Steering Wheel Shudder With 5 Star Tune

[c92vette]

Here's the scenario.
Cruising along at 63 -64 MPH I begin to climb a hill. Usually a long grade of a couple of miles or so. The coach slows down naturally. 5 Star Tune holds the transmission in overdrive until the cruise control drops out. This is normal I believe. I kick off the OD and either reset cruise or shower down on the gas pedal. The downshift gives higher RPM momentarily and then the RPM drops another 150 or so as it seems something within the transmission changes due to the work load. I'm now around 52 -54 MPH. Then at 55ish MPH the steering wheel starts to shudder until I accelerate past 57 - 58 MPH.

Anybody experience this or have a possible fix?

I don't believe it's tires, drive shaft, or and out of balance issue as the coach runs smoothly at all speeds except under this condition, loaded climbing a hill. It also did this before I installed the 5 Star tune.

I'm thinking it is due to some kind of an ignition issue. Coil pack maybe dropping out or spark plug failing under extreme loading. I would like some ideas before I throw money at it. Presently the coach has less than 35k miles on it.

[NMRVer]

The tune won't have anything to due with the steering shake. Sometimes tire shake at certain speeds, and then at higher or lower the stabilize. Steering items like ball joints, control arms, steering dampeners, rubber grommets/bushings etc just wear out and are what is causing the shaking. I recommend having it checked out for worn out/loose parts. Best of luck finding the cause and stay safe.

[Dave-Oh]

some folks here have had issues with missing or stuttering and changing the spark plugs has done it - if you still have the stock Ford plugs....

[530ktm]

Originally Posted by c92vette

Here's the scenario.
It also did this before I installed the 5 Star tune.

I am not sure what you mean. Your title seems to claim the 5 Star Tune has made your steering wheel shake yet you say this was happening before you installed the tune. Kind of confusing I would say.

[twinboat]

A couple of things.

5 Star shouldn't hold O/D gear, until it drops out of cruise. That's at 40 mph, right?

It should downshift 1 gear at a time to try and maintain the set speed.

What you are describing sounds like a low power condition, from the notorious coil failure, common to Ford V10 engines.

You may want to change the gas filter before getting it scanned. They usually give you a complete cutout, not ashutter.

The right scanner will tell you which coil or coils are bad.

[Pirate]

Originally Posted by twinboat

The right scanner will tell you which coil or coils are bad.

Can you identify that device for me?

[billyb]

SPARK PLUGS!, spark plugs

[SuperGewl]

When was the last time you did a tune up on the motor? Yes I know it states 100k miles but you should do one every 5 years no matter what. MH's are not driven daily and do a lot of sitting around. I'll bet you still have the original spark plugs in it. You need new plugs and spark plug boot kit installed ASAP Pay close attention to the plugs you pull out to see if they were firing correctly.
The 5 Star Tune has nothing at all to due with your problem.

[twinboat]

Take it to a shop for a scan, before you you start throwing parts at it.

My 1999 V10 has all of the original ignition components in it. It just turned 36,000 miles. Just drove it up from FL to PA. It didn't skip a beat.

The spark plugs that some suggest you change are designed to last 100,000 miles.

There are also issues with them stripping the threads in the heads or breaking off. If installed wrong, they blow out while driving down the road.

This in not something the less experienced mechanic wants to deal with, for no reason.

If you decide to change the plugs, make sure you know which design cylinder head you have, so you can get the proper procedure and follow it carefully, to change them.

There are a few different procedures published by Ford, according to the year and model V10 you have.

Good luck

[TeJay]

X 2 what twinboat said!!!!

Really not fair to 5 Star to begin with a thread named, "Steering wheel Shudder with 5 Star Tune." Then tell the readers that the shudder occurred before you added the TUNE.

IMHO That point should again be made very clear.

I have no financial connections to 5 Star but I don't like misinformation to cloud issues.

As far as your shuddering twinboat hit it on the head as he often does. Classic symptoms of spark failure either at the plugs or in the coils. This is a typical condition related to all high voltage spark systems.

That means all engines except diesels have some sort of a coil to raise the voltage so it can jump a gap at the plug to ignite the fuel. That voltage in the thousands of volts will jump the gap but when insulation weakens as things get older it will jump to ground and a misfire will occur.

Yours is happening under load because as the load goes up while climbing a hill (conditions inside the combustion chamber become much harsher) it is much harder for the spark to jump the gap and the voltage output from the coil has to go up. That's when it finds an alternate path to ground and you have a misfire which can cause the shudder.

This type of engine misfire has been occurring as long as there has been an ignition coil on a car.

I'm was a certified technician and a DIYer so if it were me I'd do it.

If you are attempting this yourself you can find the coils listed a lot cheaper here on the forums. There's also a ton of information concerning the plugs.

You have a 2003 engine so I'd recommend changing all the coils. If one or two are bad there's more to follow. The plugs are supposed to last 100K miles. If I'm that close I'd do the plugs as well.

TeJay

[hdzcar]

I had a problem with the 5 star tune for PCM Code SVF2. With cruise control on it would cause a surge with the RPMs fluctuating up and down a couple hundred RPMs. Working with the 5 start tune support they determined it was causing the torque converter to lock and unlock but they didn't have a fix so I returned it for a refund.
Totally not related to spark plugs.

[atodalen]

Originally Posted by hdzcar

I had a problem with the 5 star tune for PCM Code SVF2. With cruise control on it would cause a surge with the RPMs fluctuating up and down a couple hundred RPMs. Working with the 5 start tune support they determined it was causing the torque converter to lock and unlock but they didn't have a fix so I returned it for a refund.
Totally not related to spark plugs.

I have the same PCM code (SVF2) and notice something similar, but only when climbing hills. I haven't been able to determine what was going on so thanks for that information.

Didn't I hear a while back that 5Star was working on an improved tune and working with others on this group to test it. TeJay, weren't you involved in that? I've been waiting to hear more about that before following up with my problem.
Al

[c92vette]

Here's an update to the thread. I took all of the coils out and pulled the spark plugs. Pictured is the plug and coil from #5. The plug was cracked in 3 places and arcing across the boot to ground.





I replaced all of the plugs and deep cleaned the coil packs. After reinstalling everything the engine runs smooth even under a light load. I haven't had it out on the road yet to see if the problem has been eliminated. As for the original title it was supposed to read "Steering Wheel Shudder With or Without 5 Star Tune". Sorry about the omission of the "or without".

[TeJay]

c92vette,

You are a somewhat (62) new poster. We've all been there. If you make a spelling or grammatical error on a post or on the name of a thread it's is out there for the world to see with our handle on it. Yuk!!!

When posting I write, review, correct, review then post. I may review a post several times before posting. We do have 30 minutes to correct posts but we don't have that time when posting a new thread. Write, re-read, correct several times then post. It will save embarrassment later.

atodalen, You are correct concerning the 5 star folks. They have asked me to test 2 CC specific upgrades. The second BETA test was better than the first but I got it about 2-weeks ago. Had my big toe fused yesterday. I'm relegated to a chair for the next 6-weeks (no driving). We have a 4,000 mile trip from AR to ME scheduled for the middle of July. I did a 40 to 60 mile run last week and it is much improved for CC. I'll report more to the forums when I get some miles on it.

5-Star will, "Get er done." These changes will take time and currently they are also working on the 2016 shifting issues as well.

TeJay