I have a 2002 F-250 with the 5.4 V-8 and have loved this truck up until today

I drove the truck about50 miles and all was running beautifully as always . Shut her down to do some work and about an hour later fired her up and noticed immeadiately that it was running VERY ruff . To the point where the truck was shaking! I gave her some gass to smooth things out and as I got down on it noticed a kind of puttering sound (For lack of a better description) with ruff acceleration and other strange noise. It seemed very resistant to accelerate and at about 1500 to 2000 rpms when lightly giving gas it would shake the truck.

I drove about 50 miles like this to my home. At about 10 miles going I stopped for gas ( 93 octane ) , then went the rest of the 40 miles home. It never got any better.

I thought maybe water in gas/bad gas ... a failed plug ... clogged catalytic .... or other ??? Definately seems to not be firing on all cylinders.

When I got home I thought I could smell something burning , kind of like a fire cracker smell . I checked exhaust and found it was blowing hard enough to probably not be a clogged cat , but thought MAYBE I could smell some fuel smell coming from the exhaust (More than usual). Inspection under the hood showed nothing unusual , so at this point I'm at a loss. The spark plugs location is not even apparent so checking a plug was out of the question.

To add insult to injury ..... Though it's an '02 ... I have to drive about 100 miles a day on the highway so I am already at 45000 miles of FORD's pitiful BS warranty .

Any known issues on the 5.4 that could cause this ? ... I've been out of the loop for a while so I haven't kept up on it ?

Thanks for any help

Petre

BTW : I have a 5.4 with K&N Cold air intake ... Granatelli MAF .... and Diablo Sports Chip . Also a highflow mufler on basically stock single pipe.

 

Did the check engine light come on? Sounds like a failed COP (Coil on Plug) to me.

 

NO ... no check engine light

 

Surprising that the SES light isn't on if its running that badly. A COP would be a good guess, but you don't know which one and they'll usually light the SES.

There are many possibilities. I think you'll have to bite the bullet and go to Ford. If they have a good tech, he'll be able to narrow them without replacing half the engine.

PS: The COP's seem to be one of the few weaknesses of this engine so my dealer replaced one for me past warranty, but we have a real good relationship with him. I don't know if that is typical. I would ask nicely--it couldn't hurt. I usually have better luck that way.

 

I had a similar experience when a coil went out on my truck at 100K. The check engine light never came on. I stopped at a small shop and they told me to go to the dealer, because the dealer could check it with the computer, even thought the check engine light never came on. The dealer had me back on the road in 45 minutes. $115

 

I'd love to know who this dealer is ... Mine is a crook when it comes to pricing .

They want $120 just for the new cop and money to plug it into the computer and money to replace . He said after all is said and done if it's the cop I'm looking at $350-450.

Then I call around and find out the cop should only cost $85 .

 

You might tell him he's not competive, and that he'll have to do better if he wants the business. If that doesn't work, DO go elsewhere.

Actually, if you'd have to pay $450 (maybe you're in the boonies somewhere or something), I'd buy a COP and try it in different locations, starting with #4 and then #8. The back ones tend to go first. Also, I think the SES light will eventually come on and then a code reader would pinpoint the bad one. You may be uncomfortable running it with that miss, though. I guess I would be.

Good luck!

 

Petre; If you have access to a codescaner that can run real time you can
monitor the cyinder that may be giveing you the trouble, this may be helpfull
if it is an injector or something at this level. LIVE LONG AND PROSPER
TURBO TED

 

Doesnt anyone remember when factory warranties were only 12 months 12000 miles... my arent we spoiled these days..

 

Just as a thought, how about checking or replacing the plugs. The 100K tune-up is a selling point, but I've already changed my plugs at 60K and seen a pickup in performance. The wife's old car needed it badly at 90K. The plugs aren't the easiest things to get to, but we provide a good post and technical article for the do-it-yourselfer - and you can also look at your COP's at the same time... you have to remove them to get to the plugs. If you let the shop change the plugs.... well, let's just say it'll make that COP sound cheap. The price would be enough for me to become a week-end mechanic if I wasn't already.

Other things to check include all sensors... OBD-II scanner for $150 will retrieve codes and good ones will give you a dynamic reading while you operate the vehicle so you can see what's really happening. I recall reading that if the code is intermittent and clears in a cycle the check-engine light won't come on... the scanner should show you that. Some auto-parts store will read them for free - if you buy the parts from them, and the codes will store on the PCM whether they clear or not.

Then you could have gotten bad fuel or need a fuel filter change.... many sources with similar results - usually with codes associated with them.

The easy and most expensive route? The dealer.

-Kerry

 

yes i do, but i didn't pay $30,000 for the truck either!!

 

When I bought my Mustang in 88 it had a 6yr/60,000 mile warranty on the drivetrain. My 2001 had 1/2 of that!!

 

If you purchased a brand new Corvette in 1972 you would have got 12000 miles 12 months..

 

Could be, I was only 5 yrs old then It's amazing that Chrysler still gives a 7yr/70,000 mile warranty, but Ford doesn't try to compete with that.

 

Were you doing work on the truck and if so what were you doing. I would start with that then I would disconnect the battery and allow that to stay for 5 minutes then reconnect the batter and see if the computer will reset and fix the problem. It sounds like you might have a lose wire somewhere or you battery cables is lose. Ed