HEY! im new... especially to trucks, im a chevy man as it is, but i just purchased a 97 F150 Lariat from my grandfather for $3000 with only 50k miles on it... and a few days ago i did a tune up on it. The truck was purchased by him in 98, with 29k on it, so its been sittin for a LONG time lol. keep in mind, the truck did this a little bit before i did the plugs, but seems like it may be more now than before? not sure.. but check it out...

My truck had the small issue of a slight stutter at idle when in Drive. Very faint, but still noticable for a fanatic like me. So i did the plugs. I replaced the plugs and wires with Autolite copper plugs, and silicone wires. Gapped them to .054 and put them in. Di electric greased the boots on both ends (coil and spark plug sockets) One thing i didnt do that was spoken about in the tune up thread, was blow out, or vaccuum up the holes before removing the plugs. Now i dont think it would have been a problem, because the truck only had 50k on it, and the only thing i saw around some of the plugs was a little bit of rust.. no dirt or anything.. and the plug boots should have done a good job of keeping anything out of them anyways... but when i started it up, i noticed the slight shudder at idle had either not gone away, or gotten slightly more noticable.... ive heard something about O2 sensors being a problem with poor idle, but i just dont see it happening. So far i have changed the oil, flushed the cooling system, changed the plugs and wires, changed my fuel filter, and air filter, and installed flowmaster exhaust. Any reason this is still happening? Is it a figment of my imagination? maybe im just paranoid about it and want that thing to just glide.. no rumble at all... its such a SLIGHT shudder, and ONLY when in drive... at normal idle, everything seems to be fine, but when i put it in D and the idle drops to just above 500RPMs, it has a very slight shaking going on.... can anyone help? im stressed beyond belief... put it this way, i can put a glass of water on the hood when its in drive, and just barely see any ripple to the water at all.... but arent these supposed to feel like they arent even running even when they are?


This just in lol what about the IAC? the idle air control valve... it just dawned on me, when i went to look at other trucks today to see any difference, i noticed that even in drive, they generally idle higher than mine... not by much, but higher.. could this be my issue? would that cause this problem? Ive noticed in the past, that a couple of times when i came to a stop light right off the freeway offramp, the truck wanted to cut off... didnt have the right idle for the sudden drop in speed... PLEASE tell me there is something i can do about this issue.... its really eating away at me

 

*bump* Anyone have any advice?

 

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mmmkay.... still no help??? damn...

 

my 2003 5.4 litre has a slight shudder just before each stop, at 1mph but it is gone at zero, and at 2mph.
This has existed since delivery. FORD took it back for a month, and the engineers argued whether it was ignition or mechanical. Nothing showed on the scope, but the damned thing shakes just before stopping. A pain when trying to parallel park.
They even tried changing the driveshaft, and no difference. There was no more stock of this model at the time, and we settled on I keep the defective truck, and they give me a free 7 year warranty with no deductible. I wonder as I shake along at every red light whether I got a good deal. What do you think?

 

depends.... on how much that shake means to you? a 7 year warrenty is pretty good i guess.... if i were you though i would trade it in before the warrenty expires lol either that? or blow the power train and have em drop a whole new one in it for ya shouldnt have the issue then.......

but my issue is at idle, in drive, when im at about 600 RPMs.... its just a VERY very slight shaking.... i took it to ford and the service manager came out and looked at it, told me with much confidence in his voice that this is very normal... so i think im just gonna wait it out and if it DOES get worse, ill have it fixed then... the way i see it? they shouldnt have given you a warrenty, they should have given you a new motor and ECM.... that truck shouldnt be doing that, and you deserve after forking out over 25 grand (i presume) for a new truck, to know that it is 100% mechanically sound... see mine is a 97, and i got it for 3 grand even with the low miles, so while im DEFINATELY concerned about what it may be, i look at it like this... for the price, and the mileage, there is no way in hell that ANYTHING wrong with it would be a cause for concern about how much i payed for it.... since i am supersticious im not even going to mention the worst case scenario (bad ju-ju) but even if the worst case scenario were to happen, i still can say i got a good deal. But in your case? thats a 2003... that shouldnt have issues like that... how many miles?

 

oh, the other thing you may want them to check out, is your torque converter... those can prove to be an issue with vibrations under acceleration... either that, or maybe your rear end is in need of recalibration?

 

the 1mph shake on mine is a small issue also, but a new truck is a wad of cash and you expect perfection. I have only 17,000km on it. Maybe this will go away over time....love the truck, pull a boat with it all summer that is longer and wider. Normally trade by the five year mark, so will just put up with it for now. Will check torque converter at first transmission service.
Good luck with yours!

 

My 01 has done this since I bought it. It hasn't gotten any worse. Ford says it is normal. I had the motor reset in the mounts and softer mounts installed, but it is still there. It is a combonation of the lean emissions friendly idle and camshaft duration.

 

My 01 5.4 slightly shakes every few seconds when sitting at idle, and if you're not paying attention you can hardly feel it. It can get annoying after a long time, but I usually don't find myself sitting at idle for very long.

 

yeah that is the same problem i am having... a gentle shaking at idle, but if you notch the RMPs up just a little bit, it goes away... go figure

 

Just a shoot i the dark, but these trucks don't like it when you use non-motorcraft plugs and wires. So this could be making your rough idle problem

 

1badf150...take a look at the posts for checking the IAC (idle air control) valve..they can get gunked up and cause probs w/ idle. Some guys clean 'em, others just replace 'em. But either way, it could be causing this problem. It's easy to get to and easy to r/r.

Look in the "READ FIRST: FAQ" sticky at the top of this forum for more info.

 

already replaced the IAC as for using non motorcraft plugs and wires? autolite is part of motorcraft, so is fram, and also prestone i DID however return to motorcraft wires... and from what i hear.. motorcraft wires are the best, bar-none... as in MSD, accel, and no other company make wires better than motorcraft, and this came from a hard tuner professional i know. Said those wires will last over 100k miles, and they damn well better at $140 a set lol thats almost 20 bucks a wire!!!!

 

mine has the original plugs and COPs. I bought it with 26,000 miles on it and it is still the same at 45,000 miles. No problems from it.