First off thank you in advance for any responses. I have frequently came here for help although never posted. Now am at a loss so figured would see what yall thought.

I have a 1997 F150 4.6L with 225000 miles on her. Truck has always ran great and I have kept up on maintaince. On March 21st I started out on a cross-country trip from CO to NC and when I hit Oklahoma City something went wrong. I was pulling a trailer with a motorcycle and the bed was loaded down as I was relocating and taking the essentials with me, running about 70 down the interstate.

First thing she did was start running rough and through CEL light so I pulled over and checked as she is Superchipped. P304 and P171. I limped her to an Autozone and changed all spark plugs, mass air flow sensor and the #4 fuel injector. Also tested the coil pack on the driver side and it checked out.

My friends were nice enough to go pick her up and bring her back to CO where the spark plug wires, passenger side coil pack, and fuel filter were replaced. We also gutted the cats thinking maybe they were clogged and that was causing the issue. They were but that made no difference other than making it really loud as it is also straight-piped. The gutted cats are only temporary.

Started seeing white smoke which tells me head gasket so we (very stupidly) added some Blue Devil and it helped a bit. Next day started smoking again and finally after adding 200 miles to it since the original codes were thrown threw the codes again so I took it into a shop and they kept it overnight and came back with a burnt exhaust valve on #4 via compression and leak down tests. Also told me that I probably had a scored cylinder.

Not sure this one I believe but who am I besides a chick lol. Anyways when I got it back they had unplugged #4's fuel injector (which I plugged back in this morning) and it is now throwing codes P303, P304, P307, P171, and P174. Did the dollar bill trick this morning, but with a mechanics paper towel as it was handy and a receipt, and didnt suck it into the tail pipe at all but fluttered away. When I put my hand on the exhaust I can fill a little suction but not much.

Any ideas as Im lost and I love this truck so dont want to scrap it. Cant afford a new motor or a head job and need to get back to NC in 16 days.
The help is so appreciated and hopefully yall can think of something I cant as Im stranded in Colorado Springs at this point.

Courtney

 

Man, hope you can get 'er fixed! Somebody here will chime in here soon with help. I don't know, but you've done good with ye truck! That's some miles!

Oh, if in Colorado Springs and need a place to stay, the catholic retreat center there is good and not expensive. Forgot the name, but easy to find.

 

Yeah I love her and hate that she is sick. Hoping I can figure it out so she will go another 200k.

 

Rent a u-haul to get back to NC and find someone reliable to help you out, there's nothing worse than being at the mercy of a shop because you're relocating. I wish you the best and let us know how things work out.

 

Thought about that but UHaul says they dont have a trailer that will fit her so wont talk to me about it and I have tried all the ones Budget has and they are about 14" too short. Also tried dropping the driveline and putting her on a tow dolly but she is too long so still scrapes the ground. If I could get her to NC I could take my time with her and learn how to pull the head or for that matter drop a motor as both are out of my knowledge but at a loss there too so need to see about getting her fixed or just letting her go

 

Railroad freight might be an option? If so, then you can tow it home and sort it out in your leisure

 

So no ideas on what could be wrong or do yall think its the valve also?

 

I have the same exact truck, I've had all these codes, replaced the coils, plugs, wires, oil change, had a clogged cat also but i see you mentioned that. The P3 codes i believe are all misfires, the two P1 codes come up together which is usually a vacuum leak, something cheap and stupid, pcv valve, egr our something. But you gotta fix that misfire, did you notice any fluid when you changed your plugs?

 

Well I rechecked all the plugs this morning and they were all too far gapped so i set them back to about .055. #2 showed signs of carbon deposits, according to picture in back of Haynes book, and #4 appears to have oil deposits. Also checked the PCV valve and it has good suction.

Going to see about the EGR thingie next. I have thought about a vacuum leak more than once but I don't have access to any sort of smoke machine and don't trust myself spraying carb cleaner lol. Never done it before and afraid of setting truck on fire

 

Yeah i hear you there but its def a vacuum leak somewhere for the p1 codes hopefully the plugs fix your misfires