Engine popping sound...help appreciated.
 

New to the board, hello everyone. I have a 1998 F-150 5.4L Triton with just over 24,000 miles.

After the car has been started for a seconds and it's at idle, I hear some sort of popping sound and it sounds like it's coming from the engine bay, popping gets a little louder if I put it in drive. I don't hear it when I'm driving probably because of my exhaust, but it's worrying me.

I've read numerous articles on the plugs so I'm going to check those when I get home. I also thought it might be pinging because I filled up at a cheap gas station when I picked the truck up.

The popping isn't in a consistant fashion, meaning the popping seems to be random.

Another thing to note is, after driving it home on the freeway the check engine light came on and upon running codes it says I was lean in banks 1 and 2. I've since cleared the codes and they haven't come back and it's been 80-100 miles er so.

Any ideas and help is appreciated, thanks again.

Ok, after sitting with it for a few minutes, it doesn't make the clicking sound when it's in park or neutral, only when you're in drive or reverse. Any ideas? Thanks.

I had a rough idle and stumble on acceleration after changing my plugs and wires. The boot had backed off one of the plugs; I could hear the spark "pop" when the hood was up. You might check your plug boots.

Others have lifted the hood at night when it's dark, looking for stray sparks under the hood. Could be a bad wire with the spark voltage arcing to ground.

Let us know what you find!