Strange situation

[Knox5.0]

This past Sunday i was on my way home on the interstate after being out of town over the weekend. Car was running great and cruising along just fine. After about 2 hours on the road my car jerked. I thought maybe i had hit a bump then it jerked again. It almost felt like when a trans slips.
I was getting ready to get off and get some gas anyway cause i was halfway between empty and quarter tank so i took the next exit and filled up. As soon as i get back on the interstate the car started jerking and losing power big time. It would do this then clear up for a minute or two then start losing power and "hiccuping". This went on for about 10 minutes, maybe less, then it just cleared up and ran fine the rest of the way home. I drove it around town yesterday and the car ran great.
Whatever it was, it wasnt my transmission. I believe it was something spark or fuel related. I was planning on replacing my pcv valve and doing the seafoam treatment this weekend so im going to replace the fuel filter as well. What could have this been? Any other possibilities im missing?

Edit* I shouldve mentioned that my rpms didnt go up or down while this was going on.

 

[Tavery1]

Could be a mis-fire, how do your plugs and wires look?

 

[Knox5.0]

Could be a mis-fire, how do your plugs and wires look?

I havent pulled the plugs but the plugs and wires are on my list of stuff to be replaced in the future.

The friday before i left i changed my coolant and when i started the car after doing the job it started mis-firing real bad and the CEL came on. It was a code for the coil pack. However, the mis-firing cleared up after a few seconds and the CEL went off. Car ran fine until the funny situation on Sunday. Ive got one brand new motorcraft coil pack that i just put on over a week ago when i put my camshaft synchronizer in. The old one suddenly went out immediately after the synch was put in. Should i go ahead and replace the other one too?

 

[Tavery1]

I'd say dis-connect your battery. Change your plugs and wires, if you have a new coil pack laying around you might as well change that too, if not wait and see if plugs/wires fix the problem before spending money on a potentially unnecessary part

 

[Knox5.0]

I'd say dis-connect your battery. Change your plugs and wires, if you have a new coil pack laying around you might as well change that too, if not wait and see if plugs/wires fix the problem before spending money on a potentially unnecessary part

Ok, couple of questions.
1: You say to disconnect the battery. Disconnect to do the plugs and wires or does disconnecting the battery supposed to do something else?

2: Would'nt mis-firing that bad likely cause a CEL code of some sort?

 

[Tavery1]

Ok, couple of questions.
1: You say to disconnect the battery. Disconnect to do the plugs and wires or does disconnecting the battery supposed to do something else?

2: Would'nt mis-firing that bad likely cause a CEL code of some sort?

I disconnect the battery when I do plugs and wires, its not needed just outta habit. I've seen cars misfire and not cause the MIL(check engine) to come on, its rare but happens.

Disconnecting the battery allows the engine to "re-learn" everything, if there was a problem caused by bad plugs/wires/coil this would allow the engine to "re-learn" how to run without the problem.

Also, after disconnect the truck will be a little rough while it tries to figure out all the mixtures.

 

[Knox5.0]

I disconnect the battery when I do plugs and wires, its not needed just outta habit. I've seen cars misfire and not cause the MIL(check engine) to come on, its rare but happens.

Disconnecting the battery allows the engine to "re-learn" everything, if there was a problem caused by bad plugs/wires/coil this would allow the engine to "re-learn" how to run without the problem.

Also, after disconnect the truck will be a little rough while it tries to figure out all the mixtures.

I'll disconnect the battery and give that a try. Do you think its possible since i was low on gas that something got sucked into the fuel line and prohibited fuel flow? Or maybe i just had watery gas?

 

[Tavery1]

I'll disconnect the battery and give that a try. Do you think its possible since i was low on gas that something got sucked into the fuel line and prohibited fuel flow? Or maybe i just had watery gas?

Its possible that your lines and filter is clogged, causing it to sputter. I know with my truck I have to park nose up(my driveway is a steep hill) when the gas is under a 1/4 tank or else it won't start.

EDIT- just re-read your original post, since you put more gas in it I'd highly doubt that a clogged line is your problem, maybe a bad pump but my money is still on misfire.

 

[Knox5.0]

EDIT- just re-read your original post, since you put more gas in it I'd highly doubt that a clogged line is your problem, maybe a bad pump but my money is still on misfire.

Just so i understand things correctly, you suggest plugs and wires. When plug wires start to go bad, they can sometimes cause a mis-fire and sometimes not? I know ive always heard with coil packs they are either bad or good with no in between.
Im just confused because of the way it happened. Really its not that big of deal but when i travel i dont want to be worried about it happening again.
It just seems strange it threw no codes and only happened for a few minutes then mysteriously went away. Anyway, thanks for your help.

 

[Tavery1]

Just so i understand things correctly, you suggest plugs and wires. When plug wires start to go bad, they can sometimes cause a mis-fire and sometimes not? I know ive always heard with coil packs they are either bad or good with no in between.
Im just confused because of the way it happened. Really its not that big of deal but when i travel i dont want to be worried about it happening again.
It just seems strange it threw no codes and only happened for a few minutes then mysteriously went away. Anyway, thanks for your help.

Since you said plugs and wires needed to be replaced I'd change them. As far as coil packs go I haven't heard an either they are good or bad no middle ground. I'm willing to bet you have a bad plug(s)

A tip- if you change the plugs yourself jack up the truck take the wheels and fender liners off and go at it from the side.

 

[Knox5.0]

Since you said plugs and wires needed to be replaced I'd change them. As far as coil packs go I haven't heard an either they are good or bad no middle ground. I'm willing to bet you have a bad plug(s)

A tip- if you change the plugs yourself jack up the truck take the wheels and fender liners off and go at it from the side.

Will do. I was under the truck looking at something else and i could see that i have champion spark plugs. Maybe thats the cause of my problem?
I wont be going back with champions. I plan on using either motorcraft or autolite double platinums. Whats a good plug wire that doesnt cost an arm and a leg but is good quality?

 

[Lzwo]

funky fuel

I'm not gonna tell you not to replace plugs/coil/wires, but I had the exact experience you report about a year ago, and it was fuel/gas tank.
I was driving down the road one afternoon, not a problem, then bam! suddenly the truck started to buck/jerk/kick. RPMs fell, then rose, then fell, etc. No power, I kept waiting for it to stall, but it never did. I even recall a couple of intermittent really loud backfires - which really freaked me out.
Anyway, I was out in the middle of nowhere with no option but to try and get home, and after about 15 minutes, everything cleared up and truck ran fine. I was scared to death, and babied it until I got it home - I just knew something was bad wrong.
Checked everything, and couldn't find anything, so I actually took it to my mechanic. He charged me $125 to tell me my fuel was contaminated and there was some sludge/crap on the bottom of the gas tank. He was confident that a glob of the sludge had gotten sucked into the engine, causing those problems until it worked its way clear. He drained the fuel, replaced filter, and added some cleaner, and all was well - except my wallet.
Again, I'm not saying this is your problem, but I had the exact same issue, and I'm just reporting what the fix was for me. Whatever it is, though, good luck!

(As a side note, I've had the problem where if I park the truck nose down with less than 1/4 tank, it will not start. Now, I try not to run the tank below 3/8 if I can help it.)

 

[Knox5.0]

I'm not gonna tell you not to replace plugs/coil/wires, but I had the exact experience you report about a year ago, and it was fuel/gas tank.
I was driving down the road one afternoon, not a problem, then bam! suddenly the truck started to buck/jerk/kick. RPMs fell, then rose, then fell, etc. No power, I kept waiting for it to stall, but it never did. I even recall a couple of intermittent really loud backfires - which really freaked me out.
Anyway, I was out in the middle of nowhere with no option but to try and get home, and after about 15 minutes, everything cleared up and truck ran fine. I was scared to death, and babied it until I got it home - I just knew something was bad wrong.
Checked everything, and couldn't find anything, so I actually took it to my mechanic. He charged me $125 to tell me my fuel was contaminated and there was some sludge/crap on the bottom of the gas tank. He was confident that a glob of the sludge had gotten sucked into the engine, causing those problems until it worked its way clear. He drained the fuel, replaced filter, and added some cleaner, and all was well - except my wallet.
Again, I'm not saying this is your problem, but I had the exact same issue, and I'm just reporting what the fix was for me. Whatever it is, though, good luck!

(As a side note, I've had the problem where if I park the truck nose down with less than 1/4 tank, it will not start. Now, I try not to run the tank below 3/8 if I can help it.)

Thanks. The reason i felt it was something fuel related was because i was very near empty and running 70mph down the interstate where the fuel was probably being sucked up in the line fast. The problem started with a couple small jerks then developed into several jerks and loss of power like the truck was bogging down. I never had any back firing though. The last time the power was low it was like a switch flipped and suddenly the power was normal again. Truck ran smooth as silk the rest of the way home.
But to cover both ends, im going to replace my fuel filter, add a can of seafoam to the gas tank, and replace my plugs and wires. Im also going to do the pcv valve and seafoam treatment through the pcv hose.