I would like your point of view on how well the lightning motors are built? I am fairly easy on my truck but occasionaly I hit WOT at red lights racing unsuspected cobra's, vetts and such. My question is are these motors made to be run hard occasionaly? Does hitting WOT occasionaly put a real strain on these motors? Thanks, HANKFAN

 

WOT??? just dunno thats all??

 

Hankfan
Excuse me, but I have got to ask this because I cannot believe your statement. Are you new to automotive technology and just need a lot of information or for some reason do I find a lot of your questions to be kind of ( should I say this , yes I will) stupid. Wide Open Throttle is not going to hurt your motor, unless you leave it there!

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BABolt
SVT#290

 

BABolt, I am not new to automotive technology but was just asking a simple question. I don't know how many motors you have dealt with, but I my self have seen some really strange things happen to factory motors at WOT. Like throw rods, lose harmonic balancers and break valve springs. Some of them are simple not make to take a lot of WOT. The reason why I asked the question was I figured Factory Tech would would know a lot about these motors in terms of how well they are built.

HANKFAN

 

HANKFAN
I have seen a lot of motors over the years but I have yet to see the problems that you speak of on new vehicles with factory motors (yes I have seen a lot of piston slap but those motors will keep on running). I have seen more problems in so called performance build motors from shops that are here one day and gone the next. In fact even the best shops turn out a POS every now and then. I really wonder if in fact there are any REAL FORD Technical Specialist posting on this board. Most of the Ford techs have been told not to post and addressing technical information of a corporate nature is a no no. Another question why is it that so many of the new board members provide so little background information on themselfs. If in your posts you stick to basic factual information there is no reason to hide.

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BABolt
SVT#290

 

Probably dumb answer to a fair question.

13 months of ownership, just over 9000 miles.

To keep my chip/chips, I have two, in the correct "learning" mode, I do at least one full throttle run a week. Not burning the tires, but from 15-20 mph up to maybe 80-90 on the Interstate. And, a few safe street races in between.

Figure at least 100 WOT applications in the 13 months. Never burned any oil, never lost any intercooler fluid or trans/diff fluid, no plug problems, no drivetrain problems. As well, no engine moises and no tranny problems.

Having said that, you may get some response from those who actively drag race their Lightnings, and I have read of very few problems even under those conditions. Some, of course, but that would have to come under the heading of "severe duty" I think.

I can only imagine that FMC expected at least a fair amount of owners to use the performance potential these trucks have and have built in some amount of safey margin for
WOT application.
Bill

 

I hope these things are mad for WOT because it gets there every time I drive it. 100's of times.... I dont even need a street race to convince me.... I just love the feeling of the G forces shoving me back in the seat....

Doug

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Got Silver 2000 Lightning 2/28/00!!
1st run 13.9 sec 1/4 !!
Doug
Carrollton TX
drbdkb@hotmail.com
Had 87 Turbo Coupe traded for
92 F150 XLT 302, Put K&N Filter, cat back and Chip on 92 still not enough.

Silver 2000 Lightning, 3.73 gears ( Expensive ), Superchip, Valentine 1, Snuglid, Bedrug and nickel tint.
Have Sals Chip and Filter on order, cant wait.

 

As my kid says " If you don't go over a 100 at least once a day you're gettin old. I WOT it every day, keeps the seals lubed.

 

I traded in a 95 Lightning for the 99L I now own. I hammered the S*** out of that 95 L for 75000 miles(lots of WOT) and only replaced the tires & brakes, nothing ever broke. I haven't exactly babied this 99 and with 17000 mile and I only managed to slightly warp the front rotors so far(the direct result of WOT requiring lots of hard braking)). IMO these trucks are way overbuilt as delivered from the factory, and subsequently very hard to break. As the power output increases with modifications there may be a point at which the durability may be adversely affected.

 

I go WOT a lot, its just the damn cost is going up, I figure about $1 for every 0-60 at WOT, excluding tire tread loss. I sure am glad that I got the maintenance care package, just bring it in and the do everything, including the brakes! Last time (15k miles) they said the brakes sure look new considering the miles and type of truck it is. I told them how I drive and they didn't recommend I maually shift the tranny to second around 60 (70) when I am trying to brake from a hard race. But thats why I bought the extended 7yr, 100k miles warranty. Same goes for the country roads, although I do not race that much on them, I know the roads like the back of my hand and let the engine bog and slow the truck dowm, take it out of overdrive, and once in a while put it in 2nd gear. Sorry for the long post...

 

Geez you guys were hard on that fellow.

Properly carburated engines rarely have a problem running the Pi$$ out of them. I've built many engines commercially and raced a bunch along with a buncha friends who spent about as much time at wot as idle. Connecting rods, bearings, etc are darned sturdy.

The only trouble I used to have was pulling valve rocker studs out of my small-block Chevies -- but that was way above 7,000 rpm -- and was easily fixed with screw-in style.

I don't know where all of you younger guys have heard piston slap -- that is a very rare condition (except for our 5.4's heh heh) and is often mis-diagnosed rod-knock in older engines.

If WOT was bad, my Goldwing would have died years ago. My closest friend doesn't know how to drive if he doesn't hit redline at least once per traffic light. His last 4.? bronco was sold at around 140,000 miles and he drove it like it was a loaner for the entire life of the truck (only trashed second gear syncro a couple of times).

Drive the thing like you want to -- just observe the normal redline and enjoy it.


<A HREF="http://www.net-link.net/~n8jg/y2k/mvc-008s.jpg" TARGET=_blank> [img]//www.net-link.net/~n8jg/y2k/mvc-008s_small.jpg[/img] </A>

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Y2K™

Toreador Red, Keyless XLT SC SB 5.4L E4x4 4wDisc/ABS, 3.73LS, Skid, HD 7700# Towing, LT-245's on Chrome, Tube-Steps, Captain's, 6CD, Tonneau, named: "Nick"

 

Well now,
First, They're built at Windsor Engine, which has as good a reputation of any plant in PTO, and they're built on the LVL, which runs slower and is lwess automated, and given that everyone knows where they're going, I think they'd be pretty careful buildiong them. When a Lightning Tranny comes inot my repair bay, I know that subconsciencely they get "extra" special treatment. Besides, they're relatively rare, I just don't see that many. That said, yeah, everyone makes mistakes, and every line makes a bad motor every so often I would guess, but IMHO if it lasts the first 1000 miles, it's prolly gonna make 99,000 more. My own personal philosophy is drive as if you intend to blow the motor at 35,999 miles.
I live out in the sticks, and I would say I get mine over 100 MPH several times a week, just to stretch it out. Call me irrsponsible, but I do. (Long stretch of road, no turns, no traffic, 3:00 AM, I call it a measured risk).

As for "Real Ford Techs", screw you, it's where I work, and I only let that fact be known so that I can sometimes help people who have questions, I won't talk bad about FMC, they've been pretty good to me, I don't give trade secrets out because that would be unethical and besides my vast knowledge of trade secrets is pretty much limited to what the paint splashes on your transmission mean (get underneath and look at them, depending on when it was built it may have 10-15 different splashes and all of them mean something). And as far as FMC discouraging techs from saying anything, first, I belong to the UAW, so anything that I say that isn't a trade secret is pretty safe for me to say, as long as I don't promise to fix a car or make statements to the effect of my opinion being the OFFICIAL POSITION of Ford Motor Company. If you read my posts, I think you'll find that I've never done either of these things, and I ussually suggest taking any problem to a trained professional. I've also on several occasions said "I don't know" when that was the case, and at least a few times I've said I can't say, which you could take to mean I might know but saying what I know or think would violate the above mentioned rules.
Second, if you don't think that I really work at Ford, well, blow me, I could care less. A few people here can verify where my truck is parked about 75 hours each week, and if I don't work there I certainly have enough free time to not care about working at all.

G

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'00 Lightning
Manufacturing Tech at Sharonville Transmission Plant

 

VERY well said!!!!!!!

 

Factory_Tech
Thank you, you proved my point. Your style reminded me of a CJ (99blackbolt) who posted here but then crawled under a rock. Hey! have fun but if you feel the need BITE ME!




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BABolt
SVT#290



[This message has been edited by BABolt (edited 06-13-2000).]

 

I think I am gonna go look for some paint splashes... I hope you don't mind Factory_Tech