rough and sluggish last week so I changed out the spark plugs and while changing the plug I notice oil on the threads of the two rear passenger side plugs. After the new plugs it was smoking pretty bad blueish white smoke. I figured it was the oil from around the threads that had leaked into the cyl.
The smoked cleared after 2 days and ran great for a week. Now its doing the same thing again real rough idle and and its extremely sluggish. I can put the pedal to the floor and she barely wants to move almost like the tranny is going out but the rough idle leads me to believe its and engine problem. I have the check engine light on but can't get any codes. I also tried checking for vacuum leaks by spraying either round the intake and vacuum lines and didn't notice any change in rpms so I'm guess the vacuum is fine.
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I have a 2001 F150 4x4 supercrew XLT 4.6 with 150,000 miles. I have a few things happening in the truck, and although it is still running for now, I would like to get ahead of this before something catastrophic happens, and I don't know if everything is related, or everything is falling apart separately.
1. I have been noticing a burning smell coming from under the hood after driving, every time I drive, but no noticeable leaks, and oil level is fine. I have seen light smoke coming from the exhaust but inconsistently. A mechanic said it was probably the valve cover seals leaking to the manifold, but I would think there would eventually be less oil on the dipstick?
2. When on the gas, over 2200 RPMish, the air and AC switches to defrost. It seems like a vacuum line leak somewhere, but can't find it.
3. Generally, the truck seems sluggish, sometimes unwilling to shift gears or accelerate at freeway speeds. Not sure if its the transmission going out again (had it replaced at 125000), or spark plugs?
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I have posted several times about my 03 Ex and it's driveline vibes- mainly highway speed and when slightly on the gas... Took it to a local 4 wheel drive shop that specializes in lifts. They jacked it up and I ran the X up to highway speed with the rear in the air. It was amazing how rough it is, even at 55mph. I hardly feel it in the vehicle at that speed while driving.
Anyway, they felt the vibration but where it is coming from. They said pinion angle looked fine and since I have a retubed driveshaft and rebuilt rear, they ruled that out. The owner has an 04 with a 6 or 8" lift and 37's and seems to know about Excursions.
I then took it to the local Ford dealer and had the service manager drive it. He strongly feels it is gear mesh with the ring and pinion. I am not totally convinced as the rear is quiet, gear wise. For that matter, my slip yoke has quite a bit of torsional slop, likely as much as the backlash on the ring and pinion but the driveshaft shop said that it is acceptable.
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My '97 Honda Civic overheats when driven at high speed on the highway for more than an hour. I've changed the thermostat and the radiator fan, but it still does it.
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I have recently picked up an older F350 2WD 7.3 DRW Lariat. the price was right higher miles but hey it is a 7.3, overall in very good shape.
So the issue at hand is the truck runs great most of the time and puttering around at city speeds you would never know there is any issue;
Get the truck out on the highway set the cruse at 70 to 72 and if you hit a rise in the road or other reason to slightly accelerate the truck chugs and bucks. For lack of a better description it goes chug chug chug, if you accelerate harder to downshift it goes away or if you back off the throttle it goes away. This happens with cruse on or off, a steady foot on the pedal will cause this as well.
I have also noticed that when you let off the throttle the sound the truck makes de-fueling is just very different and "off" sounding . Not sure how to describe it but it sounds funky ... clearly not right when compared to other 7.3 or my 6.0 truck.
What I have done, :
1. Had the truck scanned with an AE and a snap-on scanner both show no codes ran injector tests no contribution errors, not even in # 8.
2. Changed fuel filter
3. Changed Oil and Filters ( tried both full synthetic Rotella and Dino oil looking for a difference )
4. Cleaned out the fuel filter housing just in case.
5. Confirmed injector O-Rings are not leaking
This feels like a fuel issue, my next thought was start looking at fuel pressure under load at speed to see if there was a drop when this is happening ?
Is there a way to test fuel pumps in this truck ? Maybe a clogged pick-up screen ? Where do I start looking next ? I have reasonable mechanical skills but don't know this motor very well, this doesn't seem like a CPS issue..
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My speedometer has not been working for months now and it really hasn't bothered me as I go by RPMs, but I am going to make a long trip in a few weeks and I wanted to try to get this fixed.
The speedometer flips over to 100 mph and rest on the opposite side as it should. When I accelerate it does not move until I get over about 35 mph where it will then flip to 86 mph. It will slowly move to 82 mph as I accelerate up until 75, where it will then no longer change. Every once in a while it will start working when I start the truck up, or when I am driving down the road. It has before, within a 30 minute time frame, started working and stopped working 6 times. Currently my ABS light is on, but it has been on long before this started occurring. Every other gauge on my dash works.
I drive a 5 speed manual V6 2003 Ford F150.
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I have a 1998 f150 w/ the 4.6L V8
For months I have had a hesitation in this truck when i go to accelerate, and at times you can even feel a little buck with the cruise set at 70MPH. It has gotten worse and worse. When i start pulling a trailer good luck, it will do it but its terrible, hesitations and misfiring,
There is always a misfire/hesitation. Will Idle nice After its warmed up. Sat for 2 weeks fired it up and it had a HORRIBLE idle for at least 1-2 min. This is new now it wont idle when cold. Now I had one code Cylinder 4 misfire, cleared the code never came back 2-3k miles later still not back on -
replaced coil packs
New plugs
New wires
Fuel pressure test good
Checked the Heater hose - not leaking and nothing in the hole.
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1999 F150, 6 cyl. 4.2L, 233,000 miles. My temp gauge went way high on the interstate so I assumed I had a bad thermostat. replaced it with a genuine Ford themostat, added coolant and here's where I'm at.
1. Let it idle up to operating temp. When it was warm, the heater was blowing cold air.
2. Thermostat opened up, top radiator hose was hot and full of coolant, still no heat in cab.
3. Took it for a ride on the hwy. Heat started to work in cab, temp gauge went way up. I slowed down and went home down a side road. Temp gauge went back to normal and stayed there. Only driving about 30 mph.
I don't get why I'm overheating at 60mph. My best guess is I have some sort of obstruction in the cooling system.
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