Hope I'm not too late here. It sounds like you might have a bad coil pack. Do not have the garage do them, though. A single bad coil pack can cause your symptoms. If all of them were bad, your truck wouldn't run. A coil pack for my '97 F250 ran about $100 at Auto Zone. They are held on by two screws, which is why paying someone to do this is silly. What you should do is shoot over to Auto Zone and find out which cylinder is misfiring. (If your check engine light is on, they will scan your vehicle for free). If your firing order is the same as mine, start in the lower left as you view from the front.
Should look like this:

BACK
4 8
3 7
2 6
1 5
FRONT

Replace only the coil pack that is causing the problem. The entire job should only take about ten minutes. If it's not the coil pack, and I'd be surprised if it isn't, then you have a truck with a brand new $100 part in it, which isn't so bad. Also, if you have no idea how to do auto repair, buy the part and match it up to the part in your truck. This is how I first learned basic repair.

 

Alot of times the computer will not throw a code and you will have to manually change each one out until you find the culpret. I had to do that when one of mine when out with no check engine light.

 

You can also get the whole coil pack, boot and spring for about $40 at:
http://www.wittydeals.com/product_in...products_id=97

 

i'm a little confussed. my dad has a 99' F250LD with the 4.6, and it has coil packs and wires. did ford make the change half way through the model year? or is this just something special for the 250LD?