2006 5.4L - Rough Idle/Fixed
06-06-2014, 01:55 PM
#1
Member
Thread Starter
2006 5.4L - Rough Idle/Fixed
I purchased the truck with around 90,000 and it now has 104,000miles on it. It was running pretty well and gas mileage has been what i expected (it eats it) with the 34.1 tires. Since I’ve had the truck, turning on vent or defrost (where it pulls in outside air) meant almost passing out from the gas/exhaust smell.
This past winter I purchased new motor craft plugs, new coils, and the Lisle(?) tool. My plan was to find a decent weekend with nothing going on and then try it. While out on Monday striped bass fishing it started to hesitate some as we were almost to where we were going to fish. Fished/plugged and lost a 20lber at my feet before losing the tide. The ride home was terrible. Had to limp home and the check engine light started flashing. I babied it home.
The codes were P0300 (random misfire) and P0301 (cylinder 1 misfire). The next evening after work I changed the coil pack on #1. Idle improved but hesitation when the gas was pressed was the same. I then decided to take the boots off of the driver side and prep for the weekend to complete (all 8 packs/plugs). I swept up and blew the wells clear with compressed air. I took the plugs off and sprayed some kroil in the wells. I put the socket on the plugs to crack loose and the spark plugs were hand loose. No ratchet/torque wrench needed. The boots were brownish. I then changed all the plugs and coil packs (with boots) because they were so easy to get out. The random misfire code went away but then got a P0351 error. I didn’t seat the coil pack on #1 properly, but had to change that plug so had to take it off anyway.
I removed the battery, computer, swept, cleaned/ect, then replaced all the spark plugs and coil packs on the passenger side. The P0351 code was then gone/no check engine light. I was amazed that the truck actually ran as good as it did with what you see below. The blown out spark plug was for cylinder 1 and you can tell which ones were loose by their color.
Everything is buttoned up now, truck running like I’ve never felt it, rock solid idle, no more loud tapping, and what I hope will be improved gas mileage.
Prior if I was idling and you were standing by my truck, you could smell a strong exhaust smell and also had the issue above where with vent on you’d smell it. That is now gone now too. I had thought it was the manifolds (changed the passenger side but not the driver side)
The previous owner used autolite plugs with no antiseize and obviously didn’t torque them down properly. 5 of the 8 were VERY loose and the one was blown (as the pic shows)...
Next on the list for me is the tranny flush. I already did the fuel filter. Knocking one thing out at a time (front control arms, tie rods, ball joints, ect are next)...
Thanks to the main guys who contribute here. Your posts have helped me out a lot since I've owned this truck...
This past winter I purchased new motor craft plugs, new coils, and the Lisle(?) tool. My plan was to find a decent weekend with nothing going on and then try it. While out on Monday striped bass fishing it started to hesitate some as we were almost to where we were going to fish. Fished/plugged and lost a 20lber at my feet before losing the tide. The ride home was terrible. Had to limp home and the check engine light started flashing. I babied it home.
The codes were P0300 (random misfire) and P0301 (cylinder 1 misfire). The next evening after work I changed the coil pack on #1. Idle improved but hesitation when the gas was pressed was the same. I then decided to take the boots off of the driver side and prep for the weekend to complete (all 8 packs/plugs). I swept up and blew the wells clear with compressed air. I took the plugs off and sprayed some kroil in the wells. I put the socket on the plugs to crack loose and the spark plugs were hand loose. No ratchet/torque wrench needed. The boots were brownish. I then changed all the plugs and coil packs (with boots) because they were so easy to get out. The random misfire code went away but then got a P0351 error. I didn’t seat the coil pack on #1 properly, but had to change that plug so had to take it off anyway.
I removed the battery, computer, swept, cleaned/ect, then replaced all the spark plugs and coil packs on the passenger side. The P0351 code was then gone/no check engine light. I was amazed that the truck actually ran as good as it did with what you see below. The blown out spark plug was for cylinder 1 and you can tell which ones were loose by their color.
Everything is buttoned up now, truck running like I’ve never felt it, rock solid idle, no more loud tapping, and what I hope will be improved gas mileage.
Prior if I was idling and you were standing by my truck, you could smell a strong exhaust smell and also had the issue above where with vent on you’d smell it. That is now gone now too. I had thought it was the manifolds (changed the passenger side but not the driver side)
The previous owner used autolite plugs with no antiseize and obviously didn’t torque them down properly. 5 of the 8 were VERY loose and the one was blown (as the pic shows)...
Next on the list for me is the tranny flush. I already did the fuel filter. Knocking one thing out at a time (front control arms, tie rods, ball joints, ect are next)...
Thanks to the main guys who contribute here. Your posts have helped me out a lot since I've owned this truck...
Last edited by wink182000; 06-06-2014 at 03:27 PM.
