Chiefmoldybutt

1. I have a 2006 F-150 King Ranch 4 door 4x4. 5.4L V-8 3 speed with overdrive transmission with 89k miles. On cold and wet days sometimes just cold days and especially when I don't warm it up my check engine light blinks and the truck itself bucks violently and sputters when at idle almost dies. It does get worse when hauling my boat or going up large hills. This happens at all speeds. Once it warms up and if I turn it off and restart it the problem disappears and the light stops blinking. It did it the first time about a year ago then disappeared. This winter, I'm in Texas so the winters don't really go below 25 F but very rarely, it started doing it again. I would say it does it about one out of twenty times I use the vehicle. The engine seems to run rough all the time but not bad. Can anyone help me? I don't have a lot of cash but I can work on cars and have the tools.(No code reader though)

2. Is there anyway to stop the valve clatter/tap problem inherent in the 5.4L without pulling the heads off and getting them redone?

PLEASE HELP ME!

jaiello

I had a misfire rough idle and it felt like it was missing. I would start off by changing the coil boots and springs. Pack plenty of dialetic grease before popping them back on. While I am doing that I would change the plugs which in itself is a nightmare proposition. Before you try that make sure you have the Lisle tool handy if not dont even try it. Those would be the two cheapest things you can do. Changing my boots cleared my problem right up. I was having a coolant line drip coolant into the #8 plug that deteriorated my boot and gave me the rough idle. If that doesn't work the next thing would be to pull valve covers and check your chain tension and phasers if those are fine. Check VCT solenoids and since you are in there change them. If its still an issue I would check fuel pressure and filters and fuel pump. After that I hate to say it but I would do the timing chains, guides, phasers, tensioners, oil pump a real expensive ordeal. Mechanic quoted me $2,500 for the timing job I am about to do it for around $1,200 a lot of this money goes to specialty tools for the 3v engine. The spring compressor is $140.00, you need a puller, a camshaft holder tool, the timing tool impact gun and several other things. Also, look at Makuloco youtube channel he is excellent in step by step ways to work on the 5.4l 3v. Hope this helps.

Chiefmoldybutt

So that will make the check engine light flash? I can live with the tapping of the valves till I have more money. but I cant have the thing die on me on a long road trip. Thank you so much for the information!

redfishtd

Failure to do a proper on time tune up, Don't go past 60k on plugs and boots . These plugs 5 inches down in head not an easy change out do it right the first time . The design is faulty so you must learn the traps .
Mc has had nothing but bad luck with these plugs they are on the 3rd design . The 5.4 uses the newest sp546 without any announcement out of Ford , I personally jumped to champions after the first plug failures and have avoided the other failures. So use MC or champions the rest are trouble ,
Misfires will damage your cats which are very expensive and can damage plastic guides on chains , You must get them eliminated early .

Oem cops rarely fail but they are subject to corrosion, clean all contacts real well . I did not have any luck with aftermarket cops .
Always use new boots they are not that expensive .
Keep your hands clean doing plugs, 30,000 volts will track with dirt etc . always blow out area before pulling cops / then blow out plug wells to keep sand etc from going in cly . Don't leave holes open to let stuff fall in there, stuff with clean rags as you go .
Be gentle with plugs use proper rubber socket .
Dielectric grease is an insulator not a conductive gel use just a little of it on boot ends . Its purpose is to stop boot from heat seizing to plug and stop moisture from entering inside of boot . It helps stop tracking of high voltage but it can attract dirt which will track high voltage and cause misfires. Keep it off metal electrical parts for the most part . A little isn't going to hurt much .
Plug wells should be cleaned out with carb cleaner ,that carbon in there breaks plugs going out also breaks them going in .
Start plugs with your fingers it should be easy and almost go all the way in . if it doesn't feel right back it out .
Plugs should be torqued in 25 to 28 foot pounds not by feel .
If these are original plugs don't try it until you study ford tsb and have lisle plug extractor tool on hand .
You may have a bad cop also, get codes to see which cly and move cop etc to see if it followes to another cly . You may need to use a code reader with a mode 6 on it that gives misfires count on each cly .

techrep

iTrader: (1)

BadFish523

This^^^ You don't want the dielectric grease interrupting the connections. Here's my procedure for boots and springs. People on here are probably tired of hearing it but my last 4 or 5 misfires have all be solved with new or cleaned up boots and springs. Cost is under $40 and it sure seems to work for me. Simply remove the coil, remove the boots and spring from the bottom of the coil. Clean contact point of spring and coil with electrical contact cleaner, put new spring on, dielectric grease on the point where the boot contacts the coil (careful to not get any on the spring or the contact point of the spring and the coil), then very carefully dielectric grease on the bottom end of the boot where it contacts the ceramic of plug but not on the spring so as to not interrupt the connection between the spring and plug, then carefully put the coil back on the plug and do the relearn process.

jaiello

Yes correct I guess pack was the wrong choice of words dab dialetic grease is the better choice of words to create a seal.

Chiefmoldybutt

Going to take care of it Saturday. I will post my results. Thank you to everyone who took the time to point me in the right direction. I am going to find out what the fault code is just to be sure before starting this endeavor.

God Bless,
Mitch

techrep

iTrader: (1)

Chiefmoldybutt

OK guys and gals I apologize for taking so long to get back to you on my problem. I fixed it, it was the number 4 spark plug boot. It had a crack in it. That's why when it was cold and wet or just wet it would miss and the check engine light would blink. It was about 230 dollars for the tools and part to do the job maybe a little more with the boots for all of them. I replaced the coils too. It took about 4 hours and the hardest part was trying to lean over the truck to get to them. My mileage went from about 12 mpg to about 18 if I'm real nice...lol On the highway I drive from Austin, TX to Port Aransas, TX quite a bit trying to fix the damage to my house down there from Harvey. I got 21mpg going 75mph without stopping and had low traffic, I took I35 then I37 so it was total highway miles. I want to thank all of you for your help and yes I used the grease to seal the plug caps.

Now the next problem. Being a beach fishing truck and boat towing vehicle in both sal****er and fresh I am having trouble with the four wheel drive system. The 4X4 kicks in and locks just fine but when I try to take it out of four wheel drive it sticks. I have a serious problem getting it to come out of four wheel drive. I try reversing back and forth turning the steering wheel. Nothing seems to disengage it. After several minutes sometimes turning the vehicle off then restarting it will disengage. Other times it just takes 5 to 10 minutes then with a large CLUNK it disengages. It operates perfect in 2WH, 4WH and 4WL but just wont disengage. So any ideas? I know it's rusty under there you can never get all the salt and sand out from the chassis. So here I am again with a different problem CONFUSED! Can anyone point me in the right direction? Just to refresh everything 2006 F-150 King Ranch 4 door 4X4, 3 speed tranny with overdrive. 5.4L Triton V8. The truck has less than 90k miles on it and has already had a transmission go on it that was fixed under warranty. I take good care of it and change the fluid including stuff like diff. oil and transmission filter and all fluids...it's well maintained but seems to be falling apart. So there y'all go, help me please!