Help! Transmission or Engine problem..at my wits end!!
 

I have a 98E150 4.2L with 120000 miles. I have a shudder at light throttle on takeoff and the shudder appears again at about 40 mph under light throttle. I was told by a tech that if it shudders in park it is NOT the tranny so i have been treating this as an engine problem. I have had the plugs and wires changed and the the intake removed to clean the egr port.A DPFE sensor was also changed and did not cure it. I had an egr port problem at 54000 miles that was cured by cleaning the egr port. That symtom was a hard bucking under hard acceleration
My current problem is a shudder under light throttle and does not occur under hard acceleration. This seems to occur after initial warm up. Needless to say neither the plugs nor the egr port clean has solved the problem. This shudder ONLY occurs under light throttle and not under hard acceleration. It shifts smoothly and hard under hard acceleration. Anyone with some good advice sure would be appreciated. Thanks.

Dave:help:

I had something that sounds similar to your description and it turned out to be a bad torque converter in my automatic.

When was the last time you changed your transmission fluid?

Lag,
I had it serviced at 86000. I just don't want to keep throwing money at it with some good leads to solutions to the problem. I know it is due to be serviced again.

Did you clean the egr & port?

I can make this thing shudder in Park ,in reverse ,and in low so this is what is confusing me. If this is indeed a tranny " shudder " would this occur or is this an engine problem. Does the infamous shudder also occur in park and reverse. I feel like i'm on a wild goose chase.

Dave

I did plan on having the tranny serviced this weekend with a pan drop and a filter change. I'm concerned this isn't going to fix it though. I know im asking for shots in the dark but take your shot. Thanks

Dirtydog,
I think he just cleaned the main port but not the egr. I will ask him. Are there ports inside each cylinder intake port that need to be reamed out also? OMG i'm not so sure that he did that if that needs to be done too. Can these ports be cleaned out without taking off the lower intake? I am thinking he might have thought the lower intake had to be taken off too ? HELP:confused:

I hade this problem with a chevy, it was the torque converter shaking is caused by moving parts. Torque is bolted to crank via flex plate. Engine moves torque moves. Fix = change torque

The EGR ports are in the intake elbow up next the butterfly. They run from the EGR valve on the right (looking at it from the front) to the center of the elbow and then they open into the elbow. Its two little round channels that carbon up from the exhaust gas passing throught them over time. There are not individual ones for each cylinder.

Hey it's like DrPayne said. The flywheel is sure something to to think about. A loose flywheel or cracked flywheel can make things sound and feel bad. I had a shudder in my 96 5.0 . Ford has recommended changing to Micron 5. I changed my fluid and filter and things are running great. That has been around 6k miles ago. Shifts great and NO shudder at all. They were having trouble with the fluid breaking down. The micron 5 is supposed to be better. Check with your parts store to see what they recommend for yours. I know it sure done wonders for mine. The micron 5 is kinda priceeeee. It was around 3-4 bucks a quart. Can't remember for sure. Good luck with your troubles. By the way I just installed a 1715 Super Chips from Troyer Performance.
That made a good thing even better!!!!!!!!
F96XLT

Maybe I'm being picky, but it's MERCON V, not Micron 5.

Well i got it fixed after 1 engine diagnostic and vaccum hose repair @ 122.00,1 complete transmission pan drop, filter change and T/C drain @172.00, 1 EGR port cleaning but the bonehead did not clean the egr passages ( husband of wifes freind at work so i cant be pissed off that he didnt do the complete job) @260.00, 1 tune up consisting of changing wires and plugs @ 130.00 and finally the thing that FINALLY FIXED IT. A EGR passage cleaning by the shop tech @ 396.00 for a FINAL total of 1080.00 dollars to fix a misfire in cylinder 6. Moral of the story...... use a competent TECHNICIAN. The tranny flush and tune up were needed anyway.

Question????
 

David

I have a 2001 f150 and it is doing the same thing your truck was doing.... I see how you fixed yours and I will try the same.

My question is did the symptons go away if you turned the OD off.

Thanks, DMann

Re: Help! Transmission or Engine problem..at my wits end!!
 

very high possibility that the torque converter is shuddering while getting hot,at 40 mph is usually when lockup applies try to find a shudder fix suppliment any good tranny shop will carry this if that doent fix the problem or if this fixes it temperaly then the converter may need to be replaced,at this point you may need to rebuildthe trans due to converter friction material breaking down in the fluid. i suggest a billet style converter for best performance. also instal an external tranz cooler for a temp drop up to 50 degrees. true cool hayden cooler with a gvw of 58,000lbs works great....

Dmann,
Well my OD switch crapped out on me a couple of months ago but i could still notice a slight shudder on take off even before it crapped out. It did get more noticable after my switch crapped out and i could not lock out o/d. I would start with the egr passage cleaning if you have never had it done . Good luck .

Dave