Throttle stuttering on acceleration

smurfslayer said:

yeah, bite the bullet and take the truck to a dealer with a good service department. You’ve got less than 1k miles on a new truck that you just shelled out scores of thousands of dollars for. Ford should do the troubleshooting and fixing, not you. Even if you’re mechanically inclined or really good with engines, there’s a more important reason.

What if it’s not a simple problem?

If you’ve changed the plugs out, the mechanic now is forced to validate or invalidate your change(s) to troubleshoot the issue.

But, let’s say you do the homework and based on some feedback you get from other Rap users you want different plugs. Dealer changes them and they warranty the work; This is cheap insurance for previous Ford truck engines with a penchant for spitting spark plugs out. Have Ford change the spark plugs, and if the plugs get shot out during the repair warranty, boom. covered. More than one Lightning owner saved a bit of money doing this.

YMMV, but I think the most correct answer here is to let Ford sort it out.

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Good point and funny because I just got done telling another guy the exact same thing about another issue, let it be Ford's issue.

For the record, my stuttering is at partial throttle on acceleration, like leaving from a stop light. Once I'm at cruising speed, I don't notice it, I also don't notice if I'm more aggressive in my acceleration.

caleb said:

Good point and funny because I just got done telling another guy the exact same thing about another issue, let it be Ford's issue.

For the record, my stuttering is at partial throttle on acceleration, like leaving from a stop light. Once I'm at cruising speed, I don't notice it, I also don't notice if I'm more aggressive in my acceleration.

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lol

Please let me be wrong and assume you do know what turbo lag is, right?

kpg81 said:

lol

Please let me be wrong and assume you do know what turbo lag is, right?

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That was my first thought, my second though is any issue with this truck that involves guessing and swapping parts, no matter how minor, it will go to the dealer while under warranty.

kpg81 said:

Change the plugs to Motorcraft SP542 @ .025"

If that doesn't solve your problem

Take it to the dealer.

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I personally would do this first. Hopefully it fixes it for you. I would much rather spend the $50 on the plugs and take 30 minutes to do it all myself so I know it is done right, and not be without my truck for a day. I know changing plugs is simple, but some techs at the dealers can actually cause more harm. Not gap properly, lean on another sensor while changing and bend/break, break the oil dipstick etc..

Some may disagree with me here, but as long as it isn't a big chunk of change and I am able to do it myself, I enjoy the quality time with my BAE and ease of mind knowing it was done right.

If the plug swap doesn't fix your issue, then take it to the dealer. They will never know you changed the plugs, therefor no concern.

kpg81 said:

lol

Please let me be wrong and assume you do know what turbo lag is, right?

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Yes, this isn't just a lag. This is a hesitation/stutter. I push on the gas and it goes then doesn't, then goes, then doesn't. Feels kind of like how bad gas or low tranny fluid level feels.

caleb said:

Yes, this isn't just a lag. This is a hesitation/stutter. I push on the gas and it goes then doesn't, then goes, then doesn't. Feels kind of like how bad gas or tranny fluid level feels.

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Is what your experiencing like this?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Vf2wAIGK7Ko

Is that a misfire or a shaky camera? If it's a misfire, mine's not that bad, my wife doesn't even notice it. I do have an appointment with the dealer on Friday, hopefully something comes from that. My biggest issue with buying this truck was all the problems I'd seen others report (I was coming from a Tundra and had owned 6 Toyotas prior to that Tundra and had literally zero issues, hope my one hesitation doesn't come true).

15, 000 miles here. 1 year down.

Not one gremlin, bug, reliability or performance issue.


As it is I’m running an aggressive tune, aftermarket CAI, intercooler, catback, turbo adapters...

And I drive it like I stole it.

Further. I have the STOCK spark plugs YHST HAVE NEVER been changed.

I have no stumbling, stalling, hesitation problems.

I wouldn’t fool around. Let the dealer fix it. It’s not a spark plug issue.

caleb said:

Is that a misfire or a shaky camera? If it's a misfire, mine's not that bad, my wife doesn't even notice it. I do have an appointment with the dealer on Friday, hopefully something comes from that. My biggest issue with buying this truck was all the problems I'd seen others report (I was coming from a Tundra and had owned 6 Toyotas prior to that Tundra and had literally zero issues, hope my one hesitation doesn't come true).

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caleb said:

Is that a misfire or a shaky camera? If it's a misfire, mine's not that bad, my wife doesn't even notice it. I do have an appointment with the dealer on Friday, hopefully something comes from that. My biggest issue with buying this truck was all the problems I'd seen others report (I was coming from a Tundra and had owned 6 Toyotas prior to that Tundra and had literally zero issues, hope my one hesitation doesn't come true).

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I have what sounds like the exact issue you do. My truck has done it since day one and it's still exactly the same almost 22,000 miles later. I've tried different grades of fuel and watched weather temps varying from 100 degrees to below 0. Hot weather seems to make it a bit worse.

I work for a dealership and am getting ready to have some diagnostic done. I'll let you know how that works out.

Actually had some time so I just took our lead tech out for some testing. I've been talking to him about the issue for close to a year. We both figured there would be a TSB come out with a PCM or TCM update that would take care of everything.

My truck does not have an engine miss.

What we did track down is that the throttle body is causing the power fluctuation but the PCM is commanding it to do that. We couldn't find any reason why it was doing that though. Throttle pedal sensors were both good, TPS sensor was good, transmission data we logged was all good and so on.

After about 45 minutes of data logging we came back and checked for any updates. There was a TCM & PCM update available for the truck so we did those. After they were updated we went back out and tested again. The symptom was still there but not quite as pronounced. It did become more noticeable in 3rd and 4th gear and seemed to be a bit better in 5th and 6th. The tech is sending the recordings we took to Ford Hotline so an engineer can hopefully help determine what the issue is. Probably be a day or two until we hear back.