jhebler

On first startup and driving down the highway in 6th the truck is downshifting to 5th or 4th when I press the gas with not much gain in power. It's as if the turbos are not working(that torque increase is missing in 6th). It's not shuddering or anything. If I turn the truck off and back on it seems to run fine. The truck is 2011 fx4 with 134,000 miles. Going to replace the spark plugs because it's the cheapest but it's not feeling the same as before (I have gone through a set every 20,000 to 25,000 miles).

Any ideas?

maplelakeduckslayer

Could try replacing the turbocharger control solenoid ...maybe its sticking? Cheap, mounted right to the top of the intake manifold. Do you have a way to monitor boost levels?

jhebler

Just by ear and feel.

Kenferg1

When did you last replace the air filter? A lot of owners go about 20k miles between air filter changes.

jhebler

I replace the air filter and oil over the weekend. Last week I got the "check fuel inlet" message. Got that cleared up think that's has anything to do with it?

TJPlatinumEB

For about $30 bucks you can have an OBD2 monitor and app on your phone that will tell you everything that is going on. Cheap investment and works on any car since 1997 to check codes and read any information that is sent through that port.

That would at least tell you what boost is doing in those situations and since you can "reset" the issue as mentioned above, it might be a good idea to monitor those things just to see if there is a difference in boost or in any other gauge/output.

Torque is the app if you have an Android phone and DashCommand is one of the better ones for Apple.

Tothemax

Why are you replacing the spark plugs so often?

TJPlatinumEB

If he is tuned, that's why. Turbo vehicles destroy plugs. Ford was retarded when they wrote the maintenance interval on those for 100k miles. Many people routinely are changing them at 20-25k to find them near the end of their life and having gap issues or having hesitation issues as well.

Hell the plugs on my Supra are changed every time the oil gets changed. Very very small price to pay to ensure you aren't having any spark or blowout issues.

Even if not tuned, replacing at just slightly higher intervals than that is recommended.

It's $20 and 45 minutes of your time to ensure the truck is running great in that department. Cheap insurance.

jhebler

I replace plugs as soon as a shudder throws a check engine light. When I pull them there is normally a fine crack on one. It's cheap and easy. It been more like every 20-30 thousand miles. Less since I drilled the inter cooler. I'll pickup the monitor its worth having.
Thanks for the help.

jhebler

I had a loose spark plug. Still threaded but I could back it out with finger tips. Soot on coil pack. Replaced coil pack and plug to be safe. Need to buy a torque wrench.