So last Monday I bought a 2005 Supercrew 5.4 4x4. Here is some background on it and why I'm somewhat freaking out. My wife and I are looking to pregnant soon and the 77 F-250 that currently does truck duty for us isn't what I'd call baby friendly. We're trying to get our financial situation in order for her to stop working and stay home to raise our future children and so I had to cash out most of my 401k to make it happen because things are too tight for another monthly payment. I drove all over the state looking for a used 04-06 F-150 that fit in my price range and didn't have the somewhat controversial cam phaser noise because I couldn't afford to fix it. This truck was the only one that fit the bill, unfortunately it did so at the cost of high mileage, 127k, which didn't bother me since these newer vehicles are capable of going 250k plus with proper maintenance. Well my wife and I loved the truck and have been driving it daily since bringing it home. It rides and turns better than our car, accelerates smooth and hard, and looks great. Everything I could hope for in a truck.

Everything was fine at first, but I started noticing a noise, at first I thought it was just going over a bump or something as I would hear a clunk and feel the truck slow down, just like if you hit a pothole or large bump in the road. But soon I noticed it doing it on smooth surfaces as well. I would come to a stop, start accelerating and about a half to one second later I would feel it. It didn't concern me too much because it only happened every now and again, but on Saturday I was doing some highway driving and it happened a lot during two instances. Both times it was during either a flat or slightly downhill portion of the road, going around 45-55, where I would let off the gas and then slowly get back on it. Both times it was a series of like 4 or 5 thumps and that's what concerns me. It doesn't always happen, my 3 mile drive to work today had none, but I'm still pretty concerned because it feels like something is binding up in the drivetrain or the torque converter is having spasms.

What do guys think? I've thought about it being that IWE solenoid as mine is the old style, but I'm not hearing the grinding noise associated with that. Even though I haven't experienced anything else, could it be engine problems? Or do you think I'm looking more at the transmission, torque converter, transfer case, drive shaft, or differential? Any help would be appreciated as this is a big deal since I sold the farm to buy it and if it's going to be expensive I need to hit up the dealer I bought it from ASAP so he can take it back or fix the problem because I can't afford to have issues. Please help! Thank you.

 

Hmmmm, try greasing your slip joint.

 

Is the noise coming from the front or the back of the vehicle?

I am also one of those people who still believe you have to replace your axle fluids even if you have a synthetic oil in them. I would check those and maybe think about replacing it?

Are there any mods to the truck?
I put on a leveling kit and a larger tire and then started noticing a strange sound from the rear end a day or so later. It was only every now and then so I had it looked into. It turned out that with the larger tire my parking brake cable was getting caught on the tire and being hit into the truck bed. So we used a zip tie to hook it to some other cables and lines away from the tire and I have no issues anymore.

 

It's hard to tell where the noise is coming from, can't really tell if it's front our back. It sounds closer to the middle and the front than the back, but I mostly feel rather than hear it.

Yeah, I'm definitely going to replace all fluids soon, see if that helps.

The truck is bone stock, except it has stock 18 inch rims from some other F-150 the dealer had in their lot.

 

Sounds like a possible wheel bearing to me.

 

Not to be a smart you know what, but technically to be a lemon it must be attempted to be repaired several unsuccessful time during the factory warrant to be a lemon.

Im not sure exactly about your problem, but with that mileage i would expect to maybe see some wear and tear on a truck. What you describe doesnt sound too bad, but youalso cant expect a perfect truck at 127k.

 

"A lemon is a defective car that is found to have numerous or severe defects not readily apparent before its purchase. Any vehicle with these issues can be termed a 'lemon,' and, by extension, any product which has major flaws that render it unfit for its purpose can be described as a 'lemon'."

That being said, I think we're all on the same page with what the OP meant by "lemon".

Does this clunk occur randomly or is it associated with an up or down shift at the same time or shortly thereafter? Any codes?

 

I would assume that there are no codes when you check with a scan tool.

I would also grease the slip joint like "screwy" pointed out. They did give trouble on the '05's.

I would check the transmission fluid very closely and maybe buy the fluid and do a flush. With a 127K miles it may need a fresh fluid change.

Just some ideas to try. Hope this helps.

 

No codes are thrown, no indicator lights come on.

It randomly does it, but aside from the couple of times its done it from a stop, it's been at highway speeds after coasting for a bit and then gently reapplying throttle. I don't know if there was any shifting involved or not, but I don't think so.

 

Sounds like slip-yoke. 05-26-11***DRIVESHAFT SLIP-BUMP ON DECELERATION OR ACCELERATION FROM A STOP

 

Screwy said it first and Lime showed it to you.

'nuff said this problem is solved until Brack follows through with a simple lube job.

Do it right, with the correct grease, your efforts will last longer but will be back to haunt you latter.

 

I have had the same thing you are explaining happen to me, fortunatley the truck was still under warranty. I had the truck in the shop several times for the technicians to try and fix. They lubed the slip yoke, put on a shim kit, rebuilt the limited slip clutch packs, checked and flushed the transmission. None of this worked. Finally they reflashed the PCM and all was good. Put 30K on the truck since then and has not done it since. They only thing i have noticed is that there is more hesitation from the engine now just before it shifts but i got use to it. They told me something about a traction control re-flash, whatever it was it fixed the problem that was ocurring that sounds awefully similar to what you are explaining.

 

I know I'm over 5 years late, but this turned to be bad spark plugs that caused the truck to misfire. One of the plugs had backed itself out of the head until it wouldn't hold compression anymore and the truck ran really rough. I replaced the spark plugs and everything was back to normal. Of course, since then I'v upgraded to the far superior 5.0 and am in love with that awesome little engine. Hope this helps someone in the future!

 

It's amazing you came back and posted after 5 years. lol...like a time machine.