Ford F-150 - 1997-2003 :: Truck Struggles In Warmer Weather But Not Overheating
May 11, 2016
I've got a 2001 F150 and lately, since the weather has warmed up, I've had a problem. After a few minutes on the road, the engine seems to be lacking power and is running hard. It also seems to shake a bit too. It's not overheating and the gauges don't show signs of high temp. My drive to work is 40 minutes and by the last 10 or 15 minutes it seems to be OK. ... A month or so ago when the weather was cold, I had problems keeping coolant due to leaks but that problem seems to have diminished. I don't know if any of that is connected to the original problem or not.
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I have an 1997 F150/4.2 V6/220,000 miles/4x2. During hot weather (over 90F) the engine slowly overheats. While driving on the interstate (from Indy to Fort Wayne), the coolant temperature shows normal on the gauge. Slowly the temperature gauge creeps up to close to the red area. I am running the A/C.
When I switch the heater on and the heater fan at max, the temperature gauge drops pretty quickly to a normal range. I switch off the heater and the A/C back on, then it takes 30 minutes for the temperature gauge to start rising again.
When I open the hood when the gauge shows close to the red area, the upper coolant hose has a lot of pressure (can not squeeze it), which would mean that the thermostat is open and the water pump is working. Also the fan is running fast.
The coolant was changed out a few weeks ago and the coolant level is at normal level when the engine is cold. At lower ambient temperatures, there is no overheating. I am puzzled what the problem can be. I am thinking of a restricted coolant flow.
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I have an 1997 F150/4.2 V6/220,000 miles/4x2. During hot weather (over 90F) the engine slowly overheats. While driving on the interstate (from Indy to Fort Wayne), the coolant temperature shows normal on the gauge. Slowly the temperature gage creeps up to close to the red area. I am running the A/C.
When I switch the heater on and the heater fan at max, the temperature gauge drops pretty quickly to a normal range. I switch off the heater and the A/C back on, then it takes 30 minutes for the temperature gauge to start rising again.
When I open the hood when the gage shows close to the red area, the upper coolant hose has a lot of pressure (cannot squeeze it), which would mean that the thermostat is open and the waterpump is working. Also the fan is running fast. The coolant was changed out a few weeks ago and the coolant level is at normal level when the engine is cold. At lower ambient temperatures, there is no overheating. I am puzzled what the problem can be. I am thinking of a restricted coolant flow. Looking for solutions to my problem.
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Truck runs cool when driving around town about 177. Get on the highway and the temp goes to about 195, go up a mountain pass she climbs to about 210 and I feel that If I dont back off the gas the truck will overheat because the temp just keeps climbing. Go down the highway again on a flat stretch of highway and it drops to 195, get into town temp drops to 177 and even lower when i just let the truck idle.
Truck has a brand new 195 thermostat, fan clutch is only a month old, water pump is about 2 years old, this truck has had head gasket issues in the past but every year I put in the bars stuff and have not had a problem with it since, I started doing the bars stuff about 4 years ago. This is the stuff you flush the system first with not the pour in stuff. 1997 f150 4.6l
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I am looking at a 1997 F150 with a 5.4 in it, guy who owns it says if you drive it down the street the temp gauge climbs and then the truck goes into limp mode but if you check the engine temp under hood it is nowhere near overheating. Where I should start to look for a problem here? If this is too complicated I will pass on the truck, its not worth it to me to get this truck if it is going to be a nightmare. I have a 2000 with a 4.6 that runs great so this would just be a spare for me, but would like to have it because its in such nice shape.
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I am 2nd owner of 98 Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer V6SOHC. Vehicle is almost showroom condition w/ 70,000 miles and properly maintained.
Problem: engine seems to stumble quite frequently and is most noticeable when ambient temp is above 60*. Highway speeds , 40MPH doesn't matter. RPMS drop but it has completely shut down only twice in the last 9 months.
There are no codes. Plugs and wires changed several months ago, fuel pressure checked by Ford and it's ok, injectors cleaned at dealer, MAF seems ok so I am at a loss. Since there are no codes diagnostics don't work. Except for the issue above, this is a very nice reliable vehicle.
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Above 0 Cel.(32F.) 145 F-165 F. even in summer towing. Winter when it gets -20 my trans temp gets warmer (not towing 165.F or higher) When it gets to -30 my trans temp gets to 175 F. or higher I have never looked at trans temps before on any vehicle that I have owned. I like that these trans get warmer when it is cold out and colder when it is hot out.
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I think I'm getting the hang of this car after 3 months. My mileage has been steadily increasing as the weather has gotten warmer and as I've adjusted my driving a bit. If I drive fairly normally i get about 55 mpg (HSI, ~52 mpg actual). If I'm more careful I get closer to 60 mpg HSI. If I'm really careful I get over 60. My last tank was 61.8 (HSI), and 59.6 mpg from the fillup (see attached). I put 10.13 gallons in the car for 604 miles. I call that 60 mpg, and I'm pretty pleased. This is for a week of normal commuting which includes lots of hills, about 1/3 surface streets, 1/3 state highway, and 1/3 interstates with occasional stop-and-go. It is pretty hot here these days so the AC runs constantly. I have only seen my mileage get better with time so I haven't seen it roll over as the weather has gotten really hot, but that may be that any affect is counteracted by my learning to drive this car.
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I turned on the seat warmer of my 2004 XC70 (bought new) and I smelled a burning electrical/chemical smell, then within moments I felt my leg burning. I turned off the seat warmer and my seat remained scorching. I completed my short drive to drop my son off at school, windows open and left leg off of the seat, and when parked realized that the mechanism had caught fire and cinged a 2" burn mark on my seat as well as puckered the surrounding area of my leather seats. The smell remains to remind me of this very scary drive which could have been simply tragic.
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I have the LED mod and several weeks ago, my LED stopped indicating and the truck would not start in cold weather unless I jumped the terminal on the relay. I replaced the relay and while I was tightening one of the small lugs, the one towards the nose of the truck, I felt it break.
The truck acted just like it had been for the weeks prior, if I didn't jump the relay, it wouldn't cold start, so I assumed, because I had broken that small lug, it wasn't getting the signal to turn them on.
So what now? obviously the GP's themselves are working, as the truck starts when I jump them. But for some reason no signal is getting to the relay. What do I need to check to see what is going on between the PCM and the relay?
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I have a 1999 Ford F-150 XLT, with the 5.4 and a 4spd auto. 172,XXX miles on the clock and i have owned it starting on April of 2014.
Tonight driving home from work, it took some time on the highway (4 miles) to shift into top gear. When you lift off the gas pedal after reaching the speed limit, normally the truck will shift from 3rd to 4th no problem. When I let off the pedal, there was no gear change.
It took sometime for it to shift up. When downshifting on the exit ramp, there was nothing abnormal. Where I live it is 19 Degrees Fahrenheit and this is the beginning of the cold snap that will last well into mid-January of next year.
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Ok I've been getting a intermittent misfire on my truck for soem time now. It ran great all winter but now its getting hotter it intermittently misses. Last summer I replaced all the coils. And the coil inquestion now was replaced since last summer with Motor Craft Coil. I have red the check Engine Codes a d here is the freeze Fram data
DTC :P0351
Fuel System I : Closed Loop
Calculated Load: 71.37%
Engine Coolent temp: 199.4 F
Short Term Fuel Trim Bank 1 : 3.91%
Long Term Fuel Trim Bank 1: 0.78%
Short term Fuel Trim Bank 2: 6.25%
Long Term Fuel Trim Bank 2: 0.78%
Engine RPM :1613.25
Vehicle Speed Sensor: 4.35 MPH
What might be my problem? Since The Short Tem Fuel trim from bank 1 and Bank two are vastly different could that mean my fuel injector is not working correctly?
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A problem with having a 12 volt battery maintainer hooked up to your truck when not being used for a few weeks? In this cold weather the new battery keeps drawing down while not in use and is slow to turn over after 1 1/2 weeks or so? I think the maintainers charge at about 1.5 amps. I wonder if that can keep up with all the parasitic draws: PCM, radio presets & clock, remote door lock system, and factory security system and keep the battery topped off as well?
Also, is there any problem with putting a charge on a battery when the cables are still hooked up to the trucks electrical system with either a maintainer or a full size charger, Example: screwing up the PCM?
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2001 F150! It does this weird little surge, burping and farting away...but only in ambient heat. The engine never gets hot, it never over heats. What have we done? A full tuneup with new plugs and boots, oil change, new air filter, gas filter. It did it again...took it back in and had the fuel pressure checked, fuel injectors are fine...it can't be the fuel pump, it runs great unless it is hot weather. It has twice blown the P0171 system lean bank 1 code and has gone away after the tuneup and again after the new o2 sensor. It runs great, except in hot weather, starts surging and losing power...
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Have a 2001 F150 FX4x4 and since the weather changed and started having days below 40 the truck has started running rough for about the first 15-20 miles. When you first start it starts like normal for first 3-5 min and then it starts loping real bad like it has a cam in it!
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I have a 1997 f-150, V-6 absolutely base model, a shade under 80,000 miles. I'm the second owner, and the truck was previously garaged most of the time but now sits out in the driveway. The truck has developed an issue where it will be increasingly hard to start (crank crank crank, intermittent cough) after it sits out in hot weather, which is a problem here in Southern California. When the problem is really bad, it can take all day to get it started (try, wait a bit, try again, etc.). When it does finally catch, it sometimes backfires, idles rough for a few seconds then runs like a champ. I can turn it off and restart it immediately, I can let it sit for an hour or three and restart it, but if it sits out in hot weather it gets increasingly hard to start.
I've scoured various forums, and I've tried every solution I can find. Cycling the key to get fuel in the rail, opening the hood to cool off the engine cavity, trying to start it before it gets hot outside, etc. The truck *is* throwing code p0443, and scouring other forums I think that's either the evap canister purge valve, which my last mechanic replaced, or possibly the charcoal canister, which has not been replaced, but I don't know if that could be contributing (the truck was throwing that code before the hard start developed).
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'01 F150 XLT 5.4L EFI 207,000 miles
I've had this truck since '03 @ 45,000 mi and have loved it ever since. It hasn't failed me yet, until now. Living in TX with no A/C is the pits,
He first replaced the large hose assembly (with a non Motorcraft part) due to a pinhole then recharged the system. It cooled great until the pressure pop off valve (or whatever it's called) blew all the freon out.
His first suspicion was the fan clutch, which was replaced with a motorcraft fan clutch. Next he used his a/c machine to evacuate/flush/recharge the system - problem persisted. Lastly, he cleaned the radiator and condenser fins and recharged again. The system still overheated and lost the freon.
While the freon is in the system it cools like never before but after driving it, parking for a while, then re-starting it overheats within minutes.
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I have a 2003 F150 4.6l triton v8.... I started over heating yesterday. Got home, let it cool down and found Oil in Coolant. No coolant in oil or transmission fluid. What could be wrong?
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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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I have a 2003 F150 4.6 Triton V8.... My truck started over heating again after replacing the Thermostat and Water Pump later this summer.... Well I checked Coolant and I have Oil in the Coolant. I see Nothing wrong with the Tranny Fluid and see nothing wrong with the Oil.... What could be the problem??????
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I have a 2003 Silverado 1500 V6 vin code x with 260000 miles, for about a week now in the morning when its damp out or when it has rained the truck won't start, it cranks fine but will not fire. once it sits for a few hours and everything drys up it fires right up with the first turn of the key.
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