I've been having this issue for over a year now with my 6.8 v10 2013 f450
Ever since I had a new engine put in, its been surging. Its been through the parts cannon special at a couple shops, new ECM, new cat, new o2 sensors, new fuel pump, purge valve, maybe some other parts i cant remember off the top of my head.

The truck will surge very rhythmically, at any rpm under any load in gear. Truck has plenty of power, pulls a trailer just fine, but the surging is brutal, jerks the truck when its under a heavy load. Strange thing is when I unplug the MAF, the truck runs great, no surging at all under any load. I swapped the maf already with a known good unit, so I don't believe the sensor itself is the issue. Truck has been smoke tested, had starting fluid sprayed all over vacuum lines and intake, no results there.

Anyone else ever experience this with their truck? If so, what ended up being the solution for you?

Videos:
Thanks for any response.

 

Forgive me but I am going to ask that we have more videos of what's going on to get a better idea. I'm just one person observing the video but I don't know if I can specifically determine what you're referring to based on the videos.

I promise I'm not trying to be mean here but in the first video, I "think" what you may be referring to I noticed that it happened at roughly just over the 2000 RPM mark where the rpms were starting to climb but then fell flat at around 2000 rpm but then picked right up from there and continued to about 5000 rpm. Would I be correct with this?

On the 2nd video, I'm not sure there was anything that I could pick out.

I'm not saying that someone else won't figure it out right away if they just come and spend some time looking at the video but your video is a bit "shaky" so it's hard to know specifically when the "surging" is happening as your camera is moving so much that it's hard to tell when it might be happening.

Again, NOT trying to sound mean but just trying to figure out what's going on so you can get the best help.

Are you willing and/or able to take some more videos and upload them again that are longer and have a steadier camera?

As for unplugging the MAF, that's very odd but if that's doing someting, then it's possible we could look there as something to consider but you mentioned that you already swapped out a unit with a "known" good unit. However, how do you KNOW that the unit you swapped out was "good"? Did you take it from a truck that ran well with no issues? Did you swap yours into that truck to see if your unit worked well in that truck?

At this point, I'm leaning towards some sort of wiring issue that is possibly intermittent due to a plug in that's not tight or corroded and causing "JUST ENOUGH" of a connection to "sort of" work at times. Is it possibly that there is a pinched wire somewhere due to the engine replacement?

I didn't have a "surging" issue but did have what I thought was a misfire issue that turned out to be a bad fuel injector connector so I had to zip tie or wire up the connector to keep it connected and that took care of it. I am not saying that's what's going on here but just something to check. Keep in mind that those connectors have a rubber weather proof gasket inside of the connector and if it gets damaged such as oil getting on it, it can force the rubber to expand and it won't fit right so it will cause the gasket not to "seat" inside of the connector itself and it can force the connector not to fully lock into place. As such, you'll have a bad or intermittent connection or no connection at all.

I don't know if it has anything to do with the transmission but transmission solenoids and valves and torque converters can do all sorts of weird things so I wouldn't rule that out completely.

But, I think we need either more stable video with longer video and maybe a few more examples or possibly more details about how or when it's happening and what specifically is happening.

An issue with a bad ignition coil is too easy but I suppose we can't rule that out either. But also, it doesn't seem like that anyway.

Since these are "fire by wire" models, I suppose it's also possible that it's something as stupid as either a bad throttle pedal or bad throttle position sensor or throttle motor as well even if you're not getting a code.

I'll assume that this issue wasn't happening BEFORE the engine replacement right? I know that sounds like a stupid question but just ruling things out is all.

Why did you replace the engine? Was there a specific issue with the previous one or did you just want to replace it due to miles or was it seeming like it was getting a bit worn out or burning oil or something else?

 

I was able to find the issue on this truck. It was an intake leak, specifically leaking from the intake tuning valve on the front of the intake. After that was resealed, it no longer leaks, nor does it surge. I guess previous shop either didn't actually smoke test this truck, or they don't know how to properly smoke test a truck.

Thanks for reply.

 

Thanks for reply, ended up being intake leak (at the intake tuning valve on the front of the intake) that 1st shop couldn't find due to inability to properly smoke test haha.

To answer your other questions for the sake of information, engine was replaced due to sparkplug failure where a the ceramic insulator around the electrode on the spark plug fell off one and bounced through multiple cylinders, thus putting dimples on the cylinder walls of 7 cylinders, effectively making it a 3 cylinder engine haha. The truck did not have this issue before engine replacement. I thought the same thing about the throttle body, so I had that replaced with a OEM ford part, no difference. Truck has 10 new ford coils, If smoke test didn't solve the issue I would've had the shop test for a misfire, and swap the coils to see if it followed. I could only rule out the transmission because the truck ran like new with the MAF unplugged. And yes, the MAF i swapped into it was from another running v10 that has no issues running. In the videos, if you pay close attention to the tach, you can see the rpms go up as if i was pulsing the gas pedal, you can see rpm hang every 2-300 rpms on the tach then bounce up to the next 2-300. It is very noticeable when driving the truck, i can see how it can be tough to catch on the video. I was definitely leaning toward a harness issue, glad the issue was finally found after a year of searching for/dealing with the issue.

 

my 2015 f450 with 135k miles is doing this exact same thing, can you share what parts you changed that fixed the problem? I’ve soaked the engine in brake cleaner while running specifically right at the front of intake runner linkage but there is no change in rpm. Just surges under load exactly like you described.

 

HI, well, I just read a 14 page thread on IRV2 about the surging issue. Seems that the after marked CAT's just don't work on the F53 chassis and there's a "CSF" fix, or Cheap Surging Fix that is an O2 extender that attaches to the downstream sensor. 3mirrors Straight 58MM O2 Sensor Check Engine Light Eliminator Adapter M18x1.5 Mounting Fittings Accessories - Stainless Steel. $14 at Walmart.