Engine check light flashing at WOT

[Lsujker]

Update. I have driven the truck twice sense creating this thread. No issue with flashing engine lights to speak of. Truck runs great, sounds good and everything functions as it should. Whatever the problem is seams to be dormant.

Unfortunately for the truck, its not drive very often. Have not burned a full tank of fuel in 3 months. This is presenting another issue. The engine produced a horrible ticking/clattering sound on cold startup. So I shut the engine off quickly, pressed the peddle to the floor and turned the motor over. Let it oil up then cranked again. Ran quiet afterwards.

Not sure how detrimental cold cranking after sitting is to the longevity of these motors but sure "feels" wrong. This is not centralized to one brand. Have this issue on every new model car I have owned and other friends. Hoping for many more years of reliability but we will see.

 

[2003F350]

Update. I have driven the truck twice sense creating this thread. No issue with flashing engine lights to speak of. Truck runs great, sounds good and everything functions as it should. Whatever the problem is seams to be dormant.

Unfortunately for the truck, its not drive very often. Have not burned a full tank of fuel in 3 months. This is presenting another issue. The engine produced a horrible ticking/clattering sound on cold startup. So I shut the engine off quickly, pressed the peddle to the floor and turned the motor over. Let it oil up then cranked again. Ran quiet afterwards.

Not sure how detrimental cold cranking after sitting is to the longevity of these motors but sure "feels" wrong. This is not centralized to one brand. Have this issue on every new model car I have owned and other friends. Hoping for many more years of reliability but we will see.

I would put money on this being a fuel issue then - you're running on older gas, which DOES break down over time. This will lead to spark knock at higher RPMs (and sometimes at lower RPMs if the fuel is old enough). I'm not sure how well newer vehicles react to things like StaBil and the like, so I won't suggest you use it, or if you do, do so at your own peril.

As for the ticking/clattering sound on cold start after sitting, that is actually fairly normal for a vehicle that isn't driven a lot. Oil has seeped down off of all the moving components and pooled in any valley/crevice it can find, so your upper engine components don't have a lot of oil on them. It isn't really good for them, but there is usually minimal damage since the oil gets to them fairly quick. Repeatedly doing this, however, could have long-term issues.

I would suggest that, if you can, start the truck at LEAST once a week and let it idle, even better take it for a bit of a drive to get everything up to operating temps. It may help with the cold start issues, and will definitely help you burn through more gas so you aren't letting it degrade so much.

 

[Lsujker]

I would put money on this being a fuel issue then

Might be. Last fueling was late June. Issued appeared in august. Fuel was only a few months old and the trip prior was towing with no issue on that same fuel. My thought is no but could have been bad at the pump. I will drive it all next week and report.