98 F150 power loss, hesitation

Oct 31, 2004 3 Replies

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jubilee 21 years ago

I have a 98 F150 that recently began hesitating and losing power especially at highway speed. It got worse today and now the check engine light is on. Idles fine, great around town - just works like crap when you are actually working it.

It's a 4.6 L Triton v-8 automatic with 217,000 km.

Is there a way to read the fault codes using key on/off/brake sequence of some sort? I'd like to have a clue before I put myself at the mercy of a mechanic.

Any replies or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Glen

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Spdloader 21 years ago

One thing that comes to mind is a plugged or broken up catalytic converter.

Did you notice a rattle underneath before you lost power? The "precious metal substrate" in the converter can break up, and actually block the exhaust, resulting in a loss of power, and it will kick on the check engine light. It usually rattles for a little while first, though. It may have occurred in the last few weeks.

Something else that comes to mind is a faulty EGR system. I don't know if your truck has an EGR valve, but similar symptoms happen when there is something amiss there too.

Spdloader

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David M 21 years ago

On Sun, 31 Oct 2004 23:32:07 +0000, jubilee rearranged some electrons to form:

Take it to your local auto parts chain store (ie Auto Zone). They will read out the codes. OBD-II fault codes are alphanumeric and you need a reader to get them.

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tdumoulin 21 years ago

i have a 97 F150 Xtra cab 4x4 255000 km mine was acting the same way i changed the fuel filter which made a difference then was advised by my cousin who is class a mechanic that the mass airflow sensor was pobably dirty with this many km on it i was also advised to change the

2 oxygen sensors

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