2002 Jerking

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WideHauler

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Hello brothers, my LS car has developed some roughness in the ride lately.. seems to jerk me up and down at around 4500RPM on uphills mostly under heavy throttle. The RPM's go up and down a little, jerking the whole car and stuttering?? :confused:

I did search and people say something about police COPS or something? I tried swapping my coil packs from my F150 but no go.. help me please guys, thank you. If someone could just post what exactly I need to fix I would much appreciate. I don't spend much time at home or online as I am a busy truck driver (WIDE HAULER), just hoping to get this car back on the road so the old lady can enjoy it.

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Change your COP's (coil on plug) and your spark plugs. The COP's from your truck are different and will not work on your LS.
 
Sounds like coils and/or plugs to me possibly.. That's all I can think of. Good luck!
 
I had a similar problem although it happened more on the lower RPMs: 1500-1900.

It was the sum of two problems, a cracked degas bottle (very subtle cracks, only leaked under high temperature/pressure) and the COPs.

I replaced the bottle first, performance improved but wasn't perfect. Problem slowly got worse, then I replaced the COPs and plugs. Since then its been perfect.
 
I have had same issues

ok, this is gonna be a big post, sorry ahead of time. I am having the same problems and I have done searching for over 8 hours on this topic. And what I have come up with is this. One of the things it can be is exactly what you said, Coils, wires, etc... The LS's have a habit of leaking oil from the valve cover gaskets. When the do that they leak to the coils and cause issues. That is one thing you can check and see if that could be possible. I too have had to replace coolant degas bottle, it did not affect performance at all, it would just over heat every once in a while, would get hot as hell, than would cool off from switching to 4 cylinders and using as fan. The way i knew to add coolant was to pay attention to the needle, when it was riding over the half way line or damn close to it, I had to add coolant. I just got it fixed, no more issues with coolant. Anywayz, another thing that is a very common problem with these LS's is the solenoid packs in the transmission. That is the problem I think I am having. The solenoid packs just get worn out, they can be rebuild, but they aren't too expensive at all if you know where to go to guy them. I have been having jerking in "5th" gear only when at steady speeds, and what it reminds me of is a misfire, but feels much more of an aggressive jerk. Like somebody just "barely" rear ended me. What are the specs on your car, year, v8/v6, manual/auto, etc...
 
Oh, and another thing I wanted to throw in, is if it is possibly your solenoid pack, you want to replace your valve body as well, both are very easy to replace, its just filling the tranny with new fluid that is a tricky bastard. Anybody that has any quick and easy methods on filling the 5r55n/w/s with tranny fluid without owning a $250 pump or a $15-20k snap on computer to keep an eye on fluids, feel free to chime in! I am in the same boat and would like any opinions on filling the tranny with fluid. I am a full time student and money is tight, but I love my LS and will do anything to keep her around!!! Good luck, and I'll keep an eye on this thread to help in any way I can!!
 
chausse420 said:
...The LS's have a habit of leaking oil from the valve cover gaskets. When the do that they leak to the coils and cause issues. ...
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This is a common misconception (started by Ford itself) that I would like to correct. Coil failures on the LS often do not have anything to do with oil leaking on to them.

Early on the LS had problems with VCGs and COPs. (Unfortunately, it still has a COP problem.) People would come in for COP problems, and when they pulled the coil covers, they would see oil in the wells. The assumption was made that the oil was causing the coil failures since both were seen together. Correlation ≠ causation. The fact was that most of the LSes had oil in the coil wells, but they only pulled the covers off the ones with coil problems, so they didn't see the others.

That said, oil in the wells does degrade the coil boot and the plastic of the coils. It can cause failures, and it should always be fixed.

Many coils fail with no oil or water contamination. The cause is that the epoxy that the coil is potted with breaks free here and there due to thermal expansion/contraction. This leads to high-voltage breakdown of the insulation with in the coil. This causes it to become marginal because some of the spark energy is being wasted by arches inside the coil itself.

I agree that WideHauler's problem is almost (99.9%) certain to be marginal coils. The correct solution is to replace the coils and the spark plugs.

I also agree that the degas bottle does not effect performance until the LS starts to overheat due to air in the cooling system.
 
Wow, thanks

Well thank you very much for you clearing that up, I will definitely not forget that. So do you think that the jerking i my LS is the same thing, or do you think it is in fact the solenoid pack. Mine seems to only jerk in 5th gear. I only felt it "one" day, it was a few days ago, Saturday I believe. And I haven't felt it since. Do you think mine is the coils or the solenoid pack, and why do you chose one or the other. Thanks for all your input ahead of time, I'm not trying to hijack your thread, just having the same problems.
 
chausse420 said:
Well thank you very much for you clearing that up, I will definitely not forget that. So do you think that the jerking i my LS is the same thing, or do you think it is in fact the solenoid pack. Mine seems to only jerk in 5th gear. I only felt it "one" day, it was a few days ago, Saturday I believe. And I haven't felt it since. Do you think mine is the coils or the solenoid pack, and why do you chose one or the other. Thanks for all your input ahead of time, I'm not trying to hijack your thread, just having the same problems.
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Never say never, but it's much more likely to be a coil than solenoid. Coil problems first show up at max engine load, and accelerating (or going up a hill) in 5th is max load. Solenoid issues tend to show most when the transmission is shifting, and less at steady state conditions.
 
Well thats good to know. It had first shown up on Sat, I wasn't on much of a hill at all, and it was right after it shifted, into fifth. It shook probably 4-5 times than stopped. And its at almost 90k miles right now. I'm not sure what they are rated at, but if that help you pinpoint it, than that would be great. Thanks again for all your help and info.
 
Another thing is, is that its not throwing any codes. No CEL or anything, so how could i Pinpoint it to a coil. Can they be checked with a volt meter? Or is it just best to replace them all?
 
chausse420 said:
Another thing is, is that its not throwing any codes. No CEL or anything, so how could i Pinpoint it to a coil. Can they be checked with a volt meter? Or is it just best to replace them all?
Click to expand...

Marginal coils won't throw a code. It is best to replace all the coils and plugs.
 
chausse420 said:
Another thing is, is that its not throwing any codes. No CEL or anything, so how could i Pinpoint it to a coil. Can they be checked with a volt meter? Or is it just best to replace them all?
Click to expand...

It's best to replace them all. In some cases, you can find them by running the KOER self test and looking at the misfire counts. The best (and only reliable) way is to have a stress test done. This costs more than just replacing them all, if you do it yourself.
 
Will do, I will definitely replace them all, and hells ya I'm going to do them on my own. I just got back from school again today and earlier it wasn't doin it, and now its doing that shaking crap again in 5th gear. It's pissin me off, I just want my baby to run right. I just got done installing my new sub and the big 3 with a Kinetik HC2000 and now its shaking, Its always something. Well, I will post up on this when I replace them and let all know if that was indeed the problem. Thanks for all your help guys! Very much appreciated. While on here, has anybody ever had any problems with the steering wheel buttons not working? I checked all fuses and they all seem to be fine, the stereo buttons wont work because there is an aftermarket deck in it, but my damn cruise control doesn't work and I love my cruise. It hasn't worked since I bought the car, anybody have any ideas??
 
chausse420 said:
...but my damn cruise control doesn't work and I love my cruise. It hasn't worked since I bought the car, anybody have any ideas??
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It's almost certainly the clockspring. Eventually, you'll lose the horn and get an SRS light on. (Note: With gen II the clockspring is about the only thing that can stop the cruise. With gen I, your cruise module may have failed, or the mechanical cable between it and the throttle body may be disconnected or bad.) I did have the resume button itself fail on my 04. Fortunately, the button assembly is cheap and easy to change.
 
the horn doesn't work unless i set off the factory alarm, but i have an aftermarket alarm on as well, so when it goes off the factory alarm does too and thats the only time the horn ever works. It has worked on one other completely random occasion when i was trying to honk it at my friend and scare him and it actually worked. Than when i tried it later that day it didn't work.
 
I do have the "air bag" looking light on, does that by chance have anything to do with it?
 
you guys are all awesome. I dont know what I would do without everybody apart of this site. Since you seem to know your &$@#, what about my 4-5 shift, it jerks sometimes, but never does it when im using manual shift and i take it up to higher RPM's before I shift. I'm assuming its my solenoid pack and/or valve body shift springs. Any thoughts?

And another thing, do i need to just reposition the clockspring, or do i need to get a new one? for 36.99, I figured I would ask.
 
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chausse420 said:
you guys are all awesome. I dont know what I would do without everybody apart of this site. Since you seem to know your &$@#, what about my 4-5 shift, it jerks sometimes, but never does it when im using manual shift and i take it up to higher RPM's before I shift. I'm assuming its my solenoid pack and/or valve body shift springs. Any thoughts?

And another thing, do i need to just reposition the clockspring, or do i need to get a new one? for 36.99, I figured I would ask.
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It must be replaced. The traces are broken inside it.

Where are you finding these prices? The typical price is about $150

Cover And Contact Plate Assy **4Z-14A664-AA CLOCK SPRING, From: 03/22/1999 To: 11/18/2002 2000/ 2002 $155.8
 
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