2003 5.4 shutters between 1200 and 1800 rpm

[Dutch]

Hello all,

I got a 2003 5.4 Expedition with about 120k on it. Previous owner has preformed all scheduled maintenance.
Lately I have noticed a shutter around 1500 rpm. Sometime shutting of the A/C helped, sometimes setting cruise control helped. That was until last Friday.

Last Friday, whenever I tried to accelerate slowly or would be on a small incline, the shutter would get really bad. Hitting the o/d button popped the rpm up and I would be able to drive out of the shutter again. Also the "service engine soon" light came on that drive. shutter was present between 1200 and 1800 rpm.

Today I had the computer read and got the P0302 (cylinder 2 misfiring).
So we pulled coil 1 & coil 2, cleaned them both. put new grease on it and swapped them out. Took it for a test drive and the problem is gone.

Does this sound familiar to anyone and if so, when will the second shoe drop?

 

[Gruz7]

Sounds very familiar... Common issue on these trucks

I need to do a coil pack eventually to 100% solve the issue, I already did all 8 plugs... Really the only way to ditch the misfiring IMO is all 8 motorcraft plugs and all 8 motorcraft COPs


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[docraymund]

Better check the fuel pressure. It might be caused by a dirty fuel filter or a faulty fuel pump.

 

[Gruz7]

Better check the fuel pressure. It might be caused by a dirty fuel filter or a faulty fuel pump.

While you're cleaning too, if I were you I'd clean the MAF and throttle body that always seems to help


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[Dutch]

Quick update;
Problem reappeared again. ECU showed it was now misfiring on cylinder one , so swapping the coils made the problem swap cylinders. As the new coils came in today, I swapped out number one for a fresh one straight away. We'll see how long it will last.

The rest of the coils and plugs will be swapped out for new ones soon.

 

[Dutch]

Latest update; All 8 coils and plugs haven now been changed out. And apparently "changing the plugs" does not mean changing all plugs at some places. We found 4 original plugs that were toasty to say the least. Also noticed that these 4 plugs came out a lot easier than the other 4 (suggesting the original torques specs) and they were caped way to big (64 vs the 54 it calls for).
2 hours later, with everything buttoned up again, the engine is running a lot smoother.