2000 Ford F-150 Lariat supercab 5.4L V8.
Yesterday I noticed that after driving for about 5 to 10 minutes that when I pushed on the accelerator the truck sputtered & jerked around. The longer I drove the worse it got to a point where it was doing it when I was stopped at a light. At first it was only doing when it was in gear then once when I was stopped at a light I put it in neutral & it still did it a little. A friend of mine is a mechanic had me powerbrake the truck to see if it did it & it did. After powerbraking it for about a minute the check engine light finally came on. I checked all of the fluids & they are all good. The truck has almost 80000 miles on it. I have never changed the spark plugs in the truck which is what my friend the mechanic thinks the code will show.
Any ideas?
If it is the spark plugs what are the best ones to get? I know there are some problems with this engine & spark plugs.
Thanks in advance.

 

The best spark plugs to get are motorcraft. Anything else is crap for the 5.4's. I had a similiar problem a while ago and was told to change the coil over packs. I did, and wow it runs better than before. My code wa p0132 or something...it said I was running lean. But I would definalty try some new plugs first, then it's still having trouble, or comes back in few weeks, try the COP's.

 

I just put the Autolite spark plugs in mine. The guy at the parts store talked me into it, and said they were even better. your post is the third one I have read now stating the spark plug problem. I am putting new COP's in and this week because of a misfire problem and wondering if I should replace all the spark plugs to motorcraft now, and if so which plug should I get.

 

Its been a long time since I have changed spark plugs in any vehicle. Looking under the hood at the engine in my truck it look like a real pain to accomplish. Is it a pretty big job or am I just over-complicating things. Also how much work is involved in changing the coil over packs?

 

I just bought my 2001 Lariat Supercrew in Oct. Started having problems shortly after. I changed all spark plugs in just under 4 hours, first time doing it. The most time taken was going back and forth for tools. I am confident the next time I could do it in less than half the time. If you are doing plugs you have to take the COP's off anyway so there is no extra time to add for the coils.

 

You have to take off the obvious stuff, hoses, 5.4 plastic cover, fuel rails (let the truck sit for a few hours to let the pressure die down a bit), power steering resivoir. But you get that stuff off, get a 7mm socket I believe, undcrew the COPs (don't drop the screw) and pull the plugs with the plug deep socket. You'll need so extra extensions, and swivel parts for all that, but you CAN do it your self and save hundreds.

 

Thank you for all of your responses.
The code was a misfire in cylinder #1. We changed the coil & it fixed the problem. Guess I got lucky this time.
Thanks again!