I'm been stuck in the biggest corn harvest I've ever seen. The lord has put his hand on north Alabama. This year we've had the worst draught {as I understand it} this country has seen in a long time. Our water table has fallen to 29 feet. Any way we're still shelling 100-110 bu an acre.
Anyway I havent fallen off the earth but just working 7-16s. However 3 weeks ago my truck done something rather odd. Just out of the blue for a few seconds there was no response to the accelarator. The engine was still turning but I could'nt rev it up. This happened going down the road and lasted 10 seconds tops, althought at the time it seemed like minutes. It just as quickly went away and everything is still fine. What gives? Any ideas?

 

check the connectors at the throttle pedal, it's a "drive by wire" system so make sure all the connections are tight...

 

You sure the '04 is drive by wire?

 

all 6.0's are are they not?

 

My 01 7.3 was and so is my 04 6.0. I thought that was the coolest thing when I first discovered it on the 01. Then I started to worry about the reliability, but I guess if it's good enough for a fighter jet, then it's good enough for a pickup truck.

 

Hmmmm, well, I'll be the first to admit when I'm wrong, but I didn't think drive by wire came out on the SD until at least '05. I'm 99.9 % sure that the '01 definately were not. But like I said .....

 

Well, I'm no Ford diesel tech, but my experience repairing electrohydraulic and electropneumatic control surface actuating systems on nuclear submarines taught me that the absence of a mechnical connection and the presence of an electrical switch or variable resistor would indicate a "fly by wire" setup. Armed with this knowledge, I just happened to notice one day while vacuuming the floor of my 01 that there was no mechanical connection through the firewall from the accelerator, but there was a switch. I don't have the truck anymore to look again, but I am pretty sure that I didn't just dream it up.

 

Wow, Nice attitude. Am I supposed to be impressed?

I was wrong, all 6.0's have the APS system. It also looks like the 7.3's had something different, which is why your '01 had a switch, not the APS system.

 

The connections are secure. I would think that if it was a electricual connection the connection would have had to be tighten before the cure. Now I know we all had the "thing" happen where a wire got rubbed raw or a connection got nasty and things sometimes worked and sometimes not. But the way this switch looks to me, either its going to work or not. The connections are not starting to gunk up. Good thought though cause that was what it was like, as if the pedal was'nt sending any pulses. I wonder if I had it checked if the pcm logged a code on it. Of course I wont have it checked by the time I will be able to carry it in either the code was over written or I'll have forgotten about it.

Elee3 I'm not saying your wrong or right, but just that I thought that ford picked up the fire by wire in 04 for the SD and F150. I heard a guy say his 03 F150 was fire by wire but never put much faith into it. We bought my wife an 04 fx4 F150 in 04 and that was a sells pitch that the 04 had the 3v heads and fire by wire throttle. Of course I dont remember if it was said the "all new fire by wire" like they did with the 3v heads. wich turns out the where'nt all new cause there was a 3v head in something else out side of the US.

 

heavyiron, that was more banter than attitude. Bad thing about email and forums is that it's difficult (for me anyway) to convey tone. I'm not looking to impress anyone, I just figure that my opinion/observation might be taken more seriously if I qualify my technical background. I'm not just a guy who had enough money to buy a cool truck (which all diesel superduty's are).

exiled, was 04 when the "new F150" came out? With a totally new truck, I can see why they would change something like basic driver controls and want to advertise it to get a leg up on the competitive 1/2 ton market. I am fairly certain that my 01 had no mechanical linkage to the throttle. I remember noticing the spring that was connected to the pedal to provide resistance to give the feel of a traditional throttle.

Notice: There is absolutely no attitude in this post. Just info and opinion. Please feel free to question either one at any time.

 

I am not sure what year they started using potentiometers to control the throttle on the diesel engines but the 6.0s are all operated this way. I am not positive but pretty sure my 95 diesel was the same way.

 

Just to make the ones that has to have everything correct happy. The new F150 came out in 03 but it was an 04 model. To me you was close enough.
See this is my 2nd problem w/ this forum. There is knowledgable guys here and they dont speak up at times like this. Now let the topic have several possible answers and you cant get a word in edgewise.

 

Could the problem be the turbo vanes sticking. It can have the same 'feel' as what he described.

Also, My '03 6.0L is definitely a drive-by-wire.

 

Could there be something to this? It happened again today. Again 10-15 seconds tops. The only difference was this time I was taking off from a stop sign. I did notice this time that there was some response from the pedal but it was like the engine was choked or something, it was'nt making any more rpms, just as quickly it went away. If the vanes are starting to stick short of removing the turbo there is nothing that can be done right? Is there some kind of test I can do? I'm not running to the shop cause I know its not going to do it for them so it'll be a big waste of my effert and fuel.
On the other hand can the vanes not be ruled out simple cause the 2 events has been somewhere around 5 months apart? Meaning would the vanes be sticking all the time or the events would be closer together?

 

Hopefully those with more knowledge than I will chime in soon... but, did you notice if the boost gauge registered any psi? It does sound like sticky vanes or a sticky VGT ring/actuator could be an issue.

Have you really 'romped' on it lately? Maybe take it out for a good, hard uphill run and get it hot. It seems these variable geometry torbos don't do well sitting around for long periods. The 6.0 also needs to be driven hard to keep the VGT ring and vanes free.

Here's a link to cleaning the turbo: www.forddoctorsdts.com/articles/article-06-05.php