I recently bought this 1997 Ford F150 extended cab/Stepside truck. It had a new paint job, chromed out & was an overall dam nice looking Truck. It had what we were told a few minor mechanical issues. Needless to say the few has turned into the biggest nightmare of my life! I feel like my truck is the truck equivalent of Stephen Kings Christine. Oh yes...It's that bad! First I hired a mobile mechanic to hook it up to a machine & let me know what all was wrong with it. He came back with 1 code & said it needed one coil replaced. I paid him $160 to do this. (Machine test & coil). Fair enough. ..I thought....NOT. ..did not fix issue. I then took to my brother who had a machine & it popped 5 codes...obviously first guy scammed me. We fixed what we could there which was another coil, some pulleys & small this and that stuff. Air filter...stuff like that. In the end about $130 there. The alternator was a problem from the beginning so next getting fixed was that, the EGR Valve & the Idle Air control. Spent about another $240 or so. Husband put all that on. No sooner was that done the Fuel pump died. Same day mind u! Spent another $110 on that! While husband was fixing that he broke the fuel pressure release on accident & it cost another $70. By this time I want to take a baseball bat to this piece of **** truck! Anyhow...after all the truck still isn't running right. We decided its time to go to a mechanic shop. After 2 days in the shop they dont even charge us because they have no idea whats wrong with it. They checked everything up front...all the plugs & coils, the injectors.. all fine. It was said its running a little rich. Thats all. Meanwhile my problem still exists & I have no clue what to do! The problem Im having is this...When you idle or hit around 40 driving the truck jerks like its not getting power or gas. Its really bad & Im at wits end. Any help or advice is greatly appreciated or I may blow this truck up literally because I at this point HATE this FORD! Please help!!!!

 

You need to go to autozone or advance and have the codes read, they will do it free, and write them down, and put the actual numbers on here, not what they tell you the codes mean, and maybe someone on here can help you. Without codes it's a guessing game.

 

No need to be frustrated. Just goes to show that outside looks don't always jive with mechanical condition.

Your on the right track. Just go through it and take care of all of the little things that need attention.

What JCR said, we need the actual code numbers to help though.
Sounds like a typical misfire. Unless the mechanic ran some live date on it, you won't see a low grade misfire on standard scanner. They like to start bucking around 45mph.
What brand are the coils you are replacing with? There are a lot of inferior brands at local auto parts stores.

 

Which engine does it have, 4.6 or 5.4? How many miles on it? I'd change the spark plugs if that hasn't been done.

 

Its 5.4 if its got COPs in 1997.

what brand plugs/coils are in it? These trucks are really finicky with non motorcraft parts