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1987 - 1996 F150 & Larger F-Series Trucks 1987 - 1996 Ford F-150, F-250, F-350 and larger pickups - including the 1997 heavy-duty F250/F350+ trucks

running rough when cold

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Old Mar 17, 2014 | 10:12 PM
  #1  
rickdavis81's Avatar
rickdavis81
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running rough when cold

I picked up a 97 F350 460 5 speed a few weeks ago. She's a work in progress. I did a full tuneup. Had to order a timing pointer, they had it set by "ear". I kid you not base timing was at 35. Not sure how it ran. Set it at 13. Runs a heck of a lot better now. But when it's cold it lopes pretty good, kinda like it has a big cam, till it warms up. This morning I was half hanging out the window at the atm, it was loping as usual. I think I heard something click under the hood, then the idle picked up a little and it smoothed out. Any ideas what might have clicked? Any suggestion? As soon as my jeep's lift is finished or my harley is back together I'm going to take out the injectors and clean them in my sonic cleaner to see if that'll help her out any.
 
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Old Mar 18, 2014 | 08:19 AM
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From: Kentucky
Originally Posted by rickdavis81
I picked up a 97 F350 460 5 speed a few weeks ago. She's a work in progress. I did a full tuneup. Had to order a timing pointer, they had it set by "ear". I kid you not base timing was at 35. Not sure how it ran. Set it at 13. Runs a heck of a lot better now. But when it's cold it lopes pretty good, kinda like it has a big cam, till it warms up. This morning I was half hanging out the window at the atm, it was loping as usual. I think I heard something click under the hood, then the idle picked up a little and it smoothed out. Any ideas what might have clicked? Any suggestion? As soon as my jeep's lift is finished or my harley is back together I'm going to take out the injectors and clean them in my sonic cleaner to see if that'll help her out any.
That truck would not run very well and would have pinged with any throttle. Either you never unplugged the SPOUT or the harmonic balancer has slipped.

As far as the "click" is concerned was the defrost or air on? If so, the PCM will kick up the idle RPM when the compressor is on.
 
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Old Mar 18, 2014 | 08:59 AM
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I unplugged the spout. Thought about the balanced. Lined zero up with the pointer and quadruple checked to make sure #1 was at tdc. She did run like crap and had to ease into the throttle.
 
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