Odd Running Question

snicklas

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Ok, here is something that has me puzzled and wanted the collective to have a crack at helping me figure this one out.....

This all started a few weeks ago. We were out and about on a Saturday Evening, and I had to buy fuel at a station other than the one I normally use. (I have a station around the corner that sells alot, of good quality fuel and I normally use them). I stopped and put ~$50 about 20 gallons in the tank. Later that evening, we had stopped at a store and the truck sat for a bit, I noticed a slight miss when we first started out..... didn't think to much of it, I needed to do a service on the truck and thought it may have been due to needing the fuel filters and/or the oil and filter changed. We didn;t go anywhere on Sunday, and Monday morning I headed out to work. The farther I drove, it began to miss and cut out, still had not done the service, so after about 15 miles, I took it back home, since I did not know what was happening and did not want to get stranded, and drove the car to work.

I gathered the supplies to change the oil and oil filter, and fuel filters. I was not going to drive the truck until I completed the service, since I believed that was the issue (figured I had a plugged/plugging fuel filter). So I drained the oil (Motorcraft 15W-40 Dino with ~ 7000 miles on it (I know I was over)), and removed the oil filter (Motorcraft FL-2016) and the Fuel Filters (Motorcraft FD-4616 with ~ 12-13000 miles on them (again, I know over on miles). I replaced the oil with 15 quarts of Valvoline Premium Blue 15W-40, a Motorcraft FL-2016 Oil Filter, and Motorcraft FD-4616 Fuel Filters. Took it for a test drive, and after a few minutes, everything seemed to clear up.

Headed to work on Thursday (took a couple days to gather the supplies and then have the time to perform the service). On the way to work, I felt it cut out a few times, but nothing as serious at Monday. Thursday evening I headed home from work, and it seemed to have this miss a bit more that in the morning. One thing I remembered from when I did the service that when I was in the process of changing the fuel filters, I stepped back in the house and Mary made the comment the smell of the fuel was burning her eyes.... didn't think anything about it at the time......but when I got back home, I had the filters sitting there from taking the pictures of them. I went out an looked at them, and there was something in the fuel that would burn your eyes a bit, and I compaired the smell to a diesel can I have, and there was a difference. So I talked to Travis (argve) about it, and we thought it best to add more, known good fuel to it, (from the station I normally use), I had run down to about a quarter of a tank, so I added about 6 gallons to it (all the $$$ I had at the time). That seemed to help some. A couple of days later, I added $75 more fuel (normal station), and a full 100 gallon bottle of White Bottle Power service, and 2 small bottles of TWC-3 (2 cycle oil) to the tank. That seemed to help the most. I am in the process of running that mix out as much as I can (don't want to run completely out of fuel). But I am still having an issue with this miss. It seems to come and go. It also seems to have something to do with the temp of the fuel. For example, I keep it plugged in, wether it is in the garage or at work (I like the heat working when I take off), but the garage at home is fairly warm (60+ and the block heater is plugged in) and the parking garage at work is outside temp, but the block heater is plugged in. The miss seems worse when the truck has sat in the cold (like the fuel is cold in the tank) than if the truck has been a warmer ambient area. Once it is up to full operating temp, the miss is completely gone. I seem to have full power, on a hard accel it will take off like normal, it does not smoke on accel. Right after I added the last fuel and the additives it did smoke a light blue on one accel, but cleared up and I have not noticed it again.

Any Ideas?

So here is where we are:

Fresh service with Valvoline Oil and Motorcraft Oil and Fuel Filters. Had run less the 10 gallons of the questionable fuel through it, and have run ~30 through after diluting the rest of the questionable and the dosing of additives. If the fuel and truck have gotten cold, but the block heater has been plugged it, the miss is worse. No not notice the miss when up to temp. I am now at about 1/3 tank and have noticed the miss a bit more today than the last few days. I do not hear an injector misfire, all the chatter seems normal, and there is no Check Engine light......

So what do you think, I am at a complete loss at this point..... still rements of the bad fuel, stiction, air from some where. Do I need to run an Auto-Rx or Hot Shot Secret through it, change the fuel filters again..... I am at a loss, and just want to make sure I get it back to normal. Could it be something else that just happened at the same time as the fuel? I am at 115,000 miles, on a 100% stock truck......

Any ideas would be appreciated.
 

leswhitt

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Just to rule out the lift pump, I'd check the pressure at the filter and make sure your pump isn't on it's way out. The other fuel could just be a coincidence.....I've been thrown off by stuff like that before.
 

93f250idi

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i would order some revx and run threw it. they say its way better then hot shot
 

Mike

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If you think marginal fuel started this mess I'd run a bottle of 911 through it.
 

argve

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Scott I had forgotten about the 911 stuff. If there was water in the fuel or something else that stuff will allow you to burn it off. I got bad fuel years ago from the truckstop in Fort Wayne - tons of water and would have the problems you are experiencing but I knew it was water because the fuel filter had slush in it. I was able to run it out by keep stopping every 50 miles or so and draining the filter until I ran out the 80 gallons I had bought. That stuff also worked well for me in ungelling the concoction I ran threw the nanny goat (wmo, wvo and some diesel thrown in just for giggles). Mike may very well be to something in that it happens more when the temps drop.
 

NJKen

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Thats a good description of a fuel injector on its way out. A cylinder contribution test can point you to the offending injector. Replacing them isnt too hard but they are expensive.
Good Luck
Ken
 
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