Last night it was raining and my 2005 Ford F150 supercrew 5.4 started dying. The engine ran very rough and the check engine light came on. when I got home I read the codes: P0175,P2198,P0308,P0430,and P2198 in that sequence. The light is still on (i didnt reset) but now it is running smooth? What gives? I took it into ford last night still under warranty, I hope they dont just reset the light and send it out. Anybody got any ideas? I searched and it appears to be related to coil problems, or bad plugs, does the 5.4 engine have any other issues for this intermitant failure?

 

Holy crapping codage batman!

Wait and see what the dealer has to say.

 

thanks for the reply, yea lets see what the dealer says.

 

Here is what your codes mean IMO.
1. P0308 cylinder 8 started to total missfire.
2. P0175 oxygen sensor 2 front detected this.
3. P2198 is that ox. sensor 2 unable to switch from the problem.
4. P0430 is telling that the front and rear bank 2 oxygen sensors are not switching, that the cats can't work under the conditions and is an efficiency lost signal.
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Cylinder 8 caused the whole sequence of events.
The rest of the codes are just in response to it. That,s how good the system has been developed.
I might add that this is an example of the poor electrical/mechanical seal design that has not been improved since 1997 model year and is so important to trouble free use of the truck. It's poor when an 05 has a problem so soon that could have been improved on.
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The computer software is actually picking up the poor design done by other engineers.
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This makes working on the ignition very critical. The plugs have to be first class condition, the boots in perfect condition and sealed to the plug insulators.
The seal at the top of the cylinder head must be tight to keep out moisture, in addition high voltage leakage at the plugs in a confined space causes it's own set of problems.
I have proven this beyond a reasonable doubt while working on a light throttle miss that has now been cleared using certain changes and methods of plug sealing. I can run in heavy rain with no problems.
Remember that in rain, the fan pulls water moisture in over the engine, water can come from under as well as a leak faults with hood seals and heater hoses etc. Add this to poor boot seal at the cylinder head and exposed coils and you have a combination ready for failure at any time.
Look over this board and it can be seen that ignition problems is number complaint overall.
The old exposed plug engine design never had these rates of failure.

 

Hey bluegrass, so what i am reading is to put dielectric grease on plug seals to keep moisture out. any other tips. Are there any aftermarket replacement seals that work?

 

Ford called said that the coil pack had burned up on number 8, also that there was a bad injector (dont know which one) injector bad at 20k miles, wow never had that happen on my other cars. Do the 5.4 engines have injector problems?

 

Looks like I read you situation pretty close.
Here are some of my findings and position on the whole matter.
1. Plug center resistance is somewhat critical. No one ever checks this.
2. Plug boot fit around the plug insulator must be at least a push fit. Old boots grow in size and don't seal well.
3. The dielectric grease goes hard and flaky within about 500 miles. I am looking for a better alternitive.
4. There is a space between the bottom of the plug boot and the metal body of the plug where leakage can result when the boot seal is poor. The reason this is a problem is when the plug errodes from use causing it's minium fire voltage to rise. The extra voltage can leak from under the boot to the plug body.
This can cause random missing without codes and can be dependent on mixture conditions in the cylinder.
It is at this time there tends not to be enough missfire records built in PCM memory that will set a code plus the randomness could invole many cylinders.
Which one does the PCM call faulty?
Hint; fill this gap on the plug with a dielectric material and grease coating. Try 2 good grade #110 rubber, neoprene, silicone 'O' rings just snugg fitting each plug insulator with grease coating. This has to be done before the plugs are installed or a special tool made up to install them when the plugs are already in place.
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Now the cat's out of the bag.
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I have not figured a better seal around the COP end of the boot yet unless I need it.
The electrical / technical theroy behind all this gets a bit involved.
There are other people who have done work in this area and there are SAE papers done on the subject that fits right into the problems as I have encountered, and in part, worked out to the point needed to solve my problems one test peroid at a time.
I may not go further from this point if there are no more ignition problems.
Further; this suggests many people blame spark plug makes and types for problems caused by boots and general conditions.
As it stands now, I am "not" running Motorcraft plugs and not the same cross referenced plug to the original type specified for the engine as new.
The plugs are less than $3 each.
None of the above applies to any obvious ignition faults such as a known bad plug, boot or coil that sets a code.
Lastly there is a way to increase spark intensity for better fuel mileage and improved HC/CO emissions.
It does not include hi power coils that only makes things worse for voltage control at the boots. This change is quite simple but yet expensive so is not cost effective unless some one has money too burn along with the gas the engine uses.

 

My wife has a 1999 Lexus RX300 with coil over each plug, and she has 130k miles and we have never experienced a problem. I changed the plugs at 120k miles and reused the coil packs with the boots. What did Toyota do to make theirs so dependable? I was told at the dealership that the seals on top might break, but all were very pliable and I coated them with dielectric greese to lubricate them. Why is Ford having such a hard time?

 

I don't know their design but it must be good and not have some of the short coming of Ford's system first started in 1993 on the Lincoln Mark VIII mod motors..
Ford is not technically a "coil on plug" from 2000 up with the spring link being used as a short plug wire inside an insulation boot..

 

I thought they fixed this !! all COPS are now booted - so it was compromised threw the boot?

 

The coil to plug is about 2 inches long on the toyota engine, maybe that gives it better connection without flexing and not getting a good connection.

 

The Ford spring measures 4" +/- .
It sets into the coil and around a 'spade' lug about 1/4" and sets over the plug tip about 1/4".
Subtract the amount of installed compression for the total distance covered.
The stock spring is wound into a coil with spaced turns on both ends of about an inch in length.
The turns are closed wound in the center and has a graphite inset in the center.
There is a difference betwen the OEM spring and at least one aftermarket spring.
The OEM spring winding on each end presents an inductance in series with the circuit. One after market spring has these ends wound in oppisite directions by a reversing crossover at the center.
This inductance has an electrical effect that a 'true' coil on plug has very little of.

 

Hey bluegrass, the truck is ready and the story changes by the minute, no they are telling me that number 8 injector failed and took out the catalytic converter, they changed both and said truck is ready, Does that sound probable or is the injector failing common on the 5.4 engine.

 

If the injector stuck open yes, if stuck closed-no, and/or the plug loss of ignition. A stuck open injector would flood the plug/cylinder into non ignition anyway.
If it's fixed, no use of sparing with them because it is moot point now.
You see what can happen from one fault propagating to the distruction of other parts in certain rare cases like this.
Not much that can be done about it. When it happens you don't know the extent, until it's all over.
Good luck.