I have the same issue with my 97 4.2 truck, turns out it was the lower intake gasket going on cylinder 4 had a break on the seal. I replaced everything before I came across the lower intake. I was just about to give up on this but notice when I was checking the oil level I noticed it was gray and the oil cap had white stuff on it. So I thought I have a blown head gasket. After researching more about this I came across the lower intake. I replaced it and it's all fixed now. Now if I can only find where I have a vac leak I should be good. As it doesn't seem to idle right in park.

Been chasing this studdering thing for a while on my 2206 Expy 5.4 3 valve. Never a code.

Got a different app for my android (ODB2 Doctor), paid the $4.99 for 1 month and ran it down the road. Wait for the TC to lock and get around 50 with light load and get the bucking. Look at "Diagnostic" portion of the app and see a ton (83 in 5 minutes) misfire on Cylinder #1. Go to Ford, pick up qty 1 of 3L3Z-12029-BA. Install and problem fixed!

Thanks Bluegrass!

Torque Pro will do the same and costs $5 once with no expiration.

I have Torque Pro and could not get the same data
Perhaps I dont know how to use it.

To polish this off, the conditions that bring about the misfire require max coil voltage/spark.
If a coil cannot deliver during that part of the drive cycle, a misfire occurs you feel as a jerking.
When a down shift or up shift occurs, those conditions no longer exist, the misfire is cancelled and there is no code.
Only way is to Trap it or look in the history record for each cylinder at the past totals. You don't even have to drive the vehicle to see it in the record but good to verify the fault has been corrected.
Note that if memory is cleared, the history is also lost and would need to be rebuilt over a number of drive cycles if the fault is still present.
This can even somewhat predict future failures of boots etc if the same cylinder/s keep registering low amount of misfires that don't go out of limits.
No engine is always completely free of misfires all of the time due to the wide operating conditions.
Good luck.

Put it on "test results" and drive it.
Misfires counts will show up per cylinder
looks like this

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.for...112f852dd3.png
Torque Pro misfire counts. The last 2 digits are cylinder #. Note that the green box showing misfires on cylinder 1 in my sample pic is checked "OK" because the misfire was intermittent and did not set a hard code, therefore no check engine light. If it is a red box, it is ongoing and more "immediately serious".

True that driving it is not required, but is often the easiest and most thorough way to reproduce an intermittent misfire that only occurs on "that one hill" or on "that certain stretch of road".

Yep, this makes perfect sense. I tune the Cobra with a Quarterhorse and Binary Editor, and am well aware how that strategy works (EECV) But this truck was foreign to me. Now that I know what was going on (TC lock, EGR, timing) it does make sense with a weak coil.

As a side note when I was looking for the issue, I watched the PCM pull spark (or more accurately watched the timing retard) during this misfire. That to me confirmed Bluegrass's diagnosis. I just needed to pin down which cylinder. The ODB2 Doctor is definitely friendlier for some things than Torque Pro, but each good on their own.

Many thanks guys! I also found 2 dry rotted vacuum lines during this work, so it runs pretty good now! Only 141k miles, but many more to go!

Bad Coils
 

So glad I finally figured out the mystery of the shudder, was convinced it was the tranny as it would smooth out if I let up on the gas, and got the tranny fluid changed, but still the same, finally called someone at a local AAMCO (a well deserved shout out), very impressed with the gentleman who discussed over the phone what it could be, and he said it would be the ignition coils, at first it made no sense but he offered a free diagnostic, which is great as other places charge upwards of $120 here in the Dallas area. Anyway, started poking around these threads and sure enough, thats what the consensus seems to be, so now getting prepped to take it to AAMCO guy to change all 8 plugs and coils because of the few shops I spoke with, none pointed me in this direction including Firestone. Sooo glad its not the transmission, anyway wanted to thank everyone who contributed to solving this for me.

Good luck.
Make sure they use Motorcraft coils.
New plugs or regap current plugs usually fixes it.

Unless he tested each coil, you don’t need them. Never heard of all 8 being bad.

No no one has ever posted that either.

For me it was just plugs and wires. I would do that first and you might be able to avoid the high expense of new coils.

The best testing is done by the PCM under actual operating conditions.
You cannot duplicate the conditions the engine presents.
This is because the spark needed to fire the charge is Air/Fuel ratio dependent under cylinder pressures.
That A/F ratio changes with throttle and addition of EGR exhaust fed-back into the intake during a 'specific' set of driving conditions.
You cannot dup this with any common outside test means.
The use of a Scanner to look at mode 6, records is the way and can often predict a failure before it becomes a drivability issue if looked often enough.
This cylinder failure can be trapped when it occurs as well, if the Scanner has that ability to be set up,. It freeze frames the data.

Thanks!
 

Thanks for your post and for sharing your knowledge. You saved me some money. I had the shudder issue. Picked up 2 new "Carquest Premium" ignition coils with a 90 day warranty from Advance Auto Parts and installed myself after watching some Youtube vids. it fixed my issue. No codes just a shudder at about 35-45 mph and roughly 1000 to 1500 RPM on my 2001 5.4L Supercrew F150 gas.

FYI to future viewers. At the time of this repair, Rock Auto had the cheapest OEM Motorcraft ignition coils but I needed mine quick so I paid the premium rather than wait for them to ship to me.

My 2002 xlt supercrew 2wd 5.4l did the very same thing. After searching internet i thought it was a transmission issue but it wasn't. I talked to the previous owner (my father). He said put some injector cleaner in the tank.
Low and behold it quit the shudder and vibration. Glad it wasn't the transmission!!
hope my experience helps you.