misfire; engine running rough

hello guys...
i'm having similar issues to yours. maybe we all can come up with some kind of answer???

i have '97 f250 5.4 triton. been running rough at crusing speed like you have been describing your trucks doing. idle seems fine. i have posted in the forums, and gotten some very helpful responses like you have, and tried them all... briefly: changed fuel filter, egr vac regulator, air filter, both upstream o2 sensors, all plugs, changed oil, checked visually for egr vac leaks. i have also tried checking sensors (maf, iat, and egr) with multimeter, but my skills in that dept. aren't very advanced, not sure if i am reading the results correctly.
i am still getting error code P0301- cylnd #1 misfire. (bye the way, jiffy lube can read error codes-they just asked me if i am a regular customer and didn't charge me... still gave the kid 10 bucks for the favor.)
i am suspecting the ignition coil packs as read in this post. first, i want to try to check them with multi/voltmeter myself. can anyone give me some direction as to how to correctly do this???

any help and advice will be greatly appreciated. thanks!

Your guess was right, I have a 97 f150 with the 5.4L and I had to replace the coil pack, mine had the same symptoms.

well, i'm stumped.

today changed front 4 plugs from bosch to motocraft. (too many posts in here about bosch plugs not very good). going to take the truck to the shop for other 4 plugs this weekend (too tired to get the ones in back... what a pain those are!)

STILL HAVE WHAT SOUNDS LIKE MISFIRE ON ACCELERATION AND ROUGH ENGINE (SHAKING/SPUTTERING)....

MIGHT HAVE TO BITE THE BULLET AND ADMIT TO MYSELF THAT THIS IS BEYOND MY DIY CAPABILITIES.

i'm thinking its the cylinder valves and/or coil.
when changing a coil, what's the opinions out there on doing just the one in question vs. ALL 8 of them????????????????

at 40-50 bucks a piece, this might prove to be an important consideration for me!!!!!!!!!1

thanks for any tips/answers !

Sounds like a bad plug wire to me!

about your misfires, if your engine is starting to add up the mileage like 100K and over and you lose 1 coil you need to take a close look at the rest of the coils while you are in there. What you are looking for are cracks on the bottom of the coil near the boot. Just like an old distributor cap, cracks cause arcing especially where there is high voltage. So if you are getting codes of misfires and mileage is getting high look for the signs on other coils and do the job right the first time or you will be going back in to replace the others soon. Unlike the old days where when you lost the coil you lost fire to the whole engine but now if you lose one coil you may not notice it until you have lost 2 or 3 coils.

turns out the coil was bad, but tested good when COLD....
i never even thought to attempt testing it warm/hot in the engine bay. (not that i could get my hands or a tool down there).....

new coil -$80 runs like a champ again....

so be advised everyone----- a coil may be bad at temp, but test o.k. when cool. lesson learned the hard way.

I had the same problems with my F-250 4.8 1997. I put rtv around the spark plugs in the cylinders that are miss fireing. It worked for about a month then i redid it and now its worked since.