1997 F150 SC 4.6... Ford told me it was prob an engine...broke down and bought a book...thought it was a clogged lash adjuster on 3 or 4 cam followers...on a hunch I checked the wires that the dealer's Mech put on and found 3 out of 8 were going to the wrong cylinders...started then ran for a few minutes...clacking went away and gas mileage tripled if not better...thank you all for the advice mostly Mr Bentwrench...if anyone has any questions pls drop me a line I'll try to help if I can.


She's purrin' like a kitten and now my wife and I are both happy...lol. Just goes to show that if you want something done right sometimes its better to do it yourself and never assume everyone knows what they're doing. Fords rule the road!!!!

Chevyssuck

 

good to hear you got it fixed, sometimes its the simplest things.

 

I can't believe the dealerships are so ****ty these days. I have a Ranger that they don't know how to bleed the clutch on either. Also, when they pulled the tranny and t-case, they neglected to put fluid in the t-case. I diagnosed that over the phone from what they told me and told them to fill it up. It fixed the problem. They rebuilt my tranny too cuz of a defective pressure plate in the clutch pak they installed. Didn't know this till after the fact. Guess what though, I figure I will need a new tranny this spring, not but a year later. What a bunch of ****. If you cant trust your dealer for simple stuff, who can you. Answer - nobody, thats why I vowed to do all my own work from now on. I just have to have 3 vehicles so both the wife and I always have two running rigs. I'm disgusted with my dealer and if I was just a little more insane, well lets just say the front of the office would have a new look.

 

there are good dealers out there but they can be hard to find sometimes. and as for the plug wires it could have been a simple mistake but the fact they told you bad engine without checking their work over scares me.

i did it once on an explorer started it up idled fine rev'd it and it started missin double check my wires and found i switched 2 around but i didnt let it get out the door with it missin. some people just dont double check their work. yea i might not be the fastest but i dont have comebacks either.

i've seen those rangers with the clutch that never wants to bleed those can suck but if they would work at it it will eventually. my way is to pump pedal 5 times wait 3 minutes repeat about 5 times. then open bleed screw and have assistant push pedal to floor close screw and repeat untill all air is out takes awhile but seems to work good. maybe they neglected to bleed the clutch master if you had that replaced or fluid level dropped too low.

 

By "the dealer" in my post I meant the private dealer I bought the truck from...his mechanic did the wires and you're prob nright he prob didn't check...they did seem very busy. But I did consult my local Ford dealer...the service advisor told me it was piston slap or possibly a wrist pin then told me it would prob req a rebuilt engine...quoted me 5 grand. Anyway when I have gone to the dealer where I bought my old Explorer they were awesome...I even got the service managers truck for the weekend once while they worked on the Explorer...I just can't believe the dealer here where I live now didn't even think of anything that could be causing my prob other than a blown engine. I'm moving so hopefully there will be a good dealer where I'm going. Sry about the confusion guys and gals. Again if I can help with anything I'll try just drop me a line.

Chevyssuck