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TGUIRA

Member
Joined
Nov 2, 2005
Messages
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Location
orlando, FL
I have a question in reference to the ruff idleing in my truck. I have a 2003 with 20,000 miles on it. I have taken my truck to the dealership 3 seperate times with the same problem. The first time they told me that they had found a loose or disconnected hose, the second time they could not find anything wrong, and the third time they told me that they had to reprogram the vehicle(whatever that ment). I have changed from 87 octane gas to 89 to 93, I have used Lucas injector cleaner and I am still experiencing the same problem. I am about to give up, does anyone have any suggestions?



Thanks!
 
Most on here would probably recommend cleaning your IAC Motor (Idle Air Control) ... there's a project on this in the projects section. Really easy to do and should take care of it.



 
Changing octanes definately won't help. The ST is designed to run best at lower octanes. Your ST doesn't seem to have enough mileage to have a dirt IAC but like Ryan said, it's easy to do and worth a shot.
 
Dunno, if you live in a dirty area, the IAC and air filter can become dirty quite fast. They're doing a lot of brick work in my complex and there is an awful lot of dust, on top of the high viscosity of NYC air. Start with the IAC and air filter (ever changed the air filter?)



You may want to do a tune up on it, I did mine around 40K and found the plugs had the incorrect gap and the ignition wires were chewed. My idle was never horrible, but noticeably smoother after the tune up.



Bad gas can have something to do with it, try changing stations if you always go to the same one. The brand new Sunoco in my area everyone went to for their lower prices seemed to trigger the check engine light on my Trac.



I usually run a fuel system cleaner like dura lube or chevron techron every 3K miles, and religiously use top tier (Shell) gas at 87 octane for its higher detergency. I have noticed that an occasional fillup with Shell 93 octane (5x the detergent in top tier) is worth it, and do this around 1K miles.



87 octane is fine, but one bottle of injector cleaner may not be enough if the fuel system is really mucked up. The fuel filter may be clogged if you've had some fillups of nasty gas. If it's a fuel system issue, it can range from being as simple as changing stations or a bottle of injector cleaner, to a complicated flush / cleaning of everything from the tank to the injector.



Work with the dealer and don't let them off the hook. Just because they say they can't find anything wrong, doesn't mean that you don't have a problem. Kick it up the support chain until you're barking loud enough at Dearborn itself, especially if you're under warranty.
 
I live in Orlando Fl., and my vehicle is still under warranty. I have tried just about everything except cleaning the IAC and changing the wires. I don't think there is much I could do with a vehicle thats almost new. I will take your advise about the wires, and if that doesn't work, I see myself sitting in the Greenway Ford waiting room.



Thanks!
 
tguira,

Welcome to the site. I also live in Orlando (near UCF) and I've taken my ST in to Greenway. They actually did a great job getting all of my problems resolved. Start with cleaning your IAC and then, if time permits, check out Greenway. They served me well in t he past. Much better than Heinzlemans and Sun State.



Good luck!
 
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