sluggish truck

[ronniegene]

I have a 98 f-150 with a 4.2 and my check engine light is on and when i'm traveling down the road i notice that when i give it gas the engine feels sluggish and my check eng. light is now flashing any idea's would be great ...thanks

[aleekat]

Yes, the idea is to read the code.

[ronniegene]

Originally Posted by aleekat

Yes, the idea is to read the code.

i know what a random code flash is and how to read it the check engine light is just flashing but thank you anyway

[ronniegene]

i also noticed with this problem im having is that i'm using more gas as normal

[liya_leacree]

Is the problem just found, or a regular problem for you? I bought my car in April and the engine is very strong. Several months passed, i feel it a little sluggish now. And i didnot driver happily.
Any way, hope you can find the reason and solve it soon. Good Luck.
---Liya from China

[65comet]

Just to let you know, I have a 98 w/4.2 also. I suggest pulling the back spark plug on the drivers side and taking a look at it. If it is fine, then you will have to catch a time when the check engine light is on to see what code is popping because it could be hundreds of things.
If the plug has a yellow coating, maybe even heavy enough to be fully loading it and shorting it out, then it is a common problem. The quick fix is to clean the plugs and do it about every other month. The EGR system is a crappy design. Instead of a large port going into the main area of the intake system, they did small individual tubes as part of the intake that lead to each cylinder. Because 6 and 5 on the drivers side are closest to the valve, they get the bulk of the exhaust gas. It coats those plugs. Also those tubes fill up with gunk that stops the free flow past the valve affecting the running, and sometimes the gunk comes out in chunks and catches in the plugs shorting them out.

[HiFlow5 0]

A flashing check engine light is a class A misfire and should be address ASAP. Typically, driving a vehicle with this type of misfire will lead to damage and more expensive repairs if not corrected. It is common for coil packs to go bad on those vehicles. In reality, you should have the vehicle scanned to see which cylinder is causing the misfire and perform the appropriate repairs, more then likely can be fixed with a simple tune up.