Okay, this is a wierd one.. A couple weeks ago i was pulling a trailer to work and going up a hill when it started shuddering like crazy and bogged down to a stop and the 'off' light on my shifter started flashing.. So we towed it to the mechanic thinking the tranny was done buuut this is what he found- it was only running on like 4 cylinders, 3 of the spark plugs were bent shut, a fuse for the ecm was shorted out(this is what he said as best as I can remember) and something was wrong with one of the wiring harnesses..... So he fixed it and sent me on my way-- this weekend i'm coming back from the lake pulling our travel trailer and the same exact thing happens again! I pulled of the road and the truck was running rough and surging between 500 and 1000 rpms and after about 5 minutes the off light on the shifter starting flashing again.. and if i put it in gear and give it gas it shudders and can barely creep along.. has anyone had any of these issues? it's an 01 with a lightning 5.4 and an allen engine supercharger, airaid intake, 42 lb injectors.. here are a couple of my ideas- it has high flow cats and about every two weeks the service engine light comes on and it's always because the cats are not efficient.. the light came on about 90 miles before breakdown.. also and have my pump for my intercooler hardwired to the line for my intake so it comes on when the key is on. would this screw with the computer? and that is all i can think might be CAUSING the problem..

 

sorry about my crappy typing, it's late :-/ lol

 

If the OD light was flashing, there is something wrong with the trans. The pcm stores the code. Sounds like you got a song and dance the first time. Almost like they didn't know what it was, cleared the code, told you some BS, and hoped it would last long enough to get you gone.

 

You said 3 of the sparkplugs are bent shut. I suspect you mean the electrodes are smashed/collapsed? If thats the case then I would suspect you may have something bouncing around in the intake/blower that is getting induced into random cylinders via the intake valves. This foreign object (screw, nut, debris of some kind) will get in a cyl bounce around bending the electrode then find its way back into the intake and get induced into another cyl and start the process over again. I've seen a small screw or metal debris do this to almost every cyl bending the electrodes and dimpling the piston domes. Sometimes they make into one cyl and stay there sometimes they make thru the exhaust valve and end up in the cats. Kind of a random happening. May want to inspect the piston domes with a borescope. Just a thought.. Good luck.

 

so it's a lightning low compression 5.4 with an itty bitty allen M90 supercharger on top??? and it still runs??? sounds good there

what MAF are you using??? are the rotors flaking? what is your air to fuel ratios when pulling hard??? can you post pics of the plugs?????

 

okay i'll try to answer - i've only had the truck a couple months so i'm not sure of some of these things.. it's a magnacharger supercharger but part of it is AED built and it was tuned by troyer. all of this was done before i bought it. i don't have an air fuel gauge.. sorry i know i'm not a whole lotta help here-- should have just bought a stocker and done all the mods myself.. when it was running good it hauls a$$ so i don't think it's a miss matched setup.. another problem i'm running into is that i live a rural area and NONE of the freakin mechanics know jack about superchargers and performance tuning etc.. frustrating!

 

it's OK, we'll do our best to help you out


#1 - check the plugs again maybe your iat's got high and you had some detonation.

#2 - call Mike Troyer and give him the VIN of your truck and maybe he can help you by telling you what mods are actually on it.

#3 - if the plug electrodes are bent shut again then you need to bore scope the cylinders and see if there's something in them, if there is there is a good chance the rotors are flaking

#4 - do you have a boost guage?
#5 - can you post up a picture of your engine bay and of the plugs laid out like the way they were in the truck?

#6 - is your system intercooled? if so is your intercooler pump working??

I'm sure I'll have some more questions for ya and Phil or Jbrew will be asking several I missed

 

Ok i'll give mike a call.. would there be any other way to know if the rotors were flaking? yeah i have a boost gauge, it runs 8lbs max and 20 vacuum at idle.. yeah the pump is workin great, it's the bosch/ford racing unit.. the truck is being hauled to the mechanic right now, but i was looking over the fuses and the #23 fuse HEGO sensor, auto transmission is bad.. ? any ideas?

 

did you replace the fuse to see if that corrected the issue???



if the rotors are flaking check you intercooler core for clogging

 

Not yet, it is at the mechanic's right now.. he replaced it a couple weeks ago and it already blew again so there is some underlying problem in the wiring that he is gonna look for. I know that F23 has to do with the O2 sensors- and i have high flow cats that make my service engine light come on because they are inefficient.. I normally just drive with it on but now i am wondering if that might be part of the problem.. ? could inefficient cats short out the wiring?? also the plugs that got bent shut were 1,3 and 7 Now I hate to tell on myself-lol- but about a month ago i ran about 1/4 can of seafoam through the vacuum system to clean it out as per directions.. is it possible it knocked some carbon loose or could have caused part of this problem? i ran in into the vacuum on the brake booster... :-/

 

Thanks for all the help too!! you guys are great!

 

YES, there could be a loose chunk of carbon in the cylinders


you may have a wiring short in the transmission, is there a seperator plate or shift kit in the trans????

 

yeah it has a B&M shift kit-- if by chance there is carbon in the cylinders what should I do?

 

So is seafoam a bad thing to use?

 

Yes - AutoRX and/or a MotorVac Service. Do you have cats? I would get the MotorVac regardless, it's about 100 bucks at the dealer. It does a great job on the valves and ceats.