98, F-150, 5.4, 4X4, a couple of weeks ago my truck felt for just a slight second it was going to run out of gas. It happened a couple of time the first week and it only happened wihin a couple minutes of first driving it in the morning. I live in Arizona so the engine is not cold. It was so slight that I wasn't sure it was actually doing it. This morning it did it again but for two or three seconds. It feels sluggish like its running out of gas and within a couple of seconds everything is good. No check engine light. I got an elk hunt in three weeks and this is making me nervous. Thanks for any help.

 

does it do it when you first start it?

 

It idles fine when I start the truck, It seems to do it after I drive it for a few minutes. It seems to do it in town when I am accelerating at about 30MPH. When I am on the freeway at cruising speed it seems to be OK. It is real sporatic and may go a couple of days before it does it again.

 

How many miles and how many COP,s have you replaced?
just saw you are new. Welcome to FTE!

 

160,000 miles and I have never herd of a COP. I have had the fuel injectors cleaned at 100,000 and replaced a couple injectors and coils along the way. I have had to replace the #1 cylinder's fuel injecter and coil a couple of times. Other than that the truck has been solid. Original owner and I have taken care of it. Thanks for your input.

 

COP's is the coil over plug, but since they have gone out before you would know if it was that. There are allot of things it could be.
Do you have the haynes manual for it?
Does it have clean fuel and air filters?
Are the vacuum lines on the intake ok?
you should check them very well.

 

Nothing but a guess but I'm thinking you have another coil (C.O.P.) going out slowly but surely. Buy a spare put it in the truck along with a scan tool and the hand tools needed to swap one out and enjoy your hunt.

 

i would try fuel filter

 

Sounds like a really blocked up fuel injector I'd go get some Gumout first and work your way up the cost scale.

 

If you had done a search you would have found your questions have already been answered over and over again on this site. These same problems keep happening on these Ford engines. Coil packs, EGR with DPFE, injector issues, LEAN condition due to cracked rubber hoses on the intake side. After a while you can fix them in your sleep. It begins to sound like a broken record. Thank God for Ford. These engines are a money maker. I used to hate how they burried the COPs under the fuel rails, but now I've grown to love it. The customer realizes all the stuff that has to be removed just to get to the spark plugs and that takes time($$$). If you know Ford isnt going to set DTCs because of misfires you just use the shadetree mechanic method to find the bad COP. I know some guys resent my method, but how can you argue with success. I say don't knock it until you try it cause it works. I fix a lot of Fords, but I don't drive one. I drive the only 6 bolt main ever offered to the public and I don't have coil, egr or injector issues. Ford V8s are well build internally, but the COPs and EGR are crap. I don't think this happened by accident. If I owned one I'd probably keep it now that I know how to fix them unless I had one that has the heads with only 3 spark plug theads which blow out the plugs. If I had one of those I'd introduce it to my two friends: Smith & Wesson.

 

Uhm, that last post didn't seem constructive.

Were your replacement COPs genuine Motorcraft ones, or where they aftermarket. For most ignition components on Fords, the OE is far better than most of the aftermarket stuff, though there might be exceptions i am not aware of.

 

Thanks for all the feedback. My truck has not repeated the problem the last couple of days. I think I will buy a coil and keep it on hand when I go hunting. I already have a spare fuel injector. And to answer the last question about buying my parts, the last coil I bought was at Checker Auto. Again thanks for all the inputs.

 

A lot of these problems repeat themselves with different owners. Many of these same questions have been asked and answered over and over again recently on this site. I responded to many of them as did others, but no one wants to keep answering the same repetative questions over and over again. That's what a Search Engine is for. Use it! If you have misfires(with or without DTCs) or EGR problems there is a ton of info on this site to help you. These are some very common problems with these engine so the amount of information is voluminous.

 

Be a little nicer, some people like to be walked through it instead of reading about some one else having a similar problem.
if you do not want to help him, don't post any thing.
The coils are not hard to change, you are a ****ty mechanic if you have to pull any thing to change them.

 

I agree w bill. Almost mad it a week on these forums w out some one talking down to a poster. these forums are to get together w similar vehicle owners and share info. Not tryin' to dog pile.