After reading all the posts regarding bad coil packs on this motor I wish I had found this site sooner! I'm not alone! Only question I have is: how are the cylinders numbered in this engine? I had code for miss in #4 cylinder and changed out all plugs with no change (what a pain the 5.4 plugs are to change!). I've moved the back coil packs to the front thinking the pass. side rear is #4, correct? Will swap that coil and check for leaking AF, anything I'm missing? Two observations: all plugs and plug wells on the pass. side were rusted/loaded with trash, drivers side were clean and dry, why? No plug fouling at all, I would have thought plug under bad coil pack would be fouled?

Thanks!

 

Hi hugepettyfan and welcome to FTE

Which Petty are you a big fan of? Pretty exciting last few laps of the race today eh?

As for your question......#4 is the rear one on the passenger's side. Number 1 is always the furthest forward cylinder....the front one on the right (passenger's) side. Fords are #1,2,3,4 on the right side, 5,6,7,8 on the left. Other makes like GM have their cylinders numbered differently.....1 is L/F, 2 is R/F etc.
The heater hose is right above #4 COP (coil on plug) and if the clamp is loose you will get coolant dripping onto it. Usually the top of the COP will have a greenish tint to it if there has been a leak....but not always.
As for why the plug holes on the one bank were rusty etc, I have no idea but have seen it before. It's amazing that with the COPs fitting as tight as they do that anything can get in there but I've seen small rocks etc in the holes. Sounds like a case for Unsolved Mysteries

 

Thanks for the speedy reply! The Petty I'm a fan of is Tom Petty "and the Heartbreakers" although most folks think it is the "other" Pettys! Picked up a coil today and will dig back into the motor, it's much easier now that the snow is gone. One odd thing, I did the plugs on the pass. side about 3 weeks ago which didn't change the symptoms: after driving 10 minutes heavy miss with flashing MIL and it threw the code for cylinder #4... yesterday I did plugs on the driver side and there is now a miss all the time but no code? I'm thinking I messed up something while working on the drivers side and if I let truck warm up enough the miss in #4 will come back... sound right? What should I look for? I'm certain I've got all the vacuum lines back where they belong, is it possible to miss the plug with the COP? Thanks alot for your help!

HPF

 

Oh THAT Petty
I would try #4 COP and see what happens. I dont think it's possible to miss the plug with the COP. You're sure you got the connector plugged onto the COP ok? Did you happen to accidently unplug an injector? Drop a plug and close up the gap?
Crack a plug?
Let us know what you find

 

Problem solved!!! Bought the new COP and set out this morning to install it... I removed the COP from #4 plug and examined it really closely. I had no green tint or anything on top of it but noticed "tracking" just below the round upper portion of the COP. This "tracking" was greenish white and fluffy, not carbon tracking like with a distributor cap. I've got picts of it if there is somewhere to post them. It looks like there are cracks under the tracking also. I plan on some destructive testing on it! I installed the replacement and checked the heater hose clamp just above the #4 cylinder... found the clamp/hose loose enough to spin around the fitting by hand! Tightened the clamp and went out for a road test... Yeah, got my truck back on the road! Thanks racerguy and the rest of folks that posted!