ok. solution found. and an idea of how it happened.

First off. it WAS the wires. i replaced them and the plugs today. truck runs better than ever now :) .....i missed my baby.
Two. i think it had something to do with the deep gouges in the 4th cylinders wire on the side under the intake manifold. aparently when i had swapped them out last year, i routed them THROUGH the manifold instead of inbetween the manifold and valve cover like i was supposed to. which allowed it to run up against all kind of goodies like vaccum lines andthe fuel rail lol. eventually leading to its failure. thank you guys for the help!
Ive been all over the place seeking help (Aparently theres 5 other reasons why my turck would behave that way.) and i knew i could count on RF to save the day.

 

cool man! good job.

 

ok, problem returned 3 days later. and its not the wires or plugs this time. truck still runs awesome when it DOES run and the sputtering is as often as it was befor. but the newer plugs make it more noticable i guess. cause the chugging is harder rather than more frequent. i checked my vaccum lines. there all good.
idk how to check the EGR vavle, and ill have to really wait to be able to check the injectors. any mroe suggestions?

Also, just yesterday when it was raining. i noticed my batt light was flickering at the same rate as my subwoofer. which i found odd cause thats never happened befor. turned off stereo and it went away. i checked voltage this morning. 13 without alt 14 with. checked wire connections checked the ground next to the battery where it connects to the fram. checked for voltage drop on the starter. got a 12v reading there. without it running. havent seen it all day today though. may have a short when it rains. who knows. but it may be related. its almost like the truck is cutting out when its chugging.

 

anyone? im dyin here lol literally. the truck freaks out sometimes and the idle falls and the truck dies.

 

2 things....

-clean maf with electronics cleaner
-check/replace pcv valve

 

what kind of plugs did you put it? I've just solved a year long bucking problem on my 2.3 that turned out to be a new set of bosch plugs. go autolite or motocraft. also sounds like you could have a problem with the alternator.

 

what kind of plugs did you put it? I've just solved a year long bucking problem on my 2.3 that turned out to be a new set of bosch plugs. go autolite or motocraft. also sounds like you could have a problem with the alternator.

 

nice double post but ya. Motorcraft finewire's oem plugs for my truck.
Cleaned the maf sensor. but where is the PCV valve? i need a picture.

 

if it's like mine, there is a hose behind the throttle body. If you look close there is a break in the hose. take it apart and the PCV valve is inside. When i got a new PCV I had to break the plastic elbow off of it so it would go in between the 2 lines.

 

But i highly doubt that's your problem now. try cleaning up all your grounds and your battery cables.

 

i'd check all the grounds, sounds like a loose connection somewhere, at the chassis or somewhere else

 

thanks. checked the battery. and the ground at the battery/chassis. where else should i be checking?
and thanks for helping.

 

pcv is under the intake manifold

 

have you checked the coils? also you might consider inspecting the fuel system, maybe it's not a problem with fire.... although it seems like it to me.

 

so far ive replaced the fuel filter, coils, plugs, wires, serpentine belt and timing belt. (I was checking the timing. and its such a pain i just swapped em while i had it apart.) and all is a go. had altenator and charging ability tested today. it was a okay. but odly enough the battery was at 700amps instead of 800. and the voltage was slightly low. got home, and the volts were at 12. so i checked the volts while unplugging fuses to see fi i had a dead draw. and the volts actually kept falling until they hit 10....

also, as a side note, i got to my friends house(Sputtered a lil on the way there.) it sat for about an hour. than i ran down to an auto store to have them check the alt for me (Sputtered a lil on the way there) Started it up to go back to his house. no sputtering.....i drove it about 10 miles giving it transitioning throttle positions. quick and hard accelerating. any varyation i could. and not one sputter. untill i was about 2 miles from from home again. to more accurately describe what its doing exactly when i say (Chugging) if youve ever drivin your truck to the limiter. (90mph) and the truck starts bucking hella hard cause the motor is cutting out to back off the speed. (Happens to me at around 3800rpm so im not taching out.) youd know what imtalking about. its the same cutting out feeling.

oh, and if the pcv valve is under my manifold how am i supposed to check it? you know i have a 2.3 and its a nightmare to even see in there right?

 

My buddies truck does the same thing every once and a while, lol we have went threw the samethings you have, sounds like your having more of a problem with it then he is, if we stumble upon something i will be sure to post. DON'T LOSE HOPE!

 

Thanks. i love my truck too much but i just cant afford to take it in and have some jack *** tell me its *Blah blah blah or that it was caused by something i did. ex: i dont want him telling me its spark plugs when ive already replaced them. and then just say i did it wrong or some crap.

 

does it do it more or less in certain weather conditions? different levels of fuel in the tank? different times of day?

 

i would have to say no to weather. heat. throttle positions and acceleration variations yes. i did however notice it ran better on damn near empty. but as soon as i put a 1/4 tank in it it started cutting out again. i doubt its related. but it may be, btw gas makes no difference where i get it. its not bad gas. ive been running 1/4 tank at a time for the last few weeks trying diiferent gas stations and locations everytime.

 

long shot. start up the engine then wiggle the ignition with the key in it..
see what (if anything) happens.
just trying to eliminate a possible faulty ignition switch.

i think also you need to really get the fuel pressure checked with a proper gauge.

 

i think its either getting to much fuel or not enough.

 

i still say's it's in the ignition system, especially since you said it just started doing it again on a rainy day.... did you ever try to find lights in the dark under the hood? just because everything is new dosen't mean everything is good.

 

it started way befor it rained. the batt light comming on was the ony recent thing. andf yes i did the spark test in the dark. no sparks.

 

Ihad similar problems but only when its really cold i went through every thing and still haven't found a thing, but mine only does it when its really cold and when I haven't driven it in a while.

 

dunno man, hard to say without checking it out first hand.