My truck has being having problems for over a month now. Its a 2004 5.4. It has become worse and worse and i have tried everything i know to do. When going slow such as through town it runs fine but if i put it to the floor it falls flat on its face. When cruising a 60 or so on level ground its fine but any hill will cause it to bog down too and have to down shift. I was on a large hill the other day with the pedal to the floor and it would get over 55mph. I can usually make it the majority of the way up this hill in od with the cruise on. The motor bogs down and there is a clicking noise from the passenger side amost like an exhaust leek.

I have cleaned the air filter and maf. The throttle body was cleaned about 5000 miles ago and i put a new fuel filter in and 8 brand new motorcraft plugs. Still no improvement. I took it to the dealer last week hoping they could tell me what was wrong. They said it was the chip and they took it out and it was running 3 times better. Picked it up and its still running like sh**.

So I was hoping somebody could please give me some ideas. I very frustrated with the dealer but they are the best option i have in my area and i am personal friends with the owner. I would like to have some things to tell them to check when i take it back. Thanks for any help.

 

Could be a coil pack or 2

 

I dont think so because I forgot to mention there is not check engine light and it revs fine in nuetral. Its when the truck starts to pull that it does it. Any kind of hill or anything. I live 10 miles out of town and can usually set my cruise and never come out overdrive, now it down shifts 6 times or more on the trip and has to down shift to second pulling a trailer.

 

search "cam phasers"

edit: my truck has been doing this same damn thing, so frustureating... have you noticed any sudden drops in your oil pressure? if so, thats a good indication that it is indeed your cam phasers.

 

A bad COP will not always throw a light I have had several bad ones with no light just performance sucks

 

I agree eddlestone213. Sounds like cam phasers need replaced. Comp cams makes a replacement that is better than the OEM but requires a reflash for the ecm. Sounds like you may be having more than one issue though.

 

The ticking at idle that makes it sound like a diesel does seem to have gotten worse when this started. Could this also be what im hearing that sounds like an exhaust leak?

Thanks for the replys guys. I have been extremely frustrated with this for almost a month now. Especially last week when the dealer tried to blame it on my chip and said after they took it out and it "was running three times better."

 

thats exactly what it sounds like, i actually had a new exhaust ran around the same time my truck started makin this noise so i took it back to the muffler shop and made myself look like an idiot arguing with the guy telling him to fix the leak when there was none. i hope you get everything worked out and fixed, good luck

 

The dealer should have checked the fuel pressure. That could cause the loss of power.