Lately on my '01 F-150 4.2L 5sp I am having hard cold starts and the engine rattles for a couple of minutes then goes away. Any chance this could be a stuck or open fuel injector? The truck has 9k miles on it. At this mileage there shouldn't be any abnormal rattling from inside the engine. Of course it is out of warranty by 5 months. Is there any way to check these injectors for proper operation? Resistance reading or something? Or should I be looking for something else? I took it to the Ford garage the other day. Of course it didn't make any noises for them and there were no fault codes in the computer. The machanic said he thought it may be spark knock and suggested cleaning the induction system. No change I still have the same problem. I really don't want to take it back to them, they charge too much money. I would rather fix this myself if possible. Thanks, CJ

 

you only have 9k on a 01?

 

Yes, that is correct, 9K miles.

 

Well, I could assume that with only 9k miles it's been sitting still for a long time...long enough for the fuel to get bad...or something.

 

thats the only think i could think of too, joe. Like old oil, maybe flaky gas?

i'm sure he's changed his oil and tried fuel injector cleaner, right cj?

 

When I got the truck it had 4600 miles on it. Changed the oil right away be cause the truck had been sitting and then at 6000 switched to synthetic. This problem has just recently started. And yes I have run injector cleaner through it.