Chris04FX4

I have an 04, FX4 with the 5.4 and 155,xxx. I just recently traded an S10 for it about four months ago and since then, it's been pretty much problem free...until today. Well I'll give a little back ground on the truck for what I have noticed about it and then the issue I had today. I'm sorry this will be long but it's my only car and I want to be as detailed as possible to help you guys be able to best help me.


So the only issues I've noticed about the truck since I got are a ticking noise that sounds like a lifter. It's done it since I got the truck and the previous owner, who was the original owner, said that it had done it for years without issue. It sounds like a lifter and didn't seem to have any effect on the truck.
When in OD between 45 and 65ish... with the converter locked up in overdrive, if I try to accelerate (mostly up hills), but don't give it enough gas to down shift, it will shudder or jerk like it's trying to downshift but just won't. Almost like a misfire kind of. I was going to look into it just hadn't gotten to it yet.
At full throttle, it misfires really bad and accelerates very slow above 2500 rpm and shifts at around 3k. Don't know if it's an issue, just seemed odd.


Now as of what happened today. I was driving home and all seemed just fine. As I was nearly home, the truck started making a really loud ticking noise. Like the noise it was already making, just amplified. I didn't think much of it because I had the windows down, which I usually don't. As I got farther down the road, the truck started to act like it had a bad misfire. I checked and had good oil psi, and it wasn't hot or overheating. Then as I slowed down to pull into my drive way it made a very strange noise. If you've ever heard an older car with a water pump driven cooling fan, have the blades come apart....That's what it sounded like. I'm sorry but that's the best way I can describe the sound. Then the truck just died. I tried to restart the truck and it wouldn't start. It would turn over just fine and without any noise...just wouldn't fire and run. So I let it sit for about 20 minutes while I googled my heart out and then went back out to it. I was able to get the truck to start by keeping the key turned over and giving it a lot of gas. Once the truck started again it runs horrible. It has was seems like a really, really bad misfire. It doesn't have any internal metallic noise to make me think that a bearing spun or a rod broke or anything. It just runs like half the plugs are pulled out. It still shows that it has good oil psi as well. I put it in gear to see if I could drive it to Oreily's to scan it, as the CEL is on now, but it doesn't even have enough power to move. It starts to move and then just sputters and bogs down. The only other thing I thought was interesting was the oil fill cap. Usually when a motor is running and you unscrew the fill cap, the motor's idle will slightly rise and the extra pressure exits the hole. Well when I pulled the cap off while it was running, it was under a vacuum. I could hear the air sucking INTO the crankcase as I pulled the cap off and as soon as I did, the motor died.


I'm sorry this is so long but I really need help. It's my only car and I don't know what to do. If you guys have any idea of what to do or where I should start looking, I would greatly appreciate it.

vintageman

If you cannot get it to Oreilly's, you should be able to put the dash odometer into a diagnostic mode and pull the codes if it is throwing any. With the key in the ignition and turned off, press and hold the trip reset button, turn the key on while holding the button in, you should see "Test" come on the screen. Push the button until it comes to DTC, then it should show you any codes, write the first one down, push the button again and get the next and so on. If it says "None" then it is not pulling any codes and Oreillys may be able to pull them if not being displayed by this method. To take it out of diag mode, just turn the key off. Good luck and let us know how it goes.
Tom

Chris04FX4

Thank you for the info. I didn't know I could do that. I'll step out in a minute and see what it has. The check engine light is on so I assume it has something there for me to see. Thanks again and I'll post up my findings.

Chris04FX4

Just gave it a try. 9360 is all it displays. Any thoughts of it?

vintageman

let me see if I can look it up

Chris04FX4

Thanks.

vintageman

OK searching came up with nothing other than others asking the same question. Try disconnecting the battery for about 30 minutes to reset the ecm. If this was the first time the truck has acted like this, maybe you will get lucky and it will clear the issue an allow you to be able to drive it down to oreillys. Hoping that whatever the issue is, is its a glitch that can be temporarily bypassed till you can get it looked at. Let us know how it goes.
Tom

Chris04FX4

Thanks Tom. I'll give that a try tomorrow and see what happens. Thanks again, I really appreciate it.

ajack

Sounds like bad plug(s) and/or cops. Same thing happened to me. #3 plug was shot and the COPS was too. Replaced and back to normal (Still shuddered at that gear shift until I did all the plugs).

Chris04FX4

P0353 is what the scanner i got this mornjng says. The description is "Ignition Coil C Primary/Secondary Circuit Malfunction". Is that helpful?