Hello..
As you can see I am new to the forum AND I am new to owning a Ford. 50 y/o collector of cars, own mostly Corvette, Fbod's.. Recently purchased a higher mileage 02 Lightning ( 160K hwy mi).
I'll be as brief, and to the point as I can.
Purchased my 02 Lightning 1 month ago from a 70 y/o gentleman who owned 2.. this one, and an 04... He purchased the 02 back in 2005 2 40K mi on it (reflected on the title) He "said" this truck was his daily commuter. the only mods were a K&N CAI, magnaflow muffler, Diablo tune. (Diablo came w truck). N other mods done, claimed he just had new plugs installed HOWEVER, I noticed a slight miss @ idle and cold start up.. I asked him about it he said it "may" "could" be a coil pack... Not knowing these trucks I took his word. Again, he's 70 and seems knowledgeable and the Carfax checked out. Drove the truck for a week.. Ran and drove great ( other than the miss) 325 mi out of a tank of fuel, 50-60 psi oil pressure, no leaks, noises, etc... 190deg coolant temps always. Purchased a new coil pack from Ford ($85):shocked003 Truck threw a code showing #3 cylinder misfire, something about a "cold cranking idel misfire" or something to the sort. The coilpack did not fix the issue. So I take it to the shop that does ALL of the work to my Z06, Fbods'... have been going to them for YEARS! They also do Fords, Mustangs, GT500's,Cobra's, etc..... Hell the owner races a Foxbod in the National circuit. I trust them... So I took the Lightning to them, they did a compression test on the cylinder #3 and found that it was 60psi... all the others were like 150ish... Easy right? Well, not so much......
Once they remove the head (passenger) they can tell by the gasket that it has been removed before, also 2 of the other spark plug holes are tapped.. Or has an insert... whatever is most common. They send the head of to do a valve job on #3... The machinist claims that the valves are not sealing. so he does a valve job on the entire head.. The shop gets the head back and reinstalls, start it up and it idles WORSE!! As in BAD... They think that they guy did not adjust the valves for the machine work...? Then they claim perhaps it is the lifters sticking.... See where I am going? 3 weeks later they still have my truck and are trying to figure it out.....?? both they and I are VERY frustrated!!! while the truck was tore down I purchased a 4lb lower for them to install.. along with some TR6 plugs... when I inquired as to what they would gap them to the guy said .22??? Even I know that is NOT what is suggested for mildly modded Lightnings... I was thinking .32-.36:smt102
Went up there today and they were still trying to get hold of the machinist. I am led to believe that he doesn't know WTF he's doing because these guys do really well on my other cars....
The truck does have high mileage but it ran VERY good before all of this other than the 1 cyl being down. Please educate me and offer me some advise from your experiences. Thanks in advance....
As you can see I am new to the forum AND I am new to owning a Ford. 50 y/o collector of cars, own mostly Corvette, Fbod's.. Recently purchased a higher mileage 02 Lightning ( 160K hwy mi).
I'll be as brief, and to the point as I can.
Purchased my 02 Lightning 1 month ago from a 70 y/o gentleman who owned 2.. this one, and an 04... He purchased the 02 back in 2005 2 40K mi on it (reflected on the title) He "said" this truck was his daily commuter. the only mods were a K&N CAI, magnaflow muffler, Diablo tune. (Diablo came w truck). N other mods done, claimed he just had new plugs installed HOWEVER, I noticed a slight miss @ idle and cold start up.. I asked him about it he said it "may" "could" be a coil pack... Not knowing these trucks I took his word. Again, he's 70 and seems knowledgeable and the Carfax checked out. Drove the truck for a week.. Ran and drove great ( other than the miss) 325 mi out of a tank of fuel, 50-60 psi oil pressure, no leaks, noises, etc... 190deg coolant temps always. Purchased a new coil pack from Ford ($85):shocked003 Truck threw a code showing #3 cylinder misfire, something about a "cold cranking idel misfire" or something to the sort. The coilpack did not fix the issue. So I take it to the shop that does ALL of the work to my Z06, Fbods'... have been going to them for YEARS! They also do Fords, Mustangs, GT500's,Cobra's, etc..... Hell the owner races a Foxbod in the National circuit. I trust them... So I took the Lightning to them, they did a compression test on the cylinder #3 and found that it was 60psi... all the others were like 150ish... Easy right? Well, not so much......
Once they remove the head (passenger) they can tell by the gasket that it has been removed before, also 2 of the other spark plug holes are tapped.. Or has an insert... whatever is most common. They send the head of to do a valve job on #3... The machinist claims that the valves are not sealing. so he does a valve job on the entire head.. The shop gets the head back and reinstalls, start it up and it idles WORSE!! As in BAD... They think that they guy did not adjust the valves for the machine work...? Then they claim perhaps it is the lifters sticking.... See where I am going? 3 weeks later they still have my truck and are trying to figure it out.....?? both they and I are VERY frustrated!!! while the truck was tore down I purchased a 4lb lower for them to install.. along with some TR6 plugs... when I inquired as to what they would gap them to the guy said .22??? Even I know that is NOT what is suggested for mildly modded Lightnings... I was thinking .32-.36:smt102
Went up there today and they were still trying to get hold of the machinist. I am led to believe that he doesn't know WTF he's doing because these guys do really well on my other cars....
The truck does have high mileage but it ran VERY good before all of this other than the 1 cyl being down. Please educate me and offer me some advise from your experiences. Thanks in advance....