Vibration, Fuel & Shifting Issues

[Ford F-350 Man]

Well we'll start off with the vibration issues... Now it seems no matter what the speed the car vibrates, I had all four tires re-balanced, they were all out of balance... But it still vibrates, I even replaced the driver's side CV axle, still vibrated just as bad... So I then replaced the bushing on the driver's side, the new bushing has about the same amount of play as the old bushing, albeit a tiny bit less... So I just re-installed the old CV axle and saved what would have been a waste of money... I can hear a howling noise, so obviously it needs new wheel bearings... That may be the whole problem right there, I don't know... It seems like at low speed the driver's side of the car "flops" constantly so to speak, you can feel it and almost watch it go up and down sort of...

Now let's move onto the fuel issue... Well it's more like two issues... Fuel delivery and fuel level... I have a fuel level code (non MIL) and a pending fuel pressure code, MIL light is not on right now... I had to replace the pump since the original one finally died before I got the car... I got an eBay special fuel pump for $21... If I fill up the tank I can go between 90 - 110 miles before it starts screwing up on me... So basically it can go through around 4 gallons of gas which is a little below 3/4 tank from full, before it starts screwing up on me and I have to find a gas station... I will say this, the rubber check valve on the bottom of the pickup assembly has a tear in it, so it can no longer seal anymore... I've been thinking that may be the problem right there... The pickup assembly was replaced in this car in 2001, and it's been in there original all the way until the fuel pump died in it this year... I can get an entire updated Carter P74954M pickup assembly for $149.95, so I may just get it...

As for the fuel level, I know the sending unit is good, it has varying resistances like it's suppose to, and good continuity to the plug on the outside of the cover... So either the gauge is bad or the wiring between the tank and PCM is toast...

Now onto the shifting issues... First off it obviously needs a fluid change, the ATF is pretty ripe looking... But that's not the main issue. The issue is when I floor the gas it won't shift out of first, I have to manually put it into second, and unfortunately I can't do it for third as well... But if I drive it normally it shifts just fine... But once today I decided to floor it, and it actually shifted perfectly, I was impressed... So I'm thinking it may be the control solenoid... The shifting problem isn't that big of an issue really, but I would still like to fix it though...

If you guys can help me with these issues that would be great... I'm trying to sell this car, but I know there's no way I can get what I'm asking for it if I don't fix these issues...

 

[MadDog]

Does the car vibrate when not in motion ? If the motor mounts are shot this might be a cause. If you had the car aligned then it is unlikely that the lower control arms (front) or rear control arms are bent out of shape, but you might want to take a look.

Mad Dog

 

[Ford F-350 Man]

I thought about that as well, it does vibrate a little bit at idle, but Ford issued a TSB about some vibration being normal at idle anyway... But that is not what I'm feeling when going down the road, it's more like I can feel the car kind of flop a bit... I didn't have the car aligned, it actually pulls just a little bit to the right. I only had the tires re-balanced.

Here's an update on the other problems. As for the fuel issue... I got one of those BT OBDII readers for $7.99 off eBay, in conjunction with Car Gauge Lite (this program has a ton of Ford PIDs) I can view a lot of stuff... Anyway, I was monitoring the FRP and pump duty cycle percent. The FRP liked to hang out between 38 and 40 PSI, between 30 and 39 % duty cycle. But when I floor it it drops significantly after I've burned through about 4 gallons of gas. It was dropping down to +- 5 PSI and stuck at 50.8% duty cycle, then of course the engine would start to stumble and the transmission wouldn't shift because of it... If the pressure was dropping that low, I would think the duty cycle should increase to compensate for the extreme drop in pressure, but it never went above 50.8%...

But, when I performed the pressure drop off test, that's when it became a joke... I could only reach 52 PSI at the most for an instant, as soon as the pump shut off, the pressure dropped 30 PSI in five seconds, forget about 5 PSI in one minute... The duty cycle would increase for an instant to around 75% as well. Normally it would idle at afore mentioned pressure, but after I filled the tank up and I could literally see gas at the top of the filler neck. The pressure I was getting at an idle when I got back home was +- 50 PSI... The drop off test was performed after the tank was filled as well.

As for the shifting issues... Well, there aren't any... I mistook the engine stumbling for torque converter slip... After filling the tank back up, that sucker was singing "I've got the power"... The FRP would drop down between 11 to 15 PSI, which is high enough to let the engine rev up and let the transmission shift... So more then likely that pickup assembly is toast, so I'm probably just going to order that Carter one...

 

[Ford F-350 Man]

My friend thought he saw a torn boot, so I just went ahead and ordered a new axle. It wasn't until I got to tearing it apart that I noticed it wasn't torn...

 

[amc49]

There is literally NO axle bushing used on a FWD car. You are referring to the wheel bearing. And if you did not torque it 100% to the spec (200 ft.lbs. or so) your vibration issue, they MUST hit that spec. Not doing so kills the bearing in a week or a month, whatever. Buying the cheaper crap Chinese bearing does the same, they don't put any grease in them and their bearing steels suck. ANY play detectable in a wheel bearing means it's dead FYI.

The 'improved' pump module, pretty funny, nothing wrong with the old one at all, they last forever. I know all about that little scam. All you have to do is clean them properly and put them right back in service for another 100K miles. ZERO cost other than the work. BTDT too. If anything ethanol corrodes the pump to break it and on all of them even the big trucks. If you had the early module then you bought the wrong pump, the early module pump has been NLA for a number of years now. New type pump in old module produces your issues. They are not dimensionally the same even though they seem to swap. I have done it but you would not want to, the changes that have to be made negate any cost savings there, better to just buy the whole module and be done with it. Mine still runs fine though. I can positively say that the early module design has nothing wrong with it, Ford got burned there.

There is no difference in a big truck or a puny FWD, they all work the same. I say that after running and repairing large web printing presses for 35 years, cars are tinkertoys to me. I can fix them blindfolded.

Dump the car, that CD4E will burn you but good. They commonly blow up and I mean literally. I rebuilt mine after it did so in 2007 and running fine now but the most expensive ATX rebuild I've ever done and that's saying a bunch. Most of the cars are in the yards over that trans and the trans shops blow them up just as fast as they put them in. I searched high and low to find the correct modified parts to stop it from blowing up again and even now pretty much impossible to find. I did find them at that time. The trans still giving fits in Escapes at least in 2009, I was in parts then and saw them torn apart at the Ford dealership client of ours every time I turned around. The retarded thing was that Ford modded the trans over and over trying to stop the problem but never modded the weak part that directly caused all the trouble, again, a case of lame engineers doing the wrong thing there.

 

[LUCA]

ENOUGH! If you two wish to continue this, take it to PM's!

 

[Ford F-350 Man]

There is literally NO axle bushing used on a FWD car.

Really, I think someone is showing their "inexperience" there... You may want to look up the axle bushing for the CD4E, I think you'll be surprised... What was that you like to say? Oh yeah, BTDT... Oh, and NO I'm not referring to the wheel bearing, I think I would know the difference, pft... It also doesn't really matter at this point if I torqued it right or not, (it is 200 ft-lbs. for '98 and up, 251 ft-lbs. for '95 - '97) since it was vibrating badly already before I even did anything to it... I don't use cheap Chinese junk, I use high quality US or Jap made bearings...

As for the pickup assembly, mine lasting fourteen years after they replaced it in 2001 is quite good... Yes there are at least two issues with the original design... One the fine mesh screen could clog over a course of time, because of being directly on the bottom. Which made the pump work harder and go out quicker. (Mine was disintegrated, and not even attached to the bottom anymore...) Two the pickup assembly can work itself loose in the lock ring on the bottom of the tank... I've seen it before, mine didn't do that however... Hence the design change that moved the external filter to the side and made it two sided, as well as the pickup assembly being attached to the cover. The original pump may not be available anymore, but the pump I got has the same dimensions and even the power plug as the original.

Wow, so you think all vehicles are the same just because you worked on printing presses for thirty five years...That's like saying a gas engine is the same as a diesel engine, I beg to differ... They may be similar, but they are not the same.

As for the CD4E dying, yes that is true... If you floor it regularly then yeah expect it to die quicker... The one thing I can give to it, is that it's easy to rebuild, and a master rebuild kit doesn't cost a whole lot... When I was referring to trucks, I was talking about diesels, I know the old IDI's like the back of my hand... Hence why I said I have three of them...

 

[Ford F-350 Man]

ENOUGH! If you two wish to continue this, take it to PM's!

Oh I see how this works, you delete most of my post, give me an infraction and do nothing about his considering he started the whole thing... That's really great, you know what...? Screw this forum... You people except for MadDog weren't trying to help anyway... I have to say, this is the first forum I've been on out of many that has been an utter hindrance, what a joke...

Edit:
I just noticed you deleted most of his posts as well... By the way my last post before this one was posted before refreshing the page... So I didn't even know they were gone and you had posted... As for this one, I didn't scroll all the way up after refreshing... I still think if your going to give me an infraction, it's only fair he gets one as well, since he instigated the whole thing...

 

[amc49]

Read, he clearly says 'you two'.........................there is no axle bushing on CD4E axles, I've had the axles apart in all their 100 various pieces before. There is an intermediate bearing carrier but on the pass side only. You may be referring to the wheel hub.

The trans will tear up even driving it like a granny, power application really does not affect that issue at all. The trans shops themselves will tell you it is one of the hardest ones to rebuild correctly, I've talked to several of them as well as a southern US major distributor of parts to the rebuilders. Where I get my parts. The trans requires a special toolset, you won't be getting it back together right without it. I made up my own to imitate them. There is no master rebuild kit that will have the parts you really need and saying it's 'easy' says a LOT. Ford often can't even get them right.

The early style pump had a vertical filter not horizontal, the later one is horizontal. Looking at one right now. Either one works fine, Ford got highsided by the early ethanol makers, they did not filter the product well enough and Ford overreacted by redesigning the pump. It didn't help that the pump industry was changing the major body design used to make it even smaller at the time and Ford also began using the smaller pump, the connector stayed the same though. The later outlet is slightly longer and it then is blocked off inside the plastic manifold it slides up into. Why it acts up, you have to shorten it slightly. The bottom shape is wrong too and why the plastic filter slides off easy, you have to work that out too. The TSB issued over the pump recall clearly mentions fuel quality as a cause of the problem. The ethanol makers even burned themselves by thinking at the time they could pipe ethanol everywhere but after several million in pipeline losses due to corrosion damage they quit that, at the same time they cleaned up the fuel by filtering it far more than before. That cured the early fuel module problems by itself, now they only clog with red rust based on how many steel tanks the fuel has been in before it gets into your car. Before, the deposit was like a white snot colored thing that was easily water soluable even though solvent would not touch it at all. You could pull pump, clean the filters and throw it right back in and what I've done, they still run forever if you don't delay to burn the pump up from the clog. Got 3 cars running like that now.

The early twist-in pumps get knocked out of place by hitting the bottom of the tank.

 

[LUCA]

Oh I see how this works, you delete most of my post, give me an infraction and do nothing about his considering he started the whole thing... That's really great, you know what...? Screw this forum... You people except for MadDog weren't trying to help anyway... I have to say, this is the first forum I've been on out of many that has been an utter hindrance, what a joke...

Edit:
I just noticed you deleted most of his posts as well... By the way my last post before this one was posted before refreshing the page... So I didn't even know they were gone and you had posted... As for this one, I didn't scroll all the way up after refreshing... I still think if your going to give me an infraction, it's only fair he gets one as well, since he instigated the whole thing...

Unfortunately it is your attitude that is keeping the members from helping you. Getting nasty and defensive, no one wants to go out of their way to assist you. It doesn't work that way on this forum.
AMC49 was trying to help you. I was even a bit confused as to what you were saying in a few areas.


With that said, I will be deleting more of the comments. I could and should lock this thread but I will allow others to try and help you.. If you want to discuss this further, use the PM feature.
Do not post one more thing that is nasty, condescending or off topic in this thread!!! If this thread goes off topic again, it's getting shut down. Final warning.

 

[MadDog]

I wish I could be of more help, but I am still pretty new at this. In the future, it might make things easier to post one problem per thread.

thanks,

Mad Dog

 

[amc49]

I can and will admit I'm part of the problem here, I hit redline every time I think of people who don't hesitate to burn the parts stores rather than spend five minutes thinking things out to then not buy and then take back most every part they can think of. I saw it enough to throw up while I was at the parts stores and it is the biggest problem facing them today. They do not correctly deal with it either, rather they rake employees over either not giving in to the customer enough or giving in too much and no set rule there, it made lots of people quit because of the tremendous ambiguity there. Basically one did not know what to do in almost any given situation. I know firmly what is morally right and wrong and the higher ups had serious issues with my 'business acumen' as one called it. The chains make up the losses by increasing parts prices on almost a daily basis, the increases came in every single day and often by the hundreds.

Basically the company mantra was you do what it takes to 'take care of the customer', and as soon as that got slapped up against side of my head I countered with what if he wants $50 in cash out of my register? It was and still is one of the most stupid company axioms I've ever heard and it costs them (or the vendors when they can swing it) millions a year in losses. They don't care, just jack the prices up more.

I used to return often $500 at a time purchases where people came in wanting say full front brake parts and then they bring them all back next day after finding out the brakes were not the problem at all, that went on all day long. people working 12 hour days and one day off in 6 weeks buy way too much and before they even know what the problems were, or incompetent and that was only the start. Once the chain decided to turn store into a bank by giving all refunds back in cash even if done on credit it got even worse, the refund amounts were actually cutting into the store set day running amounts and the store could then go negative for profits at the end of the day. Often we could not make proper change over that and it complicated the bookkeeping unnecessarily.

The few parts that were actually bad were often due to buyer incompetence installing them to break but most were still good just pronounced as 'bad' by the user who would then row through part after part since he could not accept the part or his skills were the real problem. All those parts went back to vendors to have them flipping out, studies showed 80% of all returns were still good and then the chain flips out on the employees again over their own failed return policy. I saw people written up to have the store manager do exactly the same thing the next day more than once, the good old double standard was alive and well there.

When it came right down to it, I saw all that customer behavior as them taking all the company treasure they could to exploit to their own ignorant selfishness and then none was left to give hard working honest employees a decent raise. The yearly increases there were low enough to drive most people off, low enough that if you worked there 5 years you were definitely making less than when you started, I commonly did the math for others to show them how they were wasting their time. The higher ups did not want to talk about that at all. I know from personal experience driving them to talk about it, I drove district and territory managers often just like the customers. When you put your life into something you need to have some idea of where the crap you are going, I don't blindly come to work every day just to go through the motions for nothing even though so many others do.

I feel strongly about that type of stuff and have always advocated getting smarter not richer to buy more parts, I can replace one part only and cure the issue in 90% of all problems, it's not that hard as I have no formal training in it at all. My problem is that I am not very diplomatic about things, I learned long ago to cut through all the bullsh-t (especially anything to do with stroking people's egos) to get right to the core of the problem, fix it and move on. My bosses loved it and I got paid fantastically for it but it is diametrically opposed to how most people want to be coddled and they tend to get upset pretty quick about it.


I apologize to all who have been offended in any way by my part in this. I will NOT be changing the hard charging way I go about things though I will look hard at making it less confrontational.

 

[D.Acker]

ENOUGH!!!! LUCA has been more than kind in her verbal warnings on this and with issuing nothing more than warnings via the infraction system. This **** STOPS now! I don't give a **** if you think I'm being unreasonable or not, this thread is being locked and will not be reopened. Feel free to start a new thread, but this is the final warning. If you start a new thread and there is ANY bickering, arguing etc like in this thread everyone involved will get an official points bearing infraction that WILL NOT be reversed, even if you're "new" to the party. This behavior has not been tolerated on this site in the past and WILL NIT be tolerated going forward.

Call me a dick, douchebag, asshole, prick, jack off whatever, but you will not disrespect other CEG members, staff, moderators or owners here, have at each other on Facebook!