Hey everyone, new to the site. I have a 2002 f350 super duty XLT, 5.4 engine that will stall out when I put the truck into drive and reverse. The same thing occurs too when I turn on the headlights on however, turning the interior lights on, along with the radio and heat vents on high, the truck does not stall. Originally, I have had error codes for the mass air flow and something else and when I spoke to Friendly Ford to find out where the MAS was located, they told me it was way under the manifold and so I had to take apart the whole manifold to realize where it's true location is. After I put everything back together...correctly, the engine runs again and sounds a lot better, but I'm bamboozled as to why why it just keeps stalls when I put it into drive and or reverse. I think it may be caused by electrical something by having a heavy load on by changing into gears but I don't know. I replaced the battery, I don't have an alternator tester but I did take the positive wire off the battery and the truck still ran. I've even cleaned out the throttle and air idle valve, added transmission oil, checked the coils, spark plugs and even checked and swapped out o rings on the injectors, and replaced the fuel filter. I use this truck for personal plowing so it is rusty and beat up a little. If anyone could offer me any advice on how to try and fix this guy, I'd really appreciate it!

 

Sounds like a lazy IAC valve.

 

I cleaned out IAC valve with carb cleaner. I ended up getting quit a bit of gunk out too, so I'm not convince that it's the direct cause of the stalling. Any other possible causes you can think of?

 

Cleaning the IAC valve is a ht or miss proposition. For me, it's usually a been a miss.

YMMV. All of your symptoms point to either the IAC valve or, perhaps, a significant vacuum leak, perhaps in the PCV system.

 

Thank you, tomorrow morning I'll take about the IAC again and test it out and also try and see if they"re any vacume leaks. I'll keep you updated. Thanks again!

 

Hey everyone, been a few days, but I just wanted to give an update. So the truck is still having some issues. After I filled up the transmission fluid, I'm now able to get the truck into drive, however when I give it gas, the truck attempts to drive forward but it doesn't do anything unless I let go of the gas on and off causing the truck to...more or less jump forward by a half inch before rolling back into its same spot. The most I can get out of the RPM's in drive is roughly 1300-1400 RPM's, however the truck does not stall this time. I was able to check underneath and I can see that the rear driveshaft is trying to engage. To me it feels like the truck is kind of in neutral but I'm not sure. When I put the truck into park and neutral, I have full RPM status, I can even redline it if i wanted. Also, the truck will stall out completely when I put it into reverse, along with just putting the headlights on. I just noticed that for some reason, the reverse lights are always on when the truck's running in any gear, I can't figure that one out either. If anyone has any ideas on what to do or try, I'm all game. Thanks' everyone.

 

I'm wondering why you keep referring to transmission fluid, do you have a bad transmission?
Also be careful with when using carb cleaner, if it's not 02 sensor safe you will be replacing that very soon.
Based removing the odd information, it appears you have a battery / charging issue, it may keep running but that does not mean its getting full voltage, throw a voltage tester on it and see what kind of reading you get if you cant get it someplace that has a tester.

 

Fatz2708: So I did check the battery and alternator voltage...both are at 14.68 volts, so that seems to be pretty good still. Sorry for all the confusion I'm sending out there. As for the talks about the transmission, I do have a small trans leak coming from the pan and drainage plug, but nothing significant and I also smelt the the dipstick form the tran, where it does smell burnt.
Last night, I replaced the camshaft sensor, thinking "what the hell" and I'm now able to throw the truck into reverse too without stalling out but ultimately getting the same situation when trying to move the truck.
After looking up possible reasons for the truck not moving with the low RPM's, it seems that it could possibly be the tran. solenoid but looking that up at autozone, its very pricy and doesn't look the same in other websites, so to be honest I'm not sure what it looks like nor where to find it for a reasonable price.
Anyone reading all this and my past reports, I am sorry for any confusion that I may be sending out. I'm just trying to get this truck properly running again.

 

Replacing parts on a whim will often lead to more problems, especially if you are installing aftermarket (non-Motorcraft) parts. Don't replace a part unless you know it is bad.

-- Dave