Towing and rough idle
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Towing and rough idle
I am in the market for a ford pickup to tow my new 20 foot boat, boat and traler weigh around 3500lbs. I am looking at a f-150 with an efi 302. Ocassionally i'll need to go over some mountain passes. This truck i am looking at had a new long bloks installed in 2000 and has since had a lot of other work done. it runs great but has a slightly rough idle, as soon as it is taken off idle it smooths right out and rung great. The owner has spent a lot of money trying to get rid of the rough idle, which by the way i thought was pretty minor. I can get the truck for $2000. The rest of the truck is in excellent condition.
now with all that in mind i have 2 questions
1. is the 302 gonna have enough power to haul mu boat?.. I don't mind slowing down on the hills but i also don't want a motor o have to overwork.
2. what do you think of the slightly rough idle?? minor problem or does it make the truck a lemon not worth dealing with?
please feel free to venture opinions...
now with all that in mind i have 2 questions
1. is the 302 gonna have enough power to haul mu boat?.. I don't mind slowing down on the hills but i also don't want a motor o have to overwork.
2. what do you think of the slightly rough idle?? minor problem or does it make the truck a lemon not worth dealing with?
please feel free to venture opinions...
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Joined: Nov 2003
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Regarding towing, my 1988 F150 supercab, 302, automatic, 3.55 axle tows my 5,000 lb boat/trailer rig fairly well at about 60 mph, but doesn't seem to want to go too much faster. It will slow down on long hills, but still make it. I would be comfortable going through the mountains with it, as long as I wasn't in a great hurry. Factors to think about are:
1) automatic has higher tow capability than manual
2) check the gear ratio--3.55 seems fairly good for towing/gas mileage; 3.08 may not be high enough, and 4.10 would be plenty, but gas mileage may suffer a bit
3) going through the mountains you will need really good trailer brakes, a good hitch, and the brakes on your truck should also be in top working order.
I don't know about the rough idle, but if he has maintained it well, and spent alot of money trying to get rid of it, I would likely just live with it, if everything else works well--can't understand why a rough idle would be so hard to diagnose, though.
Hope that helps.
Frank.
1) automatic has higher tow capability than manual
2) check the gear ratio--3.55 seems fairly good for towing/gas mileage; 3.08 may not be high enough, and 4.10 would be plenty, but gas mileage may suffer a bit
3) going through the mountains you will need really good trailer brakes, a good hitch, and the brakes on your truck should also be in top working order.
I don't know about the rough idle, but if he has maintained it well, and spent alot of money trying to get rid of it, I would likely just live with it, if everything else works well--can't understand why a rough idle would be so hard to diagnose, though.
Hope that helps.
Frank.
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