Hesitatation/intake back fire/no codes

hampsterzone · #1 Fri, February 18th, 2011, 12:48 PM

Please help! I have changed my spark plugs, spring caps, coil packs, cam sensors. My engine hesitatates, jerks, and back fires up front (intake area). Only when I am under load trying to accelerate. When cruising this is not observed. No codes are thrown except system too lean on bank #1 sometimes. This is crazy, no one really knows what is up. My mechanic couldn't get a misfire history or any codes. Ford said it could be the wrong plugs as they have seen that before from Auto Zone. But it ran fine for a month before. I changed the coil packs to see if that was it. And the cam sensors because it was cheap and easy. Still the same thing happening. Ford also said it could be a plugged converter. Has anyone experienced this kind of trouble? I was told it could be a dirty mass air flow.sensor too. Possibly the VCT Solenoids? Any help would be appreciated. Could Bill or Cody respond. I am in serious trouble if my truck breaks down, as I use it for my job all the time. Thank you!

hampsterzone · #2 Fri, February 18th, 2011, 09:10 PM

Here is an update for whomever responds w/ ideas or help. I just cleaned my Mass Airflow sensor and throttle body really good. It was somewhat dirty. What was wierd to me was the fact that the small hose running from my air intake to the engine (VCT Solenoid area) had a slight amount of engine oil coming out of it into my throttle body. I cleaned well. Just seemed weird to me that there was even a little oil there.

When I drove my truck sometime afterwards there was no change in condition. Any ideas? Also the exhaust seems to POP or backfire at the rear of the drivers side instead of the intake like I thought but not 100% certain. Either way, it still hesitates bad, jerks very rough, and the exhaust pops like a backfire under load. This only happens when accelerating. When cruising it is fine. When in park and you rev the engine it is fine. And again, still no codes thrown even through a scary attempt to make it throw one.

***88Racing*** · #3 Fri, February 18th, 2011, 10:28 PM

Why'd you start another thread?

You need to calm down and think this through....

Your throwing money at parts...

Start by checking the plugs again and cops boots springs.....

hampsterzone · #4 Fri, February 18th, 2011, 11:47 PM

Thanks! I did it to hopefully get someones attention.

hampsterzone · #5 Sat, February 19th, 2011, 09:57 AM

I cleaned my mass air flow sensor and throttle body. My mechanic is going to hook up his new Pegasus (sp) $7,000 on Monday or Tuesday to hopefully be able to actually get a misfire history. Hopefully we get some information at that point in time. Auto Zone says they will replace the spark plugs at no cost with the right ones that Ford says to use. I know the caps and springs are new and the cool packs were put on Thursday afternoon. Everything has been done by a certified mechanic w/ 26 years of experience. Needless to say, he does good work. IDK, what else I can really do at this point in time. As far as I know everything is clean, fluids have been changed recently, filters replaced, and most of my parts are new. The only thing I can think of trying is the VCT solenoid. It doesn't seem to hard to change except the parts have to be ordered in by Ford. Have you changed this part on your truck having had similar symptoms as I am experiencing? Oh, I also put my truck on all the programs and it runs the same. So, I am not sure it has anything to do w/ my Gryphon. Highly doubt it! Thanks again.....

***88Racing*** · #6 Mon, February 21st, 2011, 05:06 PM

The only other thing is injectors....

hampsterzone · #7 Tue, February 22nd, 2011, 09:13 PM

Another mechanic checked my truck out with a real time scanner. No problems showed up, injectors were great. Basically, my truck appeared to be perfect. He power broke my truck to cause it to be under load and misfire. Nothing showed up on his scanner. We ended up pulling the Autolite plugs that were installed on 12/22/10. They looked like crap! Looked worse than the originals that had 99,000 miles on them. Put new Motorcraft SP-515 spark plugs in and it runs like new. Ford was right, only those plugs should be used. I paid out lots of cash for labor because of this problem. I just want to let everyone to know that this is a rising problem seen at the local shops as more and more trucks need new spark plugs. I basically put new coil packs and cam sensors which was $540.00 all because these horrible plugs failed in less than 2 months. Hope this helps. Some can say I wasted money but there was no reason at all the believe my plugs were faulty with no codes and having been just replaced. Anyways, I am happy my baybee runs like new!

***88Racing*** · #8 Tue, February 22nd, 2011, 10:31 PM

There you go with holding information.....

If you would have been forthcoming about WHAT BRAND plugs you used I would've told you that they're a big POS......IMO...Your problem would've been solved last week.

hampsterzone · #9 Tue, February 22nd, 2011, 10:45 PM

Sometimes we overlook the smallest things. My normal mechanic was busy and that is why I was forced to go elsewhere. He still doesn't believe it was just the plugs. I on the other hand hve heard way too many say the Autolite plugs for our trucks are a POS! Go figure, I atleast have all new ignition parts despite needing them. Where is that Nissan Titan? LOL!

mwood1986 · #10 Sun, June 5th, 2011, 10:14 PM

That sucks I installed a set of Autolight Platinum's about 20k ago and don't have any issues yet. I thought Motorcraft still owned Autolight and found that they sold the company.
Paid like $110 bucks for em too, and they were the "updated design" that were supposed to replace the stock ones the truck came with. Maybe I got lucky? (crosses fingers) the plugs did look similar to the updated Motorcraft's though. So maybe they updated em cause they had a lot of issues as well.