Found out something very interesting today about the 4.2 V6's...................
 

as you have read we have alot of trouble finding the miss in the f150 we have. Just found out today that my stepson has a friend that works @ a ford dealer & he said that the 4.2 v6's are junk. Been having alot of the same problem that we are having. NOTHING can be done about it. Has anyone heard about this? Our's is a 1998. Thanks.....................

LOL, I guess I've been riding on "junk" for 4 years. Personally I haven't had any problems, except maybe for the ones cause by my own stupidity.

Oh well. But I guess we will find out soon enough. I just don't see it myself. Ford has the best trucks & engines. But everyone can make mistakes. It may just be limited to the 97-98 trucks.

Dayum,my "junk 4.2" has always run good for me.Have you replaced your lower intake gaskets on that 98 yet? That could be a reason for it running like that.Are you running Motorcraft plugs? Fuel filter ok? Air filter? Throttle Body been cleaned lately? IAC dirty? MAF sensor dirty? Any or all I mentioned could be your problem. I dont think the 4.2 gets the respect it deserves! :fyi:

opinions are like a$$holes, everyone has one, and they all stink. They arent junk. Yea, mine is such junk that I turbocharged it and did every concievable mod to it. Id like to line up to ANY ford N/A motor now. They will see how junky it is :rolleyes:

I know. My husband has owned fords for years..........long before I met him. He swears by them. His truck is a nice one, such a shame this is happening & it only has 76,000 miles on it. to answer the question aobut what we have done to it............new plugs & wires, (twice), new coil pack, new IAC, new TPS,new fuel filter, had it to ford 3 times...................that's where the plugs & wires come for the second time. New # 4 injector replaced (misfiring on #4 cylinder) Had upper intake removed & egr ports cleaned. New onboard computer replaced, wires checked from computer to coil pack fine. remove all wires from coil pack, they all fire fine except #4, small flame about 3" high & yellow, unlike blue flame from others. I heard that Ford is having a problem with this engine & they don't know what is causing it. It is the biggest mystery I've ever seen. Just wondering if we got a bad coil pack. so tired of fooling with this thing. just want it to be fixed or just get rid of it. Nobody knows.

Yeah, your engine is turbocharged and heavily modified, like that's a great comparison however you look at it :rolleyes:

To rustysgirl, the 4.2 V6 isnt a junk motor. It sounds like you just happened to get a bad apple from the tree. Unfortunately not every engine will be perfect, and it always sucks to be the person who has to find that out the hard way.

One of my friends has a '97 with the 4.2L, he bought it with I think 84k miles, and the engine eventually crapped out on him. But I think the previous owner didnt take care of it. He had the engine replaced and it runs pretty good now.

No Junk!!!!
 

:mad:
My "Junk" 97 4.2 Liter has been the best vehicle I have ever owned. I recently had a small miss in mine and have since figured out that it was my fault, due to me not changing the plug wires until 122,000 miles. This is the absolute only problem that I have ever had, and as it turned out it was a normal maintenance thing. I changed the plug wires just two days ago in fact, and the thing is running like the day I bought it. I cant say enough about this truck and Engine. Well I hope you get your problem resolved. Have a good day everyone!

rustygirl, I mean no disrespect but you keep mentioning it might be a bad coil so have you replaced the coil more than twice? Yes new ones can be bad and you can go back and get another one off the shelf that comes from the same manufacturing lot and it will be bad too!

Also do not take the truck back from the dealer until it is fixed (Or take it to a up-to-date dealer) All car dealers have a very specific test proceedure for everything. But most are still in the dark ages and just hook the computer up and read a code then replace stuff and hope it fixes the problem.

This is what you do, take it in and say I want an absolute diagnosis or you cannot work on it! And I want to see in in writing what you did to come to your conclusion then and only then will I make my decision on the work. If they look at you like you have two heads run the heck outta that place and find someone that has embraced the 21st century and have them work on your truck.

by the way the color of the spark in your #4 wire test is as old as the hills and is the absolutely wrong way to test your missfire problem!

I wish you and your husband the best of luck and I wish I knew more about the v-6's.

peace-

no we haven't replaced the coil pack yet. My stepson has a friend that works @ a ford dealer & he is gonna look @ it. I just don't what the problem is, hopefuly we will find out soon enough. Thanks again for everyone's advice. will try & keep you posted on what we find out. :)

rustygirl,

Try switching the #4 coil with the #1 coil. Then reset the ECU or erase the code. Drive around for a while. When the miss comes back if it's on #1 you know it is a "bad" coil. If it still misses on #4 you have eliminated the coil as the cause.

Good Luck,
Bill

Re: Found out something very interesting today about the 4.2 V6's...................
 

Yes, I know about the leaking gasket problem on those year models but I did not read anything that said you were having to replace radiator fluid...

http://www.leakingfords.com/index.html

rustygirl,

This is from the link that temp1 posted:

If the plug is fouled, you should "read" the deposits to determine why it fouled....

A spark plug that shows heavy whitish to brown deposits may indicate a coolant leak either past the head gasket or through a crack in the combustion chamber.

The early 4.2L's are known to have a coolant leak "problem". To the best of my recolection most leaked from the timeing chain cover gasket. This would not account for a problem in ONE cylinder. However, it could indicate a cracked cylinder. I hope this is not your problem. But it should be eliminated as a possibility. Was your original #4 plug fouled as described above. If so, do pressure test the cooling system.

Bill