I have a 2003 f-150 4wd 5.4L. There was just a hesitation in Overdrive at first and today I noticed when I turned overdrive off it was still hesitating. The hesitation causes the truck to "buck". It seems to be getting progressivly worse. The service engine soon light came on for a day and then went off and has not been back on since. So I was not able get the code read. When I first noticed the problem it seemed to be in low rpm's in overdrive and I stepped on the gas it seemed to stop when it downshifted. Any guidance appreciated.

Thansks
Pick

 

Bump... anybody?

 

Pick, welcome to FTE. See you on the boards!

How many miles on your truck? Ever changed the fuel filter? Plugs?

Your problem can be almost anything. You mentioned that the CEL came on for a day and went back off. Take the truck to Autozone and have them check for stored or pending Diagnostic Test Codes (DTC). Get the DTC number(s) and report back here.

 

Thanks! I will add all of that info to my signature like yours in the mean time... I just bought this truck three months ago, it has about 80k miles on it. I have not done any work to it so far as I just got it. I will have them check for the codes and report back asap. Thanks for responding.

 

I had a problem like that with a 1999 F250. Took it to the dealer, and they said there was a problem with an electrical module or something that controls the shifting. They replaced it under warrenty, and it then shifted fine. I don't know what damge was done to the tranny during the episode.

 

I have a '97 4.6. It did that when I accidentally put in low octaine gas while driving across country. The light popped on for about 150 miles (a couple hours) and shut off. I took it in to Ford and they said it was one of the o2 sensors. So, maybe try some Heat in your tank or fill up with some Premium to compensate????

 

I suspect you are one of the small group I have seen reporting this peticular type problem.
It seems to act like a low throttle, light load, roll on throttle miss.
I have been chaising this in an 02 for some time.
It acts like an ignition miss without a code being set.
I have spent a good amount of time with the ignition system only to find out it is not an ignition problem. Plugs were changes 3 times, boots attended to, coils tested and each time the fault gets longer and longer between intervals that amount to weeks and a month between times then only shows for very short intervals.
I have shifted to chasing it as a power interupption by swapping PCM relay with the towing relay, swapping power fuses to the PCM and have reduced it to a very low incidence rate with this work.
Must either be improving other things or affecting the root cause with the work done.
As of the moment I still think there is a power/wiring etc fault somewhere that is either temp or motion sensitive since it will happen at any time hot or cold, dry or wet when it does happen. So far it happens so little as not to be a real problem day to day or for reliability.
If I ever find this I will be sure to make the root cause known.
In the mean time I have accumulated a lot of research on spark plugs, boots, coils etc that could help solve other ignition problem owners have by using little tricks I have developed and are still on the truck to this day as ongoing testing.
When and if it is ever positively fixed, a small book could be written about the cause and effect of it.
I have done a lot of things in the pursuit that have not been mentioned here.
Oherwise the truck runs like a top.
Good luck.

 

I have an 03 f150 4x4 4.6 I had to replace my starter and fuel pump this past 2 weeks . Picked it up from the shop and they said I need transmission work and my overdrive light is flashing on and off . Going off a redlight it will shift gears until 3rd and it won’t shift into the other gears. Before I dropped it off at the shop I had no problems with this everything worked fine

 

You would need the code that causes the shifter light to flash as the first diagnostic.
Otherwise just making this thread a complaint is useless.
There is no amount of guessing that will be of help.
Good luck.