Just bought a 2002 E350SD 16' cutaway truck (Budget truck rental) for $3900. Body is great and I am very happy with the truck. Engine has a miss and seemingly corresponding valve tap that is not loud enough to be a definite cause. Exhaust smells like unburned fuel.

I changed the plugs to bosch +4 and miss got much smoother but is still very present. When I changed the plugs the old plug on #3 plug was dark, not carbon coated but just dark and a bit wet. The rest of the plugs were whitish.

I also swapped the coils and injectors for #3 with the #7 cylinder.

So now the miss is very present but not shaking the engine at idle as bad as it did before. It seems the cylinder is getting some power or not totally misfiring all the time as it was before.

I plan to do a compression test next but I am not at all familiar with this engine so any advice on how to proceed is appreciated.

Are there any tech notes on the proper way to do a compression test on this engine or how to replace lifters?

Finally can the lifters be removed on this engine without removing the head?

Jim
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Sounds like you need to change the coil on plug for that cylinder.

The 5.4 is an SOHC engine with no "in the block" lifters.

Your noise is more than likely an exhaust leak coming from the aft end of the RH exhaust manifold. The studs are garbage. They loosen and sometimes break.