2000 4WD X, Has been running great, started fine this morning. Wife dropped me off at work, called later, said the "service engine soon" light was on and thought it might not be running as good as it was. Picked me up later and it had a rough idle, not terrible, like a gasser that needed to have the timing tweaked a little. Took off from the parking lot, a noticable loss of power, and shuddering at low RPMs. As RPMs raised it got a little better, but definitely something wrong. Drove home, we live in the sticks, had to keep the OD off to keep it from shuddering, and the light never has gone off. Right at 4000 miles since oil change with fuel and air filter change. I did a seach and there was a ton of things that it could be, thought I would take a quick poll to see if any one had some new wisdom top shed on this. Hate taking it to a dealer, but I don't have a garage, and it it supposed to be a high of around five above tommorrow. I have had this X since April, has 100,700 on it, haven't had any problems yet except loose battery connections on drivers side battery that did some wierd things around 4000 miles ago. Okay, a lot info here, any ideas?

 

Had a suggestion from the Excursion forum, might have dropped an injector. Any one else before I call the Ford dealer?

 

Since there is no ignition system to consider, the problem either has to be the fuel system or compression. A compression issue wouldn't just happen all of a sudden (usually), so, my thoughts are the fuel delivery. Before you take it in, check your fuel filter again, and replace it. Also, drain the fuel bowl and check to see if the little hole inside the fuel filter bowl is clogged. It's toward the top on the side. After all this, start it up and let it run for a few seconds only, then turn it off and pull the filter cap back off. The bowl should be filled, otherwise you may have a fuel pump going bad.

 

Also are you running a DFA? Quite possibly the fuel has gelled up. Diesel kleen white bottle will help greatly, as said before change fuel filter and clean fuel bowl, fill it with the DFA and give her a run. May take a few minutes as the fuel in the lines will still be gelled up. Hope this helps.

Fire Rooster

 

Thanks, Big Red and Fire Rooster. Had some of the same advice a while ago from a Ford guy in Denver. Additive, some injector cleaner and check and change the filter. Good idea Red, sounds like a easy check on the pump. Will pick up the supplies in town this afternoon and try all this tommorrow when the temps are a little more reasonable. Hovering around zero right now with a wind of about 15 or 20. Brrrrrrr. Will keep you posted!

 

At nearly 5 years old, it could also be a UVC (under valve cover) wiring harness starting to go.

 

I just went through something similar to this. 2 injectors and a wiring harness(valve cover) were changed at Dealer. Luckily was covered on the 5yr/100k. ($100 deductable). My truck also had a shudder.........the "code" according to the Dealer Tech was 3rd gear in tranny..........he said this was common with weak or dead batteries (those were replaced by the dealer also, but I paid). Seems to run fine now.

Hope this may help!

 

Well, thought I would post the update on this, took it to the garage today. Had a bad wiring harness on the left side, two injectors out. Just like DirtRacinStroker, they replaced the harness and gasket, cost me $450, but it is back to running like the striped a$$ ape it is supposed to be! It is amazing that it went from running great, to losing two cylinders that quick, at least I will know in the future if the other side gives up. One positive note, did get them to give me the default door code for my keypad for free, since they were in there already. Almost like I got a $50-70 upgrade, I am still trying to make myself feel better. This started when I had 100,700 miles on the beast, what luck, no warranty. Oh well, glad to have it back.