Ford Super Duty (1999-2016) :: 2003 F250 - Stiff / Rough Ride When Empty
Feb 18, 2017
On a 2003 5.4 f-250 XLT 4 door, long bed
Running 285 tires, none lifted, factory lifted for snow plowing? Did have a plow mount when purchased used.
Had the truck over a year now & love it. My only real dislike is the stiff/ rough ride when empty, which is 80-90% of the time for me.
I know my truck & year have leaf springs with shock dampeners on the front, vs the coil spring and shock dampeners that came in the later years for a much improved ride. Also my struts are "Rough Country" which from what I understand are cheaper shocks. Had a 04 Tacoma I replaced with Bilstein 5100 shocks after leveling it & it was an amazing difference. So that's my only real comparison in shocks. I've read of guys replacing their entire front end for the coils & springs. Not interested in going that deep into it for a better ride. If that's my only option, all be happy with the ride as is.
What are my options if any? Better shocks/struts? Other than my rough country that are on the truck? Purchased used a year back & never felt the "stock struts".
I did find Bilstein 5160' s for my model truck. Link : [URL] .....
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My 2008 F250 Super Duty is riding very, very rough. I put in new heavy duty Bilstien shocks 2 or 3 years ago, and I would think they would last longer than this.
Are they any other causes I can look at to see what is causing this truck to ride rough?
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Im an outside sales rep and I drove 85k miles last year in a F-150. The time came where I needed a new company truck and now I'm in a 2015 F-250 2wd 6.2l lariat. I love the truck but my back is killing me. I've only had it a little over 3 weeks but it has over 6k miles on it. The majority of the time my bed is unloaded but there has been a few times my 1/2 ton was overloaded so i stepped up to a 3/4 ton. Ive tried lowering my tire pressure but the TPMS light comes on. I also bought sand bags to leave in the back of my truck to add weight to it when not loaded. Im about to pull the trigger on bilstein 5100s but was wondering of there is anything else I could do make the truck ride a little smoother.
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My '03 V10 F250 gas with 135k miles on it went from showing weird fuel levels last week, showing low when I just put $40 in it to now being absolutely below empty, pegged as far south as it can get. I have a CEL light on too but my OBD test shows, "N/A 01-01". So all I can think is that there may be an open/short circuit that the OBD cannot diag.
I replaced my fuel pump about 2 years ago with a replacement AutoZone unit and all had been fine since then. I just do not remember if the fuel level sensor was part of the pump itself or a separate item. If it's a integral part of the pump I should be able to go back to AutoZone and get a warranted replacement.
Is there anything I can test a forehand before either pulling the tank or doing a dump-truck again?
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It is about time to replace the shocks on my truck but I am going back and forth between shocks... I have 37s and the ride is rough to say the least I am looking for something to make it feel like I am not riding around on a jack hammer every time I hit a rock.
Dual set up in the front and single in the back and I have steering stabilizers installed.
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I have a 2012 Ford F350 SRW 4x4 Diesel. Love the truck and has been great. I have 20" Tires and the ride on this truck is really rough. I know its now a Cadillac but to change tires or suspension components to get a smoother ride. I was thinking about going to 18" rims and getting a big all terrain tire. Maybe taking a leaf spring off in the rear. Going to air suspension. Different tires maybe. I dont need the load rating since i sold my fifth wheel.
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I've got a 2000 F250, 5.4L 4x4 with the ZF5 5-speed transmission. Three years ago I replaced the complete clutch assembly, pressure plate, throw-out bearing, etc, and had the flywheel re-machined. Put it back in and all has been well. Only has about 15k miles on it. Earlier this week I went to drive it and all of the sudden it started getting harder to shift and by the end of the trip the clutch will not disengage at all when I push the pedal in.
Furthermore the pedal is much harder to push than it always has been. Checked the reservoir and it's fine. After some searching it seems to most likely be an issue with the master and/or slave cylinder either needing to be bled or replaced. Further reading revealed that bleeding and recommends just replacing the whole system, so I've priced that out. Was it a master/slave issue? Anything else I should check in case it isn't?
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I got a 2011 250 SD 6.2, I have what feels like a catch in the steering, on center, when you turn the wheel feels like it just gives and stay's there, either way you turn, Checked front end, ball joints tie rods etc., the hubs are unlocked, feels like when the u-joint on the steering shaft goes bad and you get that bind. But this truck doesn't have them anymore, just a rag joint at the box. It only binds at center, and wont return, took steering stabilizer off and road tested same thing, air in tires good all the way around, has about 58,000 miles on it.
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I bought it and changed the fuel filter and it was dirty. Then ran a tank of gas with seafoam and then with lucas fuel injector cleaner. Still nothing. It idles like its missing and as long as you are light on the pedal it revs up fine but if you're heavy on the throttle its. Its has no codes that's why I haven't replaced the coil packs and plugs but they have been ordered. I just thought there would be an engine code if any of the coils or plugs were bad. Looked for a vacuum leak but couldn't find any. The donut gasket on the pass side is bad would that cause it to run shifty with no code.
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Having a somewhat scary problem.....my truck is already a rough ride due to the fabtech lift and the 37's and you get a lot of feedback through the steering wheel. Its a rough ride down the highway but where it gets scary is at lower than highway speeds like 35-45 range. I can hit a bump and it will send the trucl into this insane cavitation that will literally shale the fillings out of your teeth. I cannot tell if it is in the drive wheels or the front wheels. The best way I can describe it is that its like trying to push a buggy in wal mart with a bad caster wheel on it. It feels like you are about to have a wheel fall off or that its broken off a tie rod or something. Then you simply slow down to a stop and you can drive right on like nothing was wrong. The vibration or shaking does not slow down with the speed. I cannot find anything obvious broken or damaged but this thing is getting dangerous to drive.
05 F350 DRW Fabtech 6 inch lift and 37's. 114k miles.
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The 2003 F250 5.4 Superduty has no power and keeps stalling. If I floor the gas it just stalls. I've replaced the pcv valve and line, the fuel pump relay, the fuel pump, and cleaned the tank, changed out the gas, added Lucas, and it just won't run right. Desperate, and no codes are coming up...
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I have a 2003, F250 SD, 5.0 with a weird problem no one can figure out. Now it doesn't matter what time of the year it is but after the truck sits a few days when I go to start it up it run roughs. Sometimes for a few seconds sometimes a few minutes then it "straightens" itself out. Recently it took almost a day to fix itself. No engine codes, no other symptoms.
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A friend has a 2003 6.0,around 200000kms well maintained just had new injectors,filters etc. This truck is his bread and butter so anything that needs to be addressed gets it, pretty much touble free until now. Just out of the blue last week at driving @60kms/hr pulling an empty trailer it died no surge or sputter. Full fuel,oil etc,they tried to get it running and it would not fire up. His local auto shop pretty much gave up on it and it now sits at our Ford dealership. Thoughts are leaning to fuel delivery to electrical can we ball park some things that he can put forward to the dealer to get him in and out sooner.
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I have an 2003 F250 7.3 Diesel 4wd. Yesterday I knew I was low on fuel but I don't think I ran out of diesel. My gauge was above the "E". 50 miles left on my overhead readout, but you never know. All of a sudden the truck misfires and is running very rough before it dies on me. I get it towed home.
Thinking that it possible I ran out of fuel and screwed up my fuel pump, I bought a new fuel pump and fuel filter, installed them and I have the same symptoms. I am guessing I lost my prime, who knows. I have 180,000 miles on it and haven't ever had engine problems.
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I recently purchased a 1999 6.8L. Runs great when cold but after warming up the idle gets rough. Truck has new plugs and coil packs and fuel filter. Checked the fuel pressure and the idle is right at 30 psi. I read that the good pressure range is 30 to 45 psi. Is 30 psi acceptable or should I replace fuel pump or regulator? Any next step to solving my idle woes.
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I am new to the v10 I only ever owned 7.3 this is my father truck it's a 99 with 200k on it. The problem is it will idle fine when cold but when it is warned up very ruff idle no codes and when I go back at the end of this week I will check the O2 sensor with AE but I really don't know much about it.
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2004 F250 V10, runs good until it warms up whether it's hot or cold outside. While on freeway, it really shakes while cruising, but of you get in the gas enough for a kick down, seems to be pretty smooth. I've changed the coils, and 9 plugs (one wouldn't budge, but the others I took out looked fine) to no effect. Where else should I look? Also, no CEL, and no codes, which seems odd as bad as it feels...
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So, my truck runs really rough when I am @1500 RPM and lightly feather the gas. I have replaced all coils and plugs. Used dielectric grease. Replaced air filter, replaced ICU, changed transmission fluid. The thing still "shudders" ... 2004 f250 5.4 ....
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I have a 99 f250 5.4l 2v with 165000. just two weeks ago i went to start up the truck on a job site to take lunch and it was running really rough. I talked with a mechanic at my shop and he said that it sounded like the aic or that i needed plugs. I went and bought aic and plugs and installed them all in one day. I unhooked the battery before i did any work and have changed the coil packs about 3-4 months ago when it was jerking at highway speeds. I am at a loss.
Read so much on the site about could be this or that and cant afford to through money at it like the govt does. I replaced the ait(air intake temp sensor) and the ect(engine coolant sensor) after i got a code from oreillys that said p0113 which is high input on it. I have read it can be so many things and it seems to be running rich because i am getting about half of mileage i was getting before problem started. i need a fix soon as i must drive the truck to work everyday which is a 52 mile trip total.
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I just bought this 99 f250 7.3 Powerstroke last week.. drove it all week fine, I car pool with a family member to work and asked his girlfriend to plug my truck in for me, well she didn't and it had stalled on the way home one morning but started up after cranking a few times i thought nothing of it. Drove it a little bit that day and it was fine, while I let it idle in my drive way as I prepared to go work it started running really rough then died. It took a long time to start again..now it's happening all the time. I changed the fuel filter and someones telling me there's air in the lines..
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2008 F250 5.4L 150k. My truck has been driving pretty rough in low gears, rough idle, and today the check engine light came on then getting on the interstate the light started blinking. I ran the code it came back 0307,300,308,300. After doing some research on here, I've come to the conclusion to change out the coils on 7 & 8. Questions are, should I change plugs as well? And how important is it to keep all the boots (of all 8) the same color (brown or black)? And should I expect to change all the rest soon?
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