Whats wrong with my Ford?

Hey guys. Sorry, this isn't a classic. My good '02 F150 has started acting up on me. I was driving to Walmart the other day and noticed my pickup wasn't acting normal. It was slow on the acceleration, and then shaky. Then I came up to a stoplight, and it started to smell like rotten eggs. I kept going until i got to walmart. I got my things and then headed home. On the way home, my service engine soon light came on. I stopped and filled up with gas and added some isopropyl alcohol thinking that would help. When I got home, I plugged it in overnight. I was hoping that combo would take care of it, but it didn't 4 days later it is still acting the same way. I was thinking it was a vaccuum hose, or the injectors, but maybe i'm wrong. Any ideas?

One of the signs of a plugged catalytic converter is the rotten egg smell,how many miles on the truck? I have seen bad ones at 80K depending on the type of driving.

rotten egg smell is from unburned fuel from a missfire now you need to determine if its a rich a/f missfire or electrical time to check read the plugs my guess it is 1 or 2 bad coils ford are famos for that the chech eng light is o2 sensor generated it see the mixture as too lean beacuse of unburned o2 in the exaust from a couple of dead holes....ted

"What's wrong with my Ford?" IT'S A FORD! Sorry, couldn't resist.
The smell is a converter that's being poisoned by too much fuel, or the wrong fuel. Injector cleaner might help, but it sounds too far along for that. The converter is probably toast, and the injectors need cleaning. There is likely a sensor somewhere that is screwed up, you'll have to check the codes for that.

depending on the mileage on the truck the converter will probably heal itself if you have not driven it too long in this condition....ted

I have a 2002 Expedition, probably same motor (5.4 V8). I have experienced the exact symptoms.

As mentioned above, the coils are notorious and I have had to replace several. The good news is that that they're fairly easy to get to as they're located on top of each spark plug. Diagnostic (from the dealer?) will tell you if that's the problem. Bad news - if the dealer does the repair they're expensive.

Longer method, but much less than the dealer will charge, is to buy a new coil and begin substituting until the problem goes away.

Good Luck,
Glenn

My pickup has 96k on it now. I bought it with 82k last year. It started acting up the other day. I've only put maybe ten miles on it since. I did notice the last time i was home from college, i put it in park and it revved way up to 3k. It was odd, but never thought much of it cuz when I turned it off and later back on, it was fine. Don't know if that has anything to do with it or not...it was cold that day. I do live in North Dakota if that tells you anything. lol.

By the way, I forgot to mention that it is a 5.4 Triton V8. Its been a good engine thus far...for the time i've had it anyway. I am a college student and work at Sears for money. I went to the auto department and asked how bad the spark plugs were to get at. They told me its atleast a 3 hour job for a professional. Then they told me if i felt like doing it myself, I could expect more time yet. They do look a little tricky...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TuffTrax

By the way, I forgot to mention that it is a 5.4 Triton V8. Its been a good engine thus far...for the time i've had it anyway. I am a college student and work at Sears for money. I went to the auto department and asked how bad the spark plugs were to get at. They told me its atleast a 3 hour job for a professional. Then they told me if i felt like doing it myself, I could expect more time yet. They do look a little tricky...

---

You probably will need plugs soon - but with saying that - that might/probably will not be your problem as you described.

This is an article that will explain how to change the plugs out - and they are due at 100K on a 5.4 with COP ignition(just wish my V10 plugs were that 'easy'):http://www.ford-trucks.com/article/i...ter_F150s.html

denny your real close but no cigar. the o2 sensor is a battery that works with two dissimilar fluids that fluid is o2 the air outsie the o2 sensor is 21% o2 diference between the outside samole and the inside sample generates current that the computer reads in milivolts up to 1 tenth of a volt the more 02 on the inside sample the lower the voltage thats why if you have a missfire the 02 goes out the exaust unburned the computer sees low voltage and sets a lean mixture code .....ted

HAs anybody asked whether or not the air box is sealed tight? Or the warm balmy conditions of the mid west of which he's driving in. With out knowing all of the conditions, you have to start with the simple stuff. Icing on the MAF wire because the moisture has gotten passed the filter?. I say get the codes first and start at a reasonable start point. What is obvious ain't always obvious.

Has anyone thought that maybe he has a chevy sucked up in his exhaust?

:LOL:;)

Hey guys. thanks for the help! Turns out I had 4 bad coils and 2 bad boots. Replaced the 4 COP and the two boots and all 8 plugs. damn near $300. Coils aren't cheap. I had water in my heads. We had a really good snow strom here a couple weeks back. Must've gotten around 28 inches of snow. It was blowing horizontal as well. Anyway, on my way to work, I had to hit a road that hadn't been plowed. What I think happened was the snow from the drifts got up in there and melted when the engine was warm. This caused water and it seeped into the heads. I had to blow them out. After I got it together, I heard another couple misfires, but after running it for twenty minutes, it went away and i can't get it to misfire anymore. Thats a good thing though. 3.6.7.8 were all bad coils. New boots on 4 and 5. Runs like a Ford again...perfect!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ted dehaan

denny your real close but no cigar. the o2 sensor is a battery that works with two dissimilar fluids that fluid is o2 the air outsie the o2 sensor is 21% o2 diference between the outside samole and the inside sample generates current that the computer reads in milivolts up to 1 tenth of a volt the more 02 on the inside sample the lower the voltage thats why if you have a missfire the 02 goes out the exaust unburned the computer sees low voltage and sets a lean mixture code .....ted

---

You are almost right on this..........

If you have a missfire that is say ignition related,say a coil is defective and not firing the plug and the fuel/air mixture... You will have an excessive amount of unburned fuel that is pushed out the exhaust....With this you will get first a po300,multiple missfire code. Then if it missfires enough you will then set a code of the cylinder that the coil is defective. IF you drive it long enough with the missfire you could possibly set a Rich condition code. Most cars now will shut down the injectors for the cylinder that is missfiring to save the converter. But the car wil not set a Lean code when there is an ignition missfire.


If you have a missfire and the criteria has not been set to turn the MIL, you can look at Mode $6 info to tell what cylinder is the problem...but thats anouther thread all togther :p

You will probably be replacing #4 coil also soon. Water rolls over the cowling and drips down on #4 and #8 cylinders coils. Also if you can..next time put dielectric grease on the boots as they go down into the heads.