I have a 2000 F 150 with the 5.4 w/ 146k miles. Today I hit some standing water after our storm we had pass through. Moments later the truck was vibrating violently and the check engine light came on. Took it to local parts store and they did a code check. Came up that #7 had a misfire. He said that I may have something wet causing the issue. I want to start drying things out tomorrow once this storm rolls past. Obviously I am not a mechanic. So, just short of turning my rig into an expensive bon fire...where do I start? I am assuming removing the coil and get in there with something to dry it out. Should I remove and check the plug? How do I keep from having this issue again?

 

Probably a wet cop. Pull it and dry the boot out. Blow the plug well out with a compressor. Let it dry and reinstall. Use die electric grease on the inside of the boot tip only. Try not to get it on the spring. Make sure your splash guards in the fender well are in place.

 

Thank goodness you mentioned spring. I hate it when those things pop out and I have no idea where they go. It just set right up inside the boot?

 

It is inside the boot but attached to the cop. It should not fall off, but if it does when you remove the boot, they can be reattached. What you should do is pull the boot off and dry it. Before you put it back on, grease the inside of it with a light coat of dielectric grease. Then put back on. Once it is on grab the spring, pull it out and wipe it clean. Then re install.

 

Thank you for your help Toyz. I'll tell ya, when this happened, I really believed that I had blown out a plug. I'd have been so mad.

 

Yea, those misfires can be pesky. The cop's are pretty sensitive to water. If you didnt already know, standing in front of your truck the cylinder numbers are like this:

4 8
3 7
2 6
1 5

So your number 7 will be drivers side second from the back.

 

Thank you for giving me the diagram. It looks like I may be working to get to that one. I am thinking that I am going to go ahead and do them all. I found that O'Reilys carries the correct spark plug socket for these too. I am going to pick that up and while I am in there go ahead and check to make sure all are snug. I will not tighten unless they actually turn by hand and no ratchet. Reading another thread previous I found that seems to be a common issue with the plugs. They work loose and flop around until they rocket out. I just put the truck up for sale on Craigslist. Too many issues for me. I love the truck and I love the body style but my love is equaled by my fear of it breaking down.

 

I did the same thing recently with the standing water bit. I got water in my #4 cop. I just replaced the cop from autozone $50.00. Had some one do it for me when they did an oil change.

Prolly could've just dried it out like toyz said,, but replaced it. Works just fine now.
But when that plug wasnt firing properly you could definetly tell it wasnt. The truck shook
something fierce when id drive it. 304,316 codes. drove better in non overdrive in the condition. something to do with the 316 code.

 

Exactly what it's doing. It shakes and rattles. It runs fine in park put under load not so much. I didn't get the code numbers. When I showed up at Baxter's it had quit raining. When the parts guy had his equip. together to check the code it started sprinkling again. Then as we were standing there it was like a typhoon started. The wind was blowing and the rain was coming down in buckets. We got the code and ran back in. It never fails. When I need to work on my rig it starts in on dropping buckets of rain on me.

 

Use a torque wrench on the plugs - 28 ft/lb.

 

I got it done. OMG what a nightmare that was. I had to lift the fuel rail to get to the bolt holding down the coil. I went ahead and pulled it and the injectors. Put new O rings on them all. I was totally surprised to see they were all clean. No build up at all. When i pulled the old coil it had one small drop of water in it. Really?!!! How dumb is this. I would never have guessed these things would be so sensitive. I did apply the socket to the plugs. I just put a little pressure on each one just to make sure they were tight. Put some of the grease in all the coils and connections. I think this weekend I'll pull the rail on the passenger side and the coils and put some grease on those. Thank you again for all your help. Doug