I have a 1997 F-150 4x4 with the 4.6 engine. When I pull my Bass Boat in temperatures above 90 degrees the engine acts like it is going to stall out when I come to a stop. I have to put it in neutral and keep revving the engine. It doesn't do it all of the time, only occasionally. Sometimes it also acts like it does not want to take off from a stop. It seems like it is bogging down or something and then once I get rolling a little it will take the gas. I have a K&N filter that is exposed under the hood. Could that be part of the problem? It runs perfectly fine when i am not pulling the boat.

Thanks
John

 

the day i got my boat my truck did the same thing 97 4.2L then the second day the check engine light came on and i found i had a bad dpfe sensor. was real bad prolly bad for months but the little extra load was enough to trip the light.

if you still have the aluminum dpfe i would suggest replacing it with the newer plastic one. they dont seem to fail. the other thing might be clogged egr port. then there are a few other sensors that could cause your symptoms too.

just one experiance hope yours is as easy to resolve as mine was.

 

What is a DPFE?

John

 

chinstar,

have the same problem with my 97 4.2L 5 speed. it wants to bog down at stop signs and while im back up the boat ramp. i would also like to know what DPFE means and what could I do about my EGR lines. thanks

myost79

 

dpfe is differential pressure feadback egr sensor or
delta pressure feedback egr sensor.

it measures the actual amount of egr gasses flowing throw the egr. some have a problem where they get stuck on no flow or stuck on high flow so the computer trys compensating by openning the egr more or less then is needed. egr gas is already burnt so it wont burn again and if to much enters the combustion chamber will ping and stumble.

now on a 4.2L there are little ports in the lower intake manifold that like to get crudded up. you would have to take the upper manifold of and clean them out with a pic and blasts of air help.

in the 4.6 and 5.4 the throttle body elbow is removed and there is an egr channel that can get cakes up take a pic and scrape it out.

but most times it is just a faild sensor and the ports are clean enough. accasionally the port will be partially blocked so egr gasses will be dumped to one cyl. and make it run real rough.

 

OK Now I understand. I could see where that would be a problem. Can you tell me exactly where it is located on the 97 4.6L? About how much does a replacement cost?

Thanks
John

 

its a rectangular box near the egr valve on the 4.6 which i beleive is under the 4.6 cover over the throttle body. it has 2 tubes going into it and an electrical connector. it is held on by 2, 7mm bolts i beleive. is either black plastic or grey aluminum. the new one will be black plastic.

i think they are running around $55 these days. but what one dealer sells it for can be different then what another dealer gets for it.