Ok, I have a 2004 F150 5.4 Lariat 4x4 screw with 62,000. I haven't had it long and bought it used from a dealer with the Base Care warranty that is good for 24,000 or 24 months. First, I start hearing a small but annoying rattle only when I start from a dead stop. I was told these are noisey engines. Now when I am cruising down the road let's say around 50 mph and decide to give it a little gas to maintain my 50 mph for the upcoming hill I feel a slight vibration in the floor board. It only lasts a second then it is gone and the truck is going just fine until the next rise. Do you guys think this could be a spark plug issue? My old 97 with a 4.6 would do almost the samething but I felt confident changing the plugs on that. I have read the horror stories about the 2004 5.4 plugs. Any suggestions / help would be greatly appreciated!

 

Hey JCBUCK,
I have a 2004 screw 4x4 with 5.4. When I first bought the truck it had 40000 on it and drove and rode like a Cadilac. I have only purchased an ext. warr. on the last two Ford vehicles I have bought because it seems Ford has been a little slack the last couple of years in the dependability department. But back to the vibration. After driving it about two hundred miles The tranny started whining real loud upon acceleration. This turned out to be the bearings going out. My local dealer rebuilt the tranny. The whinning problem was fixed but now when the truck was put in reverse the radio would cut off. the dealer stated that it was nothing they did but two weeks of them keeping it and and driving my gas out they replaced the range selector switch on the tranny. Thought things would be good now but nope not yet. When the truck would be in OD and going up a hill the truck would down shift and the whole truck would vibrate,shimmy, and then slam into 4th gear. Well I took it back for a third time just to find out it needed a valve body. Note: they should have replaced this when they rebuilt the tranny but didn't. Another two weeks went by and finaly I was ready to enjoy my new ride after more than two months in the shop. Ok this is where the vibration comes into play. On the way home I noticed vibration in the steering wheel and in the drivers side floorpan. It would also get worse upon acceleration and when going down a hill with the engine slowing vehicle. I took it back only to be told this was normal for this truck. I'm pissed by now. The tires where almost in need to be replaced so I gave there diagnosis a chance. After replacing tires the vibration was still there. I took the truck to a different dealer this time for repair. They drove the truck and said exactly the same thing that the other dealer said. I just can't beleave that a truck can go from riding like a caddy to riding like a wagon. After some chewing they started checking tolerences in the driveline only to find out the drive shaft was off along with the rear end needing to be rebuilt. After having those fixed and replacing the cam phasers. The cam phasers made the truck sound like a diesel and is NOT normal regardless what a dealer says. I am for the first time since the test drive pleased with my truck. So I would look into the possibility of a rear end or drive shaft problem. My truck now has 43000 and looks absolutely spotless. It was taking well care of so I'm not sure why I have had these problems. I think it's just sucky craftsmenship. I hate to so that because I used to be a Die hard Ford man but this is qeustionable now. Good call on the ext. warr. it saved me $8000.00 in repair bills. Mine had a rattle to upon acceleration but turned out to be tranny cooler lines to close together. I hope this helps.