F150 Engine Problems

[gallion_t]

I have a 2001 F150 with the 4.6l v8. Last night while driving home the engine all of a sudden started sounding really weird and running really rough. I pulled over instantly and checked the oil. There was only a tiny bit at the very bottom of the dips stick. The truck has never leaked or burned oil before. I added more oil to it to get it back up to where it should be and the issue continued. I cant find anywhere it is leaking oil and still starts up and runs, just very very rough.

The first thing im thinking is that one of the coils on the plug went out. I have had that happen several times before to me and its never ran this rough before.

If anyone has any suggestions or things to check for im all ears.

[Woodchuck]

Take a close look, those are known to blow spark plugs out and ruin a coil in the process.

[Skillet]

 
First thing that popped into my head.

[jackelope]

Take a close look, those are known to blow spark plugs out and ruin a coil in the process.

It would be really loud if this happened. Coils do go bad on their own all the time as well. By far, the most common problem they have. When they have a misfire, you can almost guarantee it's a bad coil. Replace the bad coil and the plug.

[TheHunt]

Did you check to see if there was oil in your radiator?

[whacker1]

How many miles since you last did plugs and coils?

[Westside88]

If it's missing oil it went somewhere. I'd start by rechecking the oil since its been sitting, look for oil in the cooling system and looking for where it could be escaping. These trucks sometimes had spark plug issues, look for a partial blowout of one?

[jackelope]

If it's missing oil it went somewhere. I'd start by rechecking the oil since its been sitting, look for oil in the cooling system and looking for where it could be escaping. These trucks sometimes had spark plug issues, look for a partial blowout of one?

They have an even more common problem with ignition coils going bad. Like probably 10x more common than the plugs blowing out.

Is the check engine light on?
If he checked the oil immediately after shutting the truck off, there's not going to be a lot on the stick. It will still be up in the engine.

[gallion_t]

Didnt see any oil in the radiator. Plugs were changed about 70k ago. I have never replaced all of the coils, just when they went bad. Im hoping thats the issue.

I have been having the common issue of the heat smelling like antifreeze lately. From what i read thats usually just a leak in the heater coil. Could that have progressed and caused another issue?

[jackelope]

Didnt see any oil in the radiator. Plugs were changed about 70k ago. I have never replaced all of the coils, just when they went bad. Im hoping thats the issue.

I have been having the common issue of the heat smelling like antifreeze lately. From what i read thats usually just a leak in the heater coil. Could that have progressed and caused another issue?

Heater core...
It won't cause more issues unless you ran it out of coolant, but it sounds like you've at least taken a look at that and I assume the cooling system is not too low?

[gallion_t]

The light wasnt on when the issue started. when i turn the accessories on the light pops on but i havent looked for it while running since this happened. Been trying to minimize the amount of run time until I can really look at it.

[gallion_t]

It actually looked pretty low. there was just a little bit at the bottom.

[MagKarl]

I would unplug one coil at a time to see if any of them are bad. 

[Woodchuck]

Get the code if you can, if it is a misfire, take the coil from that cylinder and move it to another, rescan and see if the miss follows the coil. 

[gallion_t]

Thats what ive done before with bad coils. Thats certainly the first step, but if that doesnt work i was hoping to have some other areas to look.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions.