i have a 97 f150 with a 4.6L truck started to run rough on the way to school and i just got back and i need help so thank you in advance. so as i started my truck i heard some kind of noise like a tick or something coming from the front didnt think much of it cause i thought i had the a/c on and my a/c compressor makes noise but it was actually off. but i was then leaving to school i get to the stop sign on my street i felt it get rough a little and then i kept going then it got worse and CEL came on about after 4 miles then another 2 miles the light started to flash now this is where im like oh ****. but you can feel the misfire while driving down the highway. but i noticed if im driving under a normal load its not noticble but say i want to pass somebody i hit the accelerator everything begins to shake. once i start changing the rpm's it will get rough. i opened the hood and i was messing with the throttle and as the rpm's where coming back down i would hear this weird noise coming from the intake like a howl or something not to sure how to describe it. i also heard the tick again but dont know from where. also i heard like some type of arching something like a spark noise. so far this is the first time it has done this. before at times while sitting at a light the truck would run rough for a couple seconds then level its self out but while driving before nothing it ran good. i did a tune up when i first got the truck 2 years ago. lately i changed the plugs about 2 months ago but didnt do cables. and yes i did use motorcraft, before it had bosch plugs. so any ideas

 

The first thing that come to mind is you have a bad coil, or bad wire depending on what you have. I've seen trucks early in our generation have plugs and wires. If that's the case, do a full tune up... Plugs, wires, and disturber cap. I know you said you replaced a couple plugs a while back, but check them anyway. If you have coil packs, they may be starting to go bad one by one. If you have a bad coil, your truck should have thrown a code. Is your check engine light on? If its not, you might have a pending code. Have it scanned and go from there.

 

The miss under load does sound like a coil the tick could be a loose spark plug and the howl could be anything u got a cai?

 

Your truck being a 97 would have wires-not cops so I'd be looking there. You can try using a spray bottle with water and spraying the wires to watch for spark jumping. This is best done in the dark.

 

i feel like an idiot the wire was loose. i couldnt really tell the first night cause it was dark so i basically drove about 70 miles throwing raw fuel into the cat. well i replaced the wires and truck is running good thanks for the tips guys.