alright guys so i got the good ol 5.4 in my 97 f150 4x4. shes got 198k miles on her now and has a 5 inch rcx lift 35s obx longtbe headers magnaflow hi flows and tru duals... well lately ive noticed when i put it in drive itll make a sound like its shifting into gear but it shouldnt make the sound so i need to change universal joints i reckon... its also been bucking a little bit. it started out only doing it on inclines but now its doing it just going down the road and yesterday i started it up and looked at the exhaust and some white smoke was coming out it was very very clear barely noticable... and today i was coming home and the bucking started and it bucked and felt like something was grinding my rpms dropped a little.

 

maybe a misfire? coil pack going bad? how is your coolant level?

 

^ Prolly COP. Just replaced one myself. Guess I need to save up and have all of them done.

 

my coolant level is about a half inch below the cold fill range..... as far as coil pack going bad ive been thinking about doing this upgrade-
http://www.troyerperformance.com/cgi...ogno=PPI-IUCOP

. the grinding feeling when it bucks is what really bothers me... i thought it was just my truck running lean from not having a custom tune for the headers and hi flows but now im not so sure

 

Dont waste your money on upgraded cops. there are lightnings with over 800HP on the stock cops.

 

yeah true. i just need to diagnose this problem and get it fixed fast

 

does it idle smooth or rough? you can pull the plug on each cop while its running to diagnose which one it is and change the affected cop.

 

it really depends. sometimes i start it up and itll idle a little rough then sometimes it wont. also sometimes it wont buck going down the road for instance today it drove perfect all over town and to my house and it was till i was on my way home that it bucked a little bit going up a hill barely noticable

 

i dunno, just floor it when it acts up, maybe you will get a code

 

My 02 4.6 did the same. It turned out to be cylinder 7 missfire but it did not throw a code for almost a month.

 

i have a cel light on and its been on since i installed my headers and everything i guess ill make a trip out to auto zone or the local co-op and have them check the code. usually when something serious is happening the cel will flash and its yet to flash with this so ive just been shrugging it off

 

It won't for the cylinder miss fire.