SALT61

Hello Everyone, My name is Stanley and I am a new to me 2001 Ford F-150 extended cab 5.4L owner. I have wanted a pickup truck forever but being a family man it was just not in the budget. Well things progress, children grow and we now have 3 additional drivers in the house and I am tired of being the chauffeur for everyone so the Boss (my beautiful wife) approved the purchase of a 3rd vehicle of my choosing with a budget of $5000 with one requirement, it has to be able to transport 6 passengers in a pinch. Well there were basically two choices in my mind. Big old 4 door sedan or extended/crew pickup. Now I think we all know that pickup trucks hold their value, especially here in Texas, so I knew I was in for a fixer upper. I was a shade tree mechanic/road side assistant back in my younger days(six sisters and a stint as a phone advisor for Buick Roadside Assistance) so was not too afraid although the engines now are quite more complicated. So I looked and looked and looked and finally settled on this one. I did what I thought was my due diligence on looking it over before I brought. Odometer says 152345 miles.I knew it needed all new front end suspension and alignment (Drivers side front tire was worn on the inside edge and when I jacked it up everything wiggled). New shocks, replace 4 wheel disk pads and change fluid, oil change and of course a new stereo. A/C/compressor is good, blows cold, compressor cycles normal. There was no heat when turned to warm so I knew I was in for either a heater core flush or replace of actuator door housing fix. Two new tires on the back, moved the good front to the spare and found a matching wheel for the spare. No codes were stored or posted during my two test drives. All that was taken care of and I thought I was good to go but when I took my first highway trip, 3 hours each way to pick up my son from college for the summer, after I stopped at the rest stop and started out again there was some rumble/chuggle from the engine slight loss of power and Service Engine Soon light was blinking. Went of for a few miles and then went away. I had my OBDII reader with me so I checked but nothing was registered. One other thing to note is that I noticed that when I was running HVAC through panel and I stepped on the gas it switched to the defrost vents. I had done some reading on the goods and bads of the 5.4L Triton and from what I can tell I was experiencing a vacuum leak and a misfire. I checked the vacuum reservoir and it was OK so I ordered and replaced the line from the reservoir with the check valve and looked over all the other vacuum lines. The new line/check valve fixed the immediate problem with the HVAC but showed me that overall my hoses are very old and need replacement. On the to do list. Well yesterday on the way to drop off my daughter at school the engine misfire happened again and this time the Service Engine Soon light stayed lit. When I got home I checked and there was a Misfire in Cylinder 3 code registered. RATS! So I will be posting in the 99 to 2003 forum shortly to ask advice. I am hoping at best it is just plugs/coils maybe injectors. I am so hoping I do not have a dud here and just wasted time and money on other stuff to find my engine is done for. Sorry for the long hello/first post. I look forward to communication with the members and hopefully getting my Truck on the path to running like a champ. I have attached some pictures, everyone likes PICTURES.

Stanley T'''

Franchi Motorsports

iTrader: (9)

Welcome to the F-150 forum! Glad to have you join us.