I know you guys probably get tired of answering questions.. but it would be much appreciated to get some input before i make a decision on taking my 1st ford back.. lol

I got out of the drag racing scene a few years back (4 daughters.. nuff said). I use to / still am i guess a Chevy guy.. but from my racing and modding my 2000 Camaro SS days.. I always really liked the Lightning. So, I have sold my SS that had been sitting on stands for about 2 years and bought a 1999 Lightning.

Ok, here goes.. I went on Jul y 28th to a car lot by my house where i had noticed a black L on the lot. I stopped in and looked it over and took it for a test ride (couple hours..). In my inspection I noticed (pardon my lack of knoweldge on anything but an LS1) that two of the vacum lines? (valve cover on the right, topside.. not the bottom where the injector / clip is) were unplugged. I found one of them and plugged it in. also noticed that the left front foglight wire was hanging down some. Anyway, the story goes:

It has a new engine (with a 50k warranty from a local dealer that put it in).
I gave 17k for her, the body and interior looks brand freaking new.. the paint looks as good on this 99 as my 07 Black Suburban. It has the chrome L wheels (18's) and chrome ehaust tips.. love the looks of this truck.

I decided to take it back and think about it for a day or two. Then after much deliberation.. I decided i must have it.. lol and went to go pick it up on July 31. So for the first few days i only put 17 miles on it (i was building a deck in the backyard and then shot a 3" nail through my thumb.. joy joy). So yesterday Aug. 3rd, i decide to take it up to the hooters in Denton (about a 25 mile drive) and had my first highway runs at what it would do.

I was all ready to show my neighbor ( he has a 2007 Vette.. sweet car) what this bad little truck can do ( i knew first hand from racing them for years.. lol)
I punched it getting on to the entrance ramp.. 10mph to about 65 quickly.. did great. Then i'm running about 65-70 and mat it to the floor.. downshifts and goes to a little over a 100 and it dies.. my first thought .. rev limiter. If they had put a new engine then it was probably raced.. blew up and that's why it only has 44k miles on the chassis. they got it.. put a new engine and flashed the pcm (or whatever the equivelent is on a ford). I pull over and i could still hear the eaton spinning.. but the tach was at zero and the engine was dead.
I turned the ignition off and then back on .. it started no problem and off we went. I took it easy the rest of the way, then on the way back... i'm doing about 65 and turn off the overdrive button and stomp on it.. it just dies again. this time only excelerating about 5 mph (nowhere near red-line or over a 100) so now i'm getting VERY upset that I just bought a piece of crap and already planning my call to the dealer. It also seems asif the trans is shifting funny.. like downshifting way to easy.. and then sometimes taking a looong time to shift to OD .. weird thing is.. it doesn't feel like it's slipping.. cause the shifts are crisp and firm.

So, i call the dealer and tell them either they make it right or i'll bring it back and tell them to kiss my *** (I didn't put anything down and am not out anything.. and there are a few laws in place for buyers remorse i could look into if i'm not mistaken about nulling the loan). He tells me they will give me a loaner car/truck and get whatever is wrong fixed. to me. .that's fine and dandy. but with some of the other little things.. i'm more prone to just return it and cancel the deal.

The truck runs great from a dig or a slow roll.. and doesn't crap out. I say that.. but i haven't really got on it froma dig to say a 100 to know if it will die like at a higher roll. Also, the ABS light seems to stay on sometimes and sometimes if you kill it and restart it.. it goes out.

So, any ideas on what could be causing the problems.. does it sound like tuning or pcm issue.. maybe a vacum problem.. tranny problem.. all of the above?? I 'm mostly concerned about buying something i can't depend on.. as racing is out of my future. But i would do some basic mods on her.. i just concerned that i'm going to have lot's of work/ issues with it.. and if i wanted to tinker with something fast. i would have just kept and rebuilt a 383/402 stroker motor for my SS and put it back to street trim.

So again, i really like this truck.. any help would be much appreciated.

Devin

 

Sucks you can't just go buy them brand new anymore, you gotta deal with pre-owned ones and 80%+ of vehicle owners are real lame with their mods, the way they treat it, and maintain it. My neighbor got a brand new 03 and it lasted only six months from brand new and it was toast. It wouldn't even shift out of second, blew a hole in the supercharger with his lame No2 setup, etc. All this just to beat another guy with a Lightning at the track (that he never did beat btw)

Honestly your best bet would be to return it and find a bone stock clean low mileage 03 or 04. Trust me, I've been there, done that. If the motor is supposedly brand new, it should freakin' run brand new. Sounds like a botch job to me... Vacuum lines off, etc.. like the 2000 I had, a lamer previously owned it and it also had vacuum lines off, oil smell through the air vents, didn't run right, cut out at WOT, etc.

IMO all used vehicles should be thoroughly tested to operate correctly before they even take them in as a trade in, and especially before they sell it and take someones money. A brand new motor was put in it? What does that tell you about how it was previously taken care of? Does that tell you it was driven some-what normally, or does that tell you it was beaten to death and/or lamely modded and blown (note: I don't think modding is bad as long as it's done properly with the proper supporting mods with a good street dyno tune - on the other hand, throwing No2, a 6lb pulley, and using a canned programmer tune and doing constant WOT blasts and line locks, etc. is real lame - shit I've personally seen and witnessed first-hand with Lightnings.)

Take it from someone who's owned three Gen II Lightnings (one that was brand new) and test driven and checked out more then anybody, take it back and find a nice stock low mileage 03/04 and then mod it properly to your liking (if modding is your thing) and don't deal with other lame peoples crappily treated vehicles.

 

Your thoughts on how Bad A$$ the Lightning's are would be correct, it's a fine vehicle to own that will give you much pleasure. Like emig5m I've had 3 myself (one also brand new) and as he's said you either have to buy a mint stock one and throw 500 in mods on it to have a 12 sec Beast, or find one with a history thats already moded (as I did this time around).

In your case it outright scares the living schitt out of me that the Dealership did a motor on it, #1 they dont have a clue what they're doing, and #2 they wont have a clue on whats wrong with it now to fix it, (and it sounds like there are a few issues to fix). As you said you have laws like the Lemon Law to protect you but for that it needs to go in for the same prob over and over.

However it's mint, it has low miles on it, and you did get it at a nice price so you might simply want to bring it back in and tell them about all the problems and give them a chance to make it right, who knows maybe they have someone there that actually knows what they're doing ??? To tell you the truth it all may be as simple as the vac lines you found off. The wrong vac line off good cause the Brake Light to come on and maybe even effect the Trans and your WOT shut off problem. Can you take some pictures of the Vac Lines you talked about and post them ???

The other thing you can do is make sure there is not a chip in the computer,
the 99's had a known issue with certain chips (no longer used) that would do exactly whats happening to you, stall out at WOT.
The computer is on the Pass Side, under the glove compartment, up against the side wall, if there is anything hanging out of it you have most likely found your problem



In this picture you cant see the chip because I have silver tape over it holding it in, but you can see the wire going into it

Congrats on the L Good Luck and let us know how you make out...

 

What area are you in? Find someone who has a clue to go over the truck with you and it all may be solved easily, or they may be able to identify more serious problems and then you can return it to the dealer with the information they need to fix it right. Either way its not rocket science and these trucks are down right dependable, even modded ones with a some mileage on them.

If someone says they got a lemon, then they should not be turning their own wrenches.

 

Thanks for the input guys.. much appreciated.
Rob - I'll check the pcm and see if there is a chip in it.
I'll also see about snapping some pics of the lines that were off.

I did talk to the dealer and he said just bring it in and we'll get it fixed and give you a loaner until it's done. So, i will give them this one chance to make it right.. if not they can keep it and i'll cancel the deal (if they like it or not) and find something else.

i'll post up those pics in just a bit.. thanks again

oh, anyone know of a shop in DFW that knows their stuff on the L's
(ie. Speed Inc. focus's on LS1's)

 

Good luck with it. When I had a similar issue with the 2000, I just let them take it back, even though they claimed to have fixed it (they said it was a dirty MAF and fuel filter) - I just couldn't force myself to trust the vehicle to be reliable since it had alot of issues upfront. I don't even like buying pre-owned vehicles anymore, my 04L is the last pre-owned vehicle I'm buying, and I only bought it pre-owned because they where no longer available brand new at the time of purchase.

 

If you end up keeping it you may want to avoid doing this very often as from what I've read over the years it can be detrimental to the rods and potentially put a picture window in the stock block!

 

Well, i just took it back and they are going to fix this list of issues i sent. If they don't I told them to just keep it and i'll look elsewhere.

Ed's 01 - hmm.. that's not good..

what is the stock governer set at? is it 99 mph? and shouldn't the gov just shut off the fuel and kick the pedal back?? it's not suppose to kill the engine is it.

 

Good reading!

https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...ight=kickdowns

 

No, stock speed is around 146mph. And I do kickdowns NONSTOP even in freezing weather and never blew any of my Lightnings up. If it's stock, I don't think you should worry about blowing it up.

 

ok, so i was way off.. so the stock gov is set to 146 .. hmm it shut down way before that.. i'd say at like 101-105.

 

Maybe they put a stock f150 tune in there, lol.

 

#1 It's not possible for the Eaton to be spinning after the motor stopped. The engine stalling could be the fuel pump. The 99's have and issue with the in tank line coming loose. Also check your plugs and change them while you have them out. Check and replace the fuel filter as well. I am betting it's a fuel delivery issue.

 

From my experience, the Lightning doesn't have a speed limiter, just a rev limiter. I did a top speed run on my truck (before I blew the engine ) and obviously the speedo stops at 140, but my buddy with his Kawasaki Z1000 was reading over 160mph and then I hit my rev limiter in top gear. My buddy said his speedo was btw 164-165, so figure real speed somewhere 155-157. Now does anyone know where I can get longer gearing?!!

 

hmm.. that fuel pump / filter sounds like a good candidate for the symptoms.
I'll have them take a look at that as well... thanks for the input guys.