Truck's Name: Bruce (as in, dont let me down, + it's green = Hulk)
Owner Name: Steve
Location: Between Boston, MA and Providence, RI
Vehicle: 2000 Ford F-150 XLT 2WD
Age: 39

Background: I've typically always drove a beater and maintained all my cars myself. My tools are mostly all metric since I always drove Honda's or Mitsubishi's. I have had an impressive array of Japanese cars over the years, some were very fast but most were not . Some of the fast ones included my all time favorite Mustang-killer, the Eagle Talon TSi AWD. I've had three, which I would buy after years of them being beat on. I would first make them dependable again, then sell them to local New England DSM members who would mod them with gigantic turbos, Shep trannies and the sort. I've also owned a Galant VR4 and a Civic. Other than that I would go through my fair share of non-turbo Galants, Accords, Eclipses and in a rare chance sighting, a 2002 Chrysler 300M Special which was the worst car I've ever owned. What a heavy, underpowered boat.

I never was into the street race scene, too much time spent making $1000 used cars into daily dependable drivers. My real passion is with motorcycles. I've got a BMW K75 that I stripped and made into a cafe style bike, and I enjoy repairing bikes for customers. The last bike I worked on was a 1969 BSA Thunderbolt 650, and what a sweet ride that bike is. So much low end torque, versus the high revving BMW I have. Currently I'm working on a '77 Harley, but I've also worked on Kawi's, Yamaha's, but(surprise) no Honda bikes....

What brings me here: OK so my last car I had for a year, "the value brand" Kia. Got my wife a brand new 2016 Sportage and figured why not? Found myself in a new-to-me 2014 Kia Sorento.

Hated every minute of it.

Sure, it had SiriusXM, an awesome warranty and roadside assistance. But I'm poor, and cheap. I was paying hundreds of dollars per month. Decided to get rid of it and go back to my roots: get a beater.

I've always wanted a pickup, and its not that you cant find them cheap around here - but - most of them are way overpriced, or they just really keep their value perhaps.

I've always liked Ford the best of the big three. And I cannot stand Toyota trucks or the godawful Honda Ridgeline. If you're going to drive a truck, it needs to be American, IMO.

So I see a 2001 F-150 4x4 with 180,xxx miles on it at a used dealer for $5995. I was about to pony up at my bank. Then I saw this green one on craigslist, for $850! 145k miles. But it wasn't 4x4. For the price I couldn't pass it up, and I am glad I didn't.

I love this truck. I love the torque, the sound of the motor (Fords always sounded so good to me...still dont know why...firing order I was told?).
Sure it has problems, but that only adds to the personality of a vehicle to me. That 2014 Kia I had, was so quiet it was a decent car but felt like driving an electric golf cart.

So that's pretty much it, my reason for being here is that I'm completely new to Ford products and there is so much different with this truck than the Japanese cars I used to work on when I was much younger. I don't think I am ever going back to cars now.

It's day two of my membership here, and I've already hijacked a 6 week old thread....sorry, I know that is frowned upon now. I will do my best to make a new thread featuring my truck and the problems I'm having with it.

I couldn't think of a catchy username but will work on that too.

Thanks everyone!
Hi, I'm Bruce

 

Nice! A truck for the price of a flagship smartphone.

 

Welcome to the F-150 boards, glad to have you join!

Any fun performance mods planned for the truck?

 

First I have to figure out this random poor idle/no power issue. I've found a YouTuber named "FordTechMakuloco" and his videos are AWESOME! He breaks down everything he does and appears to REALLY know his

I think it needs a tune up, there was a piece of rubber hose holding the 7th coil in there, jammed up under the fuel rail. I replaced that coil and...put the rubber thing back....noticed after I "pushed it back in there" the problems went away completely....FTM recommends on these 2v motors to torque the plugs to 22-25# instead of the Ford 11-13# in order to never have a plug spit out.

I may just pull the intake completely off and do the gaskets while I am in there.

Sorry, you said performance mods. I would like to throw a flowmaster on there, pretty cheap $90 at Advance Auto (my store of choice - and yes I only plan on buying Motorcraft parts) and I think I can do it myself without welding. I thought about a lift, but, I might just leave it alone. It's only 2WD, I dont even know if those can be lifted.

I'm also interested in the cheap/fun mods listed here on the forum.

 

Welcome to the forum !
Post up a pic of the truck

 

Just took some photos, but they're not syncing to my iPad ... Will post up later.

It just dawned on me what's wrong with the truck. It's the hobbled coil I replaced on #7.
When I swapped it out the old one's ear was broken off and PO had stuffed a piece of rubber hose under the fuel rail to keep it in there. I used the same method with the replacement because I didn't have 7.5mm socket on me.

Well. I thought about it and if the coil is loose, it's gonna cause a misfire, but the injector is going to pulse fuel in there anyway, causing the sluggishness and stalling and pings in the exhaust from unburned gas. DUH

At least, that's what I'm hoping.

 

Photo added. Handsome truck no? It didnt start out that way - day one I replaced the front bumper as the PO had hit a pole and the ends were pushed way out. The bumper in the pic, I got for $40 and it fit perfectly except around the valence area I think it's from an Expedition or something?
I painted the wheels black, I think it looks bitchin'
I *may* paint the grille, bumpers and headlight "chrome" black as well.

I've coated the inside doors at the bottom with rubberized rust sealant.
The tailgate was replaced previously, it's a different shade of green but oh well.
It's also being held in by a ratcheting tie down holding the two sides of the bed together....the bed is in atrocious shape....the area between the tailgate and bumper is pretty much gone from rust.
It has a Ford- branded Duraliner, were these stock from the factory? I'd like to know the easiest method to remove it, so I can pull the bed and do the fuel pump.
I *may* also ditch the bed completely and replace it or, build a wooden flat bed with ramps and a winch for bike transportation? But more than likely I'll just keep this one until it falls off.

Thanks guys.

 

RECAP & UPDATE

So I only wanted to change one plug in the cylinder I had trouble with. Misfire #7, replaced coil, wondered why PO had a piece of rubber holding the coil in (wedged under the fuel rail) - discovered why when I realized I couldn't get the 8mm bolt out.
Plug is nearly welded in, and the hex is trashed. Flipped over the dinner table (not really but, that would be funny) and said F it, put everything back and today the truck ran BEAUTIFULLY. WTF?

So I was watching some videos of my favorite youtube mechanic, "FordTechMakuloco" (I really recommend his channel, awesome stuff) and he was looking at a lean code on an Expedition. The numbers were the same as I am getting, and I've been thinking vacuum leak, but checked that out....he says he was going to throw some "BG44K" in there and it was a fuel delivery issue. I couldn't find any "BG44K" so I bought SeaFoam and chucked it in my fuel tank.

The hope is, it's just a filthy old engine, and needs cleaning.

My reward for taking care of my truck? Now I have a squeaky suspension noise when I come to a stop. Woohoo just popped up tonight.