Never ending problems...

[mdub707]

So as some of you know I've been having issues with my truck lately, and still have got nothing figured out. A little background... truck went in about 2.5k miles ago and had ARP's put in under warranty as well as one new head because of what I was originally told was warpage, but after talking to the tech he said it looked "corroded" around one of the valve seals. Truck has more or less puked coolant since I've owned it. After headstud install truck puked on the way home with Xtreme Street on. After the drive home it didn't do it anymore and I wrote it off to overfilling the coolant. Well it gradually came back. Whatever, the coolant puking has never been very bad on my truck and is now the least of my concerns. Now the truck has developed some sort of a skip or miss when I first take off for work in the morning. It doesn't matter if the truck is warmed up or not. I get to about 4th or 5th gear very light on the throttle rolling up a hill and it feels like injectors start cutting out. I datalogged this problem and it showed the injectors firing as normal. I then suspected transmission issues seeing as I have a reman in with about 3k miles on it and it only seemed to do it in selective gears only when I first took off. Then it later seemed as if it was slipping randomly in lower gears even when fully up to operating temps.

Since then I brought the truck into the dealer and told them I suspected possible transmission issues as well as the common puking coolant. They had the truck for a week, drove it 30 miles or so and spent 8 hours going over all the coolant systems. They found nothing. Stock tuning the truck runs flawlessly and will not puke coolant. All systems were pressure checked and passed. They even sanded down the coolant bottle to ensure a tight seal on the cap.

I have the truck back now with nothing fixed. I cant blame them because it shows no signs of issues. However while it was there, they reflashed the truck... great. So after calling up Eric at Innovative I got all new tunes emailed back in a day or two.

So here we are today... Xtreme Street installed, and I started driving it hard. I have found some new issues now. Truck still pukes coolant, but I pretty much expect it at this point. No visible signs of head gaskets leaking... However when I romp on it while doing a slow roll, the truck will only run up to 3700rpms or so (roughly stock) even though my SCT is set at 4150. Before it always ran up to 4150 without issue. Now in 2nd gear it runs to 3700ish, shifts normal and hard, then starts running up in 3rd gear, and right about when it seems it gets to 3700, it defuels. It doesn't slow down, but the revs drop. It seems to do this all the time now. From a dead stop WOT run, the truck shifts good and hard, just at 3700 rpms, then certain gears it just defuels (at least what I think is defueling). It still pulls and runs OK, just drops R's. Now I'm concerned. It does this in both Xtreme Street and Xtreme Race.

I dont even know where to start anymore.

I'm going to try changing the oil on monday after I get out of work, as it still has whatever the dealer put in from the headstud install.

Any suggestions? I have the laptop to do datalogging if anyone can point me in any direction there. I'm pretty much on my own since the dealer cant find anything on stock. If I am destined to drive the truck stock for the rest of its life with me, I will do so with my head hanging low. I'm really losing faith in this truck. It is aggrivating driving $45K vehicle that never seems to run correctly...

If you want the full details of the truck and the problems I've been having up to this point, check out this thread...

ARP's and still puking... update.


Thanks to all the techs and onlookers who have offered advice so far, its appreciated. At this point I would really like to get the truck running back to where it was before I try and tackle the coolant issue as its somewhat minor compared to what it's doing right now.

Thanks all!

Mike

[Big Mule]

I have been having a miss as well, my truck will start to miss in overdrive. I took it to the ford dealer where they hooked up a data logging computer, then told me to drive it and hit the button when it misses. So I took my truck to them after I recorded a few misses, I am now waiting for them to call me. I will let you know if they come up with any thing.

[mdub707]

Please do, as this seems like my issue too. Are you running stock programming? Original transmission? How many miles?

Still doesn't explain my 3700rpm shifts now or the (what seems like) defueling issues.

[Big Mule]

Please do, as this seems like my issue too
I called the dealer this afternoon to see if they found anything, and of course the tech I am dealing with took today off so I wont find out until monday.

Are you running stock programming?
I am running stock, I have been thinking about getting an sct.

Original transmission?
Yes.

How many miles?
60,402 on the spot.

As for the tuning, you might want to try some body elses tunes. My friend had some tunes that would make his truck puke after his studs were installed. He went else where and has not had a problem since. I dont have a clue with your defuleing issue, I will ask around though to see if I can help you out.

[mdub707]

Originally Posted by Big Mule

Please do, as this seems like my issue too
I called the dealer this afternoon to see if they found anything, and of course the tech I am dealing with took today off so I wont find out until monday.

Are you running stock programming?
I am running stock, I have been thinking about getting an sct.

Original transmission?
Yes.

How many miles?
60,402 on the spot.

As for the tuning, you might want to try some body elses tunes. My friend had some tunes that would make his truck puke after his studs were installed. He went else where and has not had a problem since. I dont have a clue with your defuleing issue, I will ask around though to see if I can help you out.

I've tried other tunes before and have found nothing that shifts as good as these Innovative tunes. I've tried the free spartans and those were a mistake, I've also tried DJ's looney tunes and I liked those, but the Innovative tunes were faster.

I've got an idea to try for the 3700rpm thing, I think that may have been something I did on the SCT, I will verify in the morning, though I doubt it will fix it... as far as the defueling, I'm wondering now if this is just simply the truck starving for fuel? I've never had this issue before though, but the thought just popped into my head tonight...hmmm. As far as the misfiring and cutting, I'm going to try the oil change and see if it effects anything. I'll keep everyone posted, but suggestions are welcome.

[Tyler]

If it defuels, you should be able to feel it. I can feel it in mine when it defuels. If I spin the tires, it will rev up to about 3600 RPM, and defuel and it stops gaining speed so fast, it throws me forward in my seat.
Maybe the re-flash they did isn't letting the truck rev over that even though your tunes are. You might want to get them re-written again. Something about the puking, maybe when they replaced the one head they didn't tighten it down all the way?

[mdub707]

Originally Posted by Tyler

If it defuels, you should be able to feel it. I can feel it in mine when it defuels. If I spin the tires, it will rev up to about 3600 RPM, and defuel and it stops gaining speed so fast, it throws me forward in my seat.
Maybe the re-flash they did isn't letting the truck rev over that even though your tunes are. You might want to get them re-written again. Something about the puking, maybe when they replaced the one head they didn't tighten it down all the way?

The heads are showing no signs of leaking, and if it wasn't "tight" it'd do it stock too and it doesn't. If it is defueling its not a hard hit, but you can physically watch the revs drop almost as much as if it shifted gears, only it stays in the same gear and you can feel that. As far as the truck not revving up normally, I think I might have to adjust my gear ratio settings. I put it on 3.73 even though that is what I have, but I think if I put it back to the "stock" setting it might resolve that... I'll check and let you guys know about that though... not sure what I was thinking there...

Regardless of what the dealer "reflashed" to, the SCT should overwrite that.

Also they replaced one head, but BOTH heads were off the truck for the new gaskets and the ARP's to get installed. Talked to the tech myself and he was confident that the gaskets were still OK. Like I said if they weren't it'd do it stock too most likely.

[Tyler]

Originally Posted by mdub707

The heads are showing no signs of leaking, and if it wasn't "tight" it'd do it stock too and it doesn't. If it is defueling its not a hard hit, but you can physically watch the revs drop almost as much as if it shifted gears, only it stays in the same gear and you can feel that. As far as the truck not revving up normally, I think I might have to adjust my gear ratio settings. I put it on 3.73 even though that is what I have, but I think if I put it back to the "stock" setting it might resolve that... I'll check and let you guys know about that though... not sure what I was thinking there...

Regardless of what the dealer "reflashed" to, the SCT should overwrite that.

Also they replaced one head, but BOTH heads were off the truck for the new gaskets and the ARP's to get installed. Talked to the tech myself and he was confident that the gaskets were still OK. Like I said if they weren't it'd do it stock too most likely.

The HG could still be bad, on stock it wont fuel as much, and it wont boost as much, and maybe switching tunes is barely just enough to cause it to leak.

[mdub707]

Originally Posted by Tyler

The HG could still be bad, on stock it wont fuel as much, and it wont boost as much, and maybe switching tunes is barely just enough to cause it to leak.

I doubt the headgaskets are bad. They were new gaskets with ARP studs and there is only about 2.5K miles on them, with hardly any hard driving. I can drive it full throttle everywhere on stock tuning without an issue. As soon as I load a tune in, even with LIGHT driving it will make the tea kettle whistle. My best guess at this point is the oil cooler or the EGR cooler again. Its hardly enough coolant to really cause me to worry, but it is a problem.

I'm more concerned with the shifting and the misfiring at this point.

I drove it today a bit, I still get the miss under load in high gears with the tunes on within the first 10 minutes of driving. After that it clears up, but my shifting issues are starting to worry me.

Not only does it shift at 3700rpms or so, I've noticed sometimes it wont make it past 3300 rpms before it shifts. Defueling seems to happen in about 4th gear after a hard blast from 5mph to 80mph or so. It will get close to shift point (which is 3700rpm currently for some reason) then it will lose a little power (still pulling though) and cut RPM's slightly, then as it starts increasing a little more it seems to cut again. I'm starting to get worried now.

Then after letting off the throttle from my 80mph blast, I was coasting and letting it slow on its own. Then the transmission downshifted on its own as if I had tow/haul on. I was definitely 100% in overdrive though. Then when I eased back on to the gas it downshifted/upshifted several times until it found the right gear. This was not a pleasant feeling.

What the heck is going on?

I also changed my axle ratio settings in my SCT from 3.73 to "stock" (which is set at 3.73 anyways) and it did nothing as far as my shift points were concerned.

[mdub707]

No one has anything to offer?

Any of the techs point me in the right direction? Any suggestions on what to look for or anything I can datalog?