hey guys, my truck just started idling really rough. Its an 01 F-150 with 5.4 and it has 117K miles on it. I took it turkey hunting and on the way out I got out to get the gate and could hear the truck reving and when I put it in gear I didn't touch the gas and it would go forward, but it was jumpy. It seemed to run fine when I had any gas applied to it. Just at rest. Any idea what this could be? I'm hoping it doesn't cost me a fortune. I just had to spend a bunch of money on other stuff and I'm closing on my house next mon.

 

IAC valve. Clean it and report results.

 

I have no idea what that is. can I get the full name so I can google and see what it is?

 

Its Idle Air Control Valve. Its located by your fire wall close to the middle. Its silver cylinder with two screws.

 

I think I found it. Is it almost directly in the middle and it has a black tube that runs out the drivers side of it and then it goes into the cover that says 5.4 on it?? I did some reading on the internet and they said tapping it could knock the valve loose and let you know if thats it, well I hit it and it didn't seem to change much. I might try to take it out tomorrow and clean it. How should I go about cleaning it?

 

Carb cleaner. We tapped it on my buddys 5.4 and it helped a lot.

 

Don't use carb cleaner, you'll ruin it for sure lol. Use Seafoams DeepCreep or just WD40 to clean it. Carb cleaner will eat the rubbers for sure, you don't want that... Ford has that as unserviceable, but you can be successful using the right agents to assist. Compressed air helps as well.

Also, work the plunger inside while cleaning.

 

I had the same problem on mine which is the 02 version of yours (basically same thing) I cleaned the Mass Air Flow sensor (MAF sensor cleaner), new filter, cleaned the throttle body out (TB cleaner) taking the entire intake apart and cleaning the pieces did wonders, plus I used Seafoam through the vacuum hose in the intake and blew out the gunk holding me back. Best of luck.

 

Thanks guys. I don't know a ton about working on trucks but hopefully my dad can help me get it taken apart and cleaned up and then ill know. By the way. I drove it turkey hunting this morning. I could still feel the truck moving every so often like it was revving but you couldn't hear it or see the tach moving so something changed last night

 

ok I took the IAC valve off. Cleaned it with WD40 and blew it out, reinstalled and same problem. I did however take the entire air intake off and started the truck and it ran perfect. I just replaced the air filter about 3 weeks ago so I don't think thats it and looking into the air intake it all looks clean.

 

I found the problem. The sensor right after the air filter had a seed of some sort on it. Probably from driving through tall grass. I brushed it off and now it seems to be running perfect. It has alittle bit of variation in RPM's at idle, but its hardly noticeable. Thanks for all the help guys.