1998 F150/auto/163,000 miles/4WD. I went to start her up this morning and it fired right up and then stalled. I tried again, but it didn't sound like it should when cranking. There seems to be no compression and a few cylinders will try to fire once in awhile. I'm thinking maybe a broken timing chain, but that's a guess. I had the same symptoms when my timing belt broke in my escort years ago. Any ideas?

 

As I was reading this, that's what I was thinking. You didn't say which engine you had. The 4.2L is a conventional cam in the block. The modulars have overhead cams and you could lose one at a time.

 

Sorry about that. It's been a long day. I do have the 4.6 in the truck.