[Jason Slegers]

So, I was able to pick up this sweet ride last night on trade... very impressed with the condition and power this thing has... a bit scary to have a truck that pulls this hard! Mods that are known:

engine was rebuilt and has 10k miles on it, truck has 184K
Ported blower
aftermarket pulleys
BBK throttle body
BBK cold air intake
SCT MAF
SCT x4 tuner
aftermarket electric fans
373 gears
full stainless long tube headers (glad he put those on... hear they are not an easy install!)
full exhaust
rebuilt trans with shift kit

now... the truck seems to sputter when you first get into it, smoothes out quickly... smells a little rich at times, make me think the air fuel mix is not right and needs to be tuned again.

I am new to the supercharged space... typically stay with a fox body mustang... but couldn't pass up on this deal. any help is appreciated.

 

[Boss Hoss]

Welcome to the site and congrats!
Check coils and plugs. With that wiper cowl missing the weather strip piece it's possible water has gotten to your coils. Any idea as to who tuned it last and what it was tuned for? Any codes? Have you performed any maintenance?

 

[Boss Hoss]

Also looks like an LFP throttle body and a SCT BA2600 MAF and the CAI elbow is BBK.

 

[Jason Slegers]

Welcome to the site and congrats!
Check coils and plugs. With that wiper cowl missing the weather strip piece it's possible water has gotten to your coils. Any idea as to who tuned it last and what it was tuned for? Any codes? Have you performed any maintenance?

I have not done anything to it yet. just got it last night. I will check into that, what is weird on the sputter... it is only when it shifts down from overdrive or accelerating without shifting it down manually.

 

[Jason Slegers]

Also looks like an LFP throttle body and a SCT BA2600 MAF and the CAI elbow is BBK.

is that a good thing or bad? sorry, I am not familiar with these trucks at all.

 

[Ct.TOPGUN]

Bigger than stock TB. Good Maf with enough head room.Not a fan of the elbow but plenty for a stock block.


As for the stumble, plugs and coils would be my first place to look.


Jim

 

[Dusten]

I would also get some datalogs of the truck, and a wideband if you don't have one.

 

[Leeproctor83]

My 1st thought was plugs and coils as mentioned. A wideband and fuel pressure gauge would make diagnosing some common issues easier. Your X4 can display air and coolant temps and more. Welcome to LR! :Bigtu 👍🏻
When you have an issue post up and provide as much info as possible and it makes it easier for us to help.

 

[slo50stang]

Congrats on the trade! A Fox Body was my last "performance" vehicle and I made the plunge into these trucks. What an upgrade, lol. A little bit of a learning curve but everyones here to help. I'm still pretty wet behind the ears but I also try to help when I can. Welcome!

As previous posts said, check plugs and coils. I personally change plugs every other oil change to keep them fresh. Swap fuel filters every oil change. If your coils are stock, I would replace them with OEM motorcraft coils. I just did mine for the first time a couple months ago and my truck is at 150K.

Also if you don't have some gauges Id invest in those too. I run a Wideband, Boost and Fuel Pressure gauge. Sounds like with the mods, they should be in the truck already though.

Get a firewire cable to go with the X4. It allows you to add AF Ratio to the graph and get the truck data logged to see if you can pinpoint a problem.

Check in with a reputable tuner from the community and see if we can get ya going properly. Everyone has their own recommendations and experiences on tuners so thats prob for another thread.

Hows your fuel system? Stock injectors, pumps, rails, etc?

 

[B4Thunder03]

Congrats and welcome to the addiction!

 

[tracifritz]

Welcome to the club! I waited months on the list to get my 03 and I plan on selling from my dead hands. Mine was allegedly stock 5k mi from a Ford Part Guy who got married. New car smell still.
I am having a lot of very complex problems suddenly after getting stock things replaced that were not broken. So stupid. Only let a Lightning person touch it.
Def the fuel filter as often at you wanna get gasoline over you big difference.
Spark plugs? Unless you are a master you take a messed up coil on plug. The plugs break easily. I was warned early on this one. To date I think I have only had to have 3 coil on plugs redone. Granted I am a girl w no mods, I just got a good one. Let the dealership have to deal with a broken off spark plug.
If a mechanic looks at the engine and sweats mumbles stuff do not let them touch it. Ever. Ford dealerships will say they can work on Lightnings. Then they see it and panic.
I only street raced in mine. Touching the spark plugs so often sounds like handling snakes. Mine is suffering very complex electronic problems due to mostly repeated break-ins. Current sound whole 13 yrs no more! The wire harness is screwed and the truck might burn down my apt building. Ppl in the forum have tried to help. Work in progress. Learn all that you can. If there is a mechanic in your area that has a L go to that person! Even oil changes. I'm a petite lady so I can easily slide under do it perfect. Maybe 2 oil change places ever did it.
My brother is a sloppy lazy mechanic so I am fully aware of crap they do.
You made a great purchase. Keep it going dude.

 

[Jason Slegers]

Just wanted to update everyone... it was definitely the plugs... 4 of the 8 were smoked... runs like a champ now!

 

[blackbeauty7]

Welcome to the group man!

Glad you got your problem solved.

 

[Ct.TOPGUN]

Just wanted to update everyone... it was definitely the plugs... 4 of the 8 were smoked... runs like a champ now!

Since 4 plugs were smoked, I would change the fuel filter for peace of mind. And would like to get the tune checked out for safety.

Jim