Hi all. New here.
Picked up a 97 f150 4x4 super cab? With the third door. ?
Idk I got a super steal on it and had to grab it. Hopefully it will tow my little race Honda. 😂😂

So the truck had been sitting for 5 years!
Got it home put a new battery in it and it fired up eventually. I was surprised.
This truck was covered in moss and just needed some fox.
It has 186xxx miles on it and seems to be in decent shape. It was a friend of my wife's in high school and had been sitting ever since.

So the truck runs but runs rough.
I drained the gas. Put new 92 in it with a can of sea foam. So far the truck has idled maybe a half hour until tonight I took it for a drive.

I changed the spark plugs I think I got autologht double platinum a?
I really messed up and thought this was a 4.6 and it ended up being a 5.4??? I read online the 4.6 has a aluminum intake and the 5.4 has a plastic.
So I bought plugs for a 4.6?
Does that matter? Are they the same? Lol

I've also read that the vacuum lines will make it run rough. I did spray some starting fluid on most the hoses this morning and didn't get any change in rpms.
The pcv valve is good and sucking.
I've also read the VCT can give it a phantom rough idle.
I cannot find them on this 5.4 lol

So that's pretty much where I'm at.
I should've done coils while I did the plugs. It was a pain in the *** and I'm not looking forward to doing them in the future lol

I am going to get a fuel filter tomorrow and some other things.

I did take it for its first drive tonight and man I thought it felt like the cats were clogged. Just super under powered and rough.
It also has a weird shudder in high gear around 40 mph. I thought maybe it was a tire or the trans in a high gear but when I put it in 3rd I think it did it again.
I have a big hill by my house so I tried to go up it and load it up. See if the cats were bad? It barley made it up at 30 lol I had to put it in second.
Something's definitely off.


If you made it this far. Which I hope you did, in really needing some help. I'm totally stumped at this point.

I'm doing a fuel filter tomorrow and possibly taking off the cats just to see what it does.
Any other help I can give my personal cell or email address to hopefully speed the process of what the heck to do with this thing.

Thanks and I look forward to some help

 

Check the trouble codes and post them.

Check the fuel pressure. There is a schrader valve on the fuel line (like the one on your tires) at the engine. You might can borrow a gauge from your local parts store.

https://www.google.com/search?q=F150...hrome&ie=UTF-8

Check the compression. I know this is a pita but it will tell you if the engine is healthy.

People on the forum advise to only use motorcraft spark plugs.

Midas can check the cats for back pressure very easily. I wouldn't take them off.

 

The proper plug is Motorcraft SP459. 5.4's HATE Autolites. Make sure you torque them to 28 ft/lb.

I'm betting one or more coils are bad and cats are plugged. Check for dragging brakes.

Use Techron in the gas, not Seafoam.

 

I actually saw that last night and bought some motor craft plugs.

Definitely isn't brakes. I also forgot I bled and flushed the whole brake system with new fluid.

It doesn't have any codes at all. I've hooked my reader up every time after I've had it running.
It only throws something if I unplugs it.

I'll check fuel pressure also today. Thanks !

 

So the fuel pressure is 32 running and 38 not running.
So I'm seeing that is acceptable.
This is before I changed the fuel filter.
I did get a p0171 and p0174 from last nights driving.



Thanks everyone

 

You are running lean. You either have a vacuum leak or your injectors are clogged.

Check the PCV line from the valve back to the intake, the elbow in the back rots out. Pull the injectors and bench test/clean them, or simply replace them. Check the intake for any air possibly entering the system after the MAF.

You don't have VCT.

 

Ok I used a whole can of starting fluid trying to find the leak.
The only spot that's open on the intake is the end where the filter cone goes thru the drivers fender.


The pcv had vacuum in it. I will check everything again and maybe get the injectors cleaned when I do the coils just for ****s since I bought them.
And the new motorcraft spark plugs.

Thanks again

 

You probably have changed the air filter. Do it if you haven't already. When I bought my truck it was down on power and the air filter was the original and it was the dirtiest air filter I've ever seen probably because the owner had moved to a home on a dirt road. My truck was noticeably more powerful after installing a new filter.

 

You need to physically inspect the PCV line elbow behind the intake. It's a pain to get to. Remove it and look for cracks and feel it. If it's mushy, replace it.

 

The pcv is supposed to be a one way valve right.
Well my I can blow and suck both ways. Maybe that's it.
The line is hard and the boots are rubber. No cracks.
I'll try that now

 

Replace the PCV valve. Motorcraft EV238. The elbow is a Dorman 46017. The elbow connects the hard line to the back of the intake.

 

No change ����

I'm not too sure where to go from here.
Now my schrader valve is leaking from doing the fuel pressure test yesterday. So I'll have to figure that out too ����

 

Pull the fuel pump fuse and crank the engine to relieve the pressure, then remove the core from the valve and replace it. Works just like a tire valve.

 

Ok so a guy at work told me to unpkug the maf and drive it.
I did and drive it, it didn't do thing. Just threw a maf code.


So I'm completely stumped. Going to pull the coils and put the new motorcraft plugs in tomorrow or tonight.

I also smoke tested the motor and no leaks. And I had a lot of smoke in them.
Then 5 minutes later I came back and undid the intake and it was stuffed full

So I'm not sure.
Any next things to test. ???

 

Intake was stuffed full of what where?