I'm looking for suggestions on what to check/clean/replace. I have a '96 F150 with the 4.9L (81K miles). I have been getting some hard starts. Other times the truck starts fine. I can't find a good pattern. The truck will crank over a few times and then fire up. It will studder and shake and then stall. If I do that 1-3 times and give it a little bit of gas it will fire up. Once it fires up then it runs fine. I replaced plugs and wires. I also ran a couple of bottles of injector cleaner though the tank. I was thinking about running some Sea Foam though the motor. What do you think?

Thanks

 

First: remove, clean, & tighten all 7 terminals on the heavy wires from the battery to the starter.

Second: test the fuel pressure with a gauge. Click my black Bronco below & look in the EFI Fuel Pump album for more info.

Third: get a Haynes manual or a Ford service disk, & a digital multimeter so you can test the TPS, ECT, ACT, MAF, & other suspect sensors/actuators.

Fourth: call around for a parts store that will pull your codes free, and get a list of the actual code numbers.