OK, So Iam new and this has been asked I hope. I have a 2002 F 150 with the new triton 5.4 I just bought it. And love, love the truck. After three days of owning it I have a rough idle in Park,Drive and Neutral. The dealer gave me 3000 mile Warr. it's now back for the fourth time. I get CND. it's a truck and should run like that, they all do. The service guy tells me, yeah its not right but the computer just can't find anything. Also the truck is running rough because the comupter leans out the air fuel at idle to save gas. Is it me or am I the only person with a Ford truck thats complaining. Anybody have any good answers. It's only got 38,000 miles. Thanks

 

I had the same problem after I bought my 02 last Spring. Did the dealer pressure washer the engine compartment? You may have water down in the plug counterbores. Mine had water in the #3 and #4 plug holes. I thought maybe it came from the air conditioner low pressure line (it runs right over those two plugs), but the more I think about it, the dealership probably washed the engine compartment to make it look "shiny"-----anyone on this forum can tell you, "keep a water hose as far away from the engine as possible on these trucks."

Change your plugs out (use motorcraft plugs) and put some dielectric grease in the end of the coil pack boots.


Hope this helps,

Sidewinder

 

Right on Sidewinder. I have wondered about condensation from the air conditioner getting down in those spark plug holes for the longest time.

 

I have a 2001 5.4L (Excursion) that had an occasional slight rough idle problem almost from the day I bought it (NEW). It was so mnor that I didn't complain about it and since it was intermittent I figured it probably wouldn't "act-up" when I took it to the dealership. Well at about 42,000 miles it developed an intermittent misfire when under slight acceleration usually in OD above 50 MPH. The misfire was not severe enough to set a code and the OBDI system on the 01 Excursion doesn't list individual cylinder misfires when connected to a scan tool, it only lists cumulative misfires. To make a long story short, when the misfiring got severe enough I replaced all of the plugs and inspected all of the COP boots. When that didn't corect the problem I purchased one COP coil and installed it on plug #8 and then drove the truck long enough to determine if the misfire had been corrected. When I determnied that the problem had not been corrected, I took the coil that had been removed from the #8 cylinder and installed it on the #7 cylinder. No more misfires and the engine now runs so smooth I barely know it is running when it is idling. I have driven other 5.4 L trucks that also run so smooth at idle you don't know the engine is running. A COP coil is about $50 at Advance Auto or Auto Zone. There are many other causes of rough idling as can be seen from searchng this forum. Good luck.

 

How many miles are on the truck?

When was the fuel filter last changed?

 

Had the same problem with my 5.4 at 40,000 km or abought 25,000 miles.

Checked my coil packs and found I could Wiggel them back and forth, yet the bolts holding them into the head were tight. My truck would jump froom 500 rpm to 750 them back to 500 rpm. cold or warm.

Service manager at a ford dealership in calgary told me this is normal, and not to worry unless the check engine light came on, or if I wanted, he could do a reflash to the coumputer, also he said that on the Triton engines, it's normal to have movement in the coil packs, Go Flames Go.
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My coil packs have a bit of play in them also and I agree with the service manager.

 

its the boots on the coil packs.mine does the same thing,and my cousin's boss has one doin the same thing,he bought just the boots and it was fixed,i haven't done it yet,but that's what he said.and they're only 5 bucks a piece,so its worth a shot at savin 45 a piece

 

Thanks everyone for the ideas. It seems that I am learning alot about my new Ford truck. My only other Ford is a 1931 Model A Ford pick-up and it is alot easier to work on. The update is that after the dealer has gone over everything they think it's the crank sensor what ever that is and the good news is they now can feel the rough idle. I will keep you all posted. Thanks:thumbsup :

 

yeah definitely keep us posted on it cause mine,and several others are doin similar things and it sounds like that could be part of mine cause it only does it at a certain rpm and at idle

 

O.K The Dealer I bought my truck from offered to send me to another Ford dealer of my choice for them to look at. And they would pay!! The new dealer solved most of the problem by cleaning the injectors. Very gummed up. 3/4 of the problem gone. Now they are reajusting the hard idle up 50 rpm since it is idleing so low. I will let you know the out come. Thanks.

 

Thanks Goldcody, the feedback really helps folks out.

Glad to hear progess was made.

 

Just an update. Dealer to take one more look today. Off idle now doing it's thing one day and then almost gone the next. totaly gone after I get off the Freeway for awhile. Still think it's fuel related and the dealer does not want to replace any injectors. But it still could be a COP. Fuel filter is still something I think they should change also. Thanks.

2002 f-150
Lariet
38,0000 miles
all stock

 

Dealer still working on problem. I now have a vehicle recorder to see if the computer is bad. Does anyone know if this will really do what they say it will. Thanks.

 

I'de put my money on one of the passenger side, rear most coil overs. I have not personally had the problems you describe but I helped my buddy with an identical problem in his Expy. After he had his problem, I put some pipe insulation around my A/C pipe that runs directly over those 2 coils, condensation from the A/C pipe drips onto those 2 coils and causes the to fault eventually.