100 miles in my FQR 4.6L.
Runs very smooth, like the original, but... loud popping during first 5-10 minutes of driving. Then, it pops more when shut off for another 5-10 minutes.

I have laid underneath and it appears to be the exhaust. It is very noticeable in he cab while driving.

Sounds like someone is hitting the engine or exhaust with a hamer.

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98 F150 XLT SC 4x4 4.6L 5spd 3.55 Lt Denim Blue

 

kkirt1,
I notice that your FQR engine is 8/99. Is that the date on the engine label?

I noticed today that mine (just installed last week) says 6/98.

Tell me more about your popping noise. Mine is loud. I'm not too concerned because I have pinpointed it to the exhaust. It is annoying though.

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98 F150 XLT SC 4x4 4.6L 5spd 3.55 Lt Denim Blue

 

I couldn't find a date on the engine. There is only one sticker, it is round with the words "Ford Quality Renewal" - no date!

The popping noise is definately coming from the exhaust. The other day after shutting it down I slid underneath with insulated gloves in hand and started yanking on the exhaust. Sure enough, that's it.

It pops while warming up and pops while cooling down. This isn't you ordinary exhaust popping - this is the sledge hammer to the block popping!

I stopped by the dealer the other day but sure enough it didn't make the noise while he was standing there. It was several minutes before he came out to listen to it and then didn't stand there very long.

My uneducated diagnosis is: the exhaust is in a bind. Here is how I think it happened: If you look at the exhaust bolts (the ones that attach the pipe to the exahust manifold) they are tucked up under there pretty good. The mechanic probably had the engine on a hoist while he attached the exhaust (sure, the exhaust bolts would be easier to get to but dah, the exhaust is in a bind now!) Anyway, after attaching the bolts he lowered it back down and hooked up the hangers. Walla, exhaust bind!


I had hoped that it would go away but I am beginning to doubt it! I thought about just loosening the bolts to try and relieve the binding but I don't have an engine hoist No really, those bolts are hard to get to and are on their pretty tight! I was kind of hoping some fellow F150onliner would get theirs fixed and send me the details


[This message has been edited by kkirt1 (edited 12-05-1999).]

 

I have a 98 5.4 w/ 27K on it. When I start the engine cold (50 or less), it does sound like a quite diesel. I have used Mobil 1 5W-30 since 1500 miles. Does this sound like piston slap? I have heard the wav file, and mine is not near that loud. FWIW, I have only used the 820S filters.

Thanks,

Jim

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1998 F-150 XLT SC 5.4L

 

Something ford-tough1 and Dustoff said piqued my interest. My '97 5.4 seemed to puff smoke during warmup and also was HARD to hold at 1300 (out of gear) because it was so rough. Dealer dusted me off as 'normal'. It appears from your (collective) posts that it may have been 'normal', but certainly not 'desireable'. The smoking seemed to disappear, and/but the thing always ran good otherwise (feelt like slight mis-fire at idle); and it got reasonable mileage (14.8 over 30,000 miles). By trade-in time (42,000), either it got better, or I got used to it, cuz I had forgotton about it -- and the engine ran real well (but couldn't beat my son's 5.0 Mustang, grin). Like another post, my 2000 is smooth -- and I CAN hold it at 1200 or 1300 with much difficulty -- but with noticeable smoothness.

No summary to these ramblings, other than to question whether those with engine 'challenges' had oil usage like me -- seemed to go thru 1 qt by 3000 change time (Mobil 1 5w30).

Many thanks to all for taking the time to post.

Jim Gorka

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"00" XLT SC 5.4 7700 4x4 SB repeat buyer

 

jgorka,

When your truck was using oil, how much was it down on the dipstick?

 

Okay, I'm wrenching on the exhaust this weekend. After I crawled under the truck tonight I realized that the exhaust bolts aren't that hard to get to (that kind of blows my theory.) Oh well, I went and bought a 15mm deep well socket and gave each of the bolts a squirt of Liquid Wrench.

Wish me luck!

 

A man on a mission!!!!!!!

 

Picked up my truck with FQR motor #2 in it yesterday, i got in and started and WOW was
it smooth and quiet, did not even remotely sound like a diesel engine no hesitation and
absolutely no vibration at all, and so far i have not heard any of the loud popping noises
i had before and no smoke from the tailpipe
when i start it up, wow what a concept, a new
engine that sound and acts like a new engine.
I was so thrilled and relieved it was all finally over, Someone must have detected my
happiness, thus the truck started bucking and jerking as i was driving to work this morning
and the check engine light was doing a dance
on my dash, so the first 6 miles were totally trouble free, not too bad i thought
the first FQR gave me problems upon the 1st
start-up. i pulled off the highway and idled for a couple minutes and started back out again and everything was sweet again with the
exception of the check engine light was still
on, the rest of the way to work 32 more miles
there was nothing but smoothness, it is raining this morning and it seems to me that something got wet and once it dried out it was fine again, i will take it back today to
have the code checked, my truck acted like this one time about a year ago when it had some kind of a/c condensation leaking on something. So although i will going back to the dealer for this i am sure it is not an internal engine problem so once
they can determine what is getting wet or losing contact i have no doubts ( which isn't
easy for me to say ) that i am going to be very pleased with this engine.

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97 F-150,XLT,4X4,Supercab,bright Red,5.4,3.55 LS,LT265/75/16 Bridgestone Dueller A/T tires,Downey SST soft tonneau cover,57,000 miles, FQR MOTOR. and now waiting for another FQR motor to arrive.

[This message has been edited by kcdan (edited 12-09-1999).]

 

Good luck!

 

To kcdan:
How did you get the dealer to begin the second engine effort?

I might be in similar territory.

Frank

 

Hi,I just found out about this site tonight and so far im loving it.You all are worring me about my new purchase.I just bought a 98F-150 XLT with the 4.6 V8.I have noticed no engine problems so far.My dad was the first owner and he only put 20,000 miles on it and he sold it to me for 10,000 with a hard top bed cover.I noticed that most of you who have had to replace your engines own the 5.4L V8,Is there a major problem with those engines or just a unlucky few?I have also heard of a crack that might form in the door jam but I havent seen any thing like that yet.

 

IT is said that 1 in 1000 motors experience piston slap. To date there has never been a reliability issue with it. You should be ok. As for as the door cracks, most people have them, it is not noticable unless you look for it. I hate it as much as anyone but it took ford 3 years to get the bugs worked out. For every problem on here I bet there are 3,000 people without problems. Remember when something goes wrong people look for answers, so they come on here posting problems. Check in the general discussion (you may have to go back a ways) but there is a thread for people that don't have any problems.

 

FrankP, i took my truck in first thing the next morning after recieving the 1st FQR and
told them of the rough idle and diesel sound
and they too noticed before i picked it up but was hoping i wouldn't mind or notice or someting, they agreed that it didn't seem right and then when they saw start it to leave it was the dealership that noticed the
smoke at startup, i took the truck back the next week ( just to make sure driving it around wouldn't magically fix it) they had it
in the shop 4 days and talked to ford and did
some tests per ford, that did not locate the cause of the problems or any way to correct it, so without knowing exactly what was wrong they ordered another engine and i am extremely happy ( so far in 100 miles ) with the new motor it is what someone would expect
from a new motor, the PISTON SLAP motor never
vibrated or smoked or sounded like a diesel
so there is no way an updated motor with the above features should be
accepted as normal, i understand ford has been doing quite a number of reinstalled FQR'S for the exact reasons as our symptoms.
Good luck and as always too much of the outcome probably depends on how seriously the
dealership takes the problem and puts forth the effort to get another engine.....

I was very skeptical i would ever arrive at
a happy outcome from this but i am truly amazed out how much different my current engine runs.

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97 F-150,XLT,4X4,Supercab,bright Red,5.4,3.55 LS,LT265/75/16 Bridgestone Dueller A/T tires,Downey SST soft tonneau cover,57,000 miles, FQR MOTOR. and now waiting for another FQR motor to arrive.

 

I loosened the whole exhaust system up tonight and retorqued. We shall see if tomorrow brings silence upon warm-up!

[This message has been edited by kkirt1 (edited 12-11-1999).]