Yes I know, my head was screwed on backwards before, but it's fixed now.......

 

Ok Busa and Horizonhuskies I will try to up the idle on it. I do have a tact on it and it is currently idling at 500 - 700 rpm's. I will give this a try and still looking into the temp sensor . I really do appreciate all the ideals and help on this matter fellows!! Thanks...... P.S. Safety always first , sometimes common sense is lost when it comes to safety!

 

Let us know how it turns out.

Seems like your idle is low. Mine does not drop below 800 at any time, so I think this will improve your situation. I'm curious to see if it works.

Tom

 

Keep us updated.....what year truck is this and how many miles?

 

Double post


How many miles ya got, I see now that it is a 2000.....

 

Triple post

How many miles you got?

 

it is a 2000 F150 , 4.2 , with 94,000 miles.... yeah.. i do lots of driving!!! this little glitche started at about 90 or 91k......

 

Have you tried raising the idle yet??

 

Busa, Yes i raised the idle to between 7- 800 in gear. Didn't help. I was driving in a rain storm yesterday and had to slow down to between 40 and 50 mph for a while and i noticed that it was doing it, cutting out, at that speed. I thought well maybe I have a bad plug wire so checked it at night in the dark and found no arking. It is really weird. Today after a long drive, 120 miles, when got into town, stop and go traffic, it never once acted up! Went through about 6-8 lights, never missed a beat, but got back in to go to store after about an hour and it was doing it again! This is realy getting to me... so keep coming with suggestions... Thanks!

 

Hmmm, Strange.

When was the last time you changed the plugs and wires. If it's been a while, you should do it anyway, even if this is not the problem.

Perhaps there is someting wrong with your electronict ignition/distributor. Is there a crack in the plastic housing?

Could be something as simple as water in your fuel tank. Try running it until it's almost completely empty, then fill the tank with 93 octane. Also check or change your fuel filter.

 

Busa.... lets do a quick rundown of all that i have done and has occurred.... at 90k got service engine soon light. Had checked and replaced bad o2 sensor. Truck started idleing rough before sensor was replaced and continues to idle rough at times. Replaced plugs, plug wires, fuel filter, and coil. Still idles rough but now at 94k does it some at other speeds and not always at idle like it was. It is throwing no codes!! I haves checked it repeadely using the trip button. I had 1986 F150 adn at about 100k it started acting up, throw no codes after many replaced sensors and aggravation I finally took it to the shop. I was told the computer was going out and that it was typical of Ford to do that when they were going bad. To act up but not throw codes. Have you heard of this? Have you ever seen this? Anyone????? I am wondering if i am having the same problem. I hate to go replaceing sensors again just to find that they are not bad and in a month or two realize that i have a bad computer. I have also done the fuel level... it did help but did not get rid of the problem. Still open to ideas and suggestions.. Thanks for all of your help!!

 

also..... what do you think the chances are of it being a bad fuel cap? I noticed that after the last fill up it has not been as bad... and while putting cap on i was not paying attention, cute blonde in mustang at pump next to me, and i stopped turning it when i heard do the ole clicking noise!! It just dawned on me.... not sure but worth looking into.

 

True that if your not venting correctly that this can cause problems. For some reason though, I don't think this is your problem. what is interesting is after a fresh fill up your situation got a little better, perhaps there is still some water in your tank, or rust or some other garabage in there that may be occassionally gloggling the feed line. I beleive there is also a fuel filter inside your tank, have you check this? You may want to run it to empty, drop your tank and dump the remaining fluid out and see what comes out of it. I had this happen with one of my motorcycles once and when I dumped the tank out it was full of rust at the bottom, or at least it looked like rust. Could have been just a bad batch of fuel. which is why I never put more than 5 gallons in my tank at any time, in case you do get a bad batch, at least it's only 5 gallons worth. I think it's pretty easy to drop your tank, perhaps you should try this. The only reason why I suggest this is because you did say that it was running a little better after a fresh fill. Also, did you properly gap your plugs before putting them in? Just a thought.

Tom

 

p.s. How you gap plugs? Sorry to go off subject.

and is this a neccesity?

 

I find it amazing how many FTE members don't know anything about plug gaps. I seem to get asked this question alot.

However, no question is a stupid question here.

When you purchase plugs, they are " supposedly " pre-gapped from the factory. However, many different vehicles utilize the same plug, with different gaps though.

The gap is the space between the two electrodes on the plug end that screws inside the cylinder.

In your manual, and in most cases, under the hood of your truck above the fan, will be your spark plug gap measurment. In most cases it will be a non metric measurment like .038 for expample.

You need to purchase a good set of plug gap feelers from the autoparts store that will have your plug gap included.

Stick the feeler guage between the two electrodes. It should slide in between snuggly but not tight. If it's loose, then you need to tap the top electrode down a bit until the feeler fits snuggly. If you tap too much and you have to cram the feeler in between the two electrodes, then take a pair of pliers and bend it back out a bit. Continue doing this until its perfect.

Normally, the specs on your plug gap will be a comfort range varying from say .035 - .038, in which case anywhere in between there is good. Get right in the middle if you can. You can try different gaps within that range to see which one gives you smoother performance.

If you gap is too large, then the spark will not be able to jump from one electrode to the other and you will mis-fire. If the gap is too small, it will not create enough spark to ignite all the fuel in the cylinder, leaving a sluggish feeling with poor gas mileage.

Tom