majick872

hi i am recently having problems with my 03 f-150 5.4 engine seems to be running rough and is like it is starving for gas,or water in fuel,or fuel filter plugged or is running on 6 or 7 cylinders.those were my first few guess untill service engine soon light came on.so i disconnected the battery to clear computer to see if it came back and it did it flashes then goes away.on the other hand i have a head gasket that is gone no water in oil has been leaking oil for awhile but never givin me anymore trouble other than the leaking oil.so now my question is are these 2 problems related or is there something else wrong?any thoughts would be appreciated.

kozal01

iTrader: (2)

a flashing CEL usually indicates a misfire. if it thows another CEL have the codes pulled and narrow down to what cylinder is misfiring. if you say you have a bad head gasket that would be the first thing i would suspect. have you done a compression test to see if its leaking?

majick872

Thanks for the info it is deffinetly like a misfire,the service engine light did flash then go away but know seems to stay.i havent had a compression test done i am just assumming that the head gasket is leaking because it is a defect from factory and i tryied to locate oil leak and it seems to be up high on the back side of the passenger side its not a valve cover gasket thought it was an intake gasket but there realy isnt any oil in the lifter valley like the old engines.now i have never done plugs or anything really to the truck it now has 161 000 kms on it.

Green '01

Probably not the same problem as yours, but:
My mother-in-law's 2002 Crown Victoria had similar symptoms with rough idle (stalled a couple of times) and pi$$ poor acceleration - 60,000 miles. Code reader said misfire at one of the plugs, which we removed and found it fouled but also saw a tiny white spot on the side of the spark plug boot. That indicated a pinhole in the boot which allowed the spark to short out to the cylinder head in the plug well. Rplaced all plugs and boots and the problem was solved.
If you replace the plugs, don't forget to gap each and use anti-seize on the threads.

kozal01

iTrader: (2)

yep, thats a good point. sounds like its time for a tune up anyways, so a new set of plugs wont hurt and while your at it, inspect the COP boots

majick872

yes i do know its time for a tune up but i am scared to do it myself not because i am not mechanicaly inclined its that i have heard horror stories about changing the plugs as they like to break,and i did take it to the ford dealer to see how much it would cost to do the head gasket and they told me it calls for 19 hours of shop time at over 100 dollars an hour here in canada i cant really afford it,that would be the time to do the plugs is when i get the head gasket fixed i've just been trying to hold off as long as i can but now its giving me the other troubles

FordExpedition

Hey, I have a 2003 Expedition with the same 5.4L as your F-150, which experienced the exact same issues (i.e. running rough, seeming to run on 6 or 7 cylinders, and a fluid leak of some kind coming from the passenger side of the engine). I don't know if you have fixed you engine yet, but in case you haven't, the problem was that a heat control valve for the radiator fluid cracked, and spilled anti-freeze directly down onto a cylinder, which fryed the sparkplug, coil, and caused it to run on 7 cylinders. I would check there if anyone reading this has the same problems. Hope this helped.