Hesitation while accelerating

[Kory50199]

Hey all. I have a 2012 Expy with the 4.6L. It has 158,000 miles on it. I just bought it used, and haven't done much to it in the way of maintenance. I get a random hesitation while lightly accelerating that I would almost describe as a "bogging down" sensation. When this happens, if I back off on the accelerator and then try to accelerate hard, it goes away, and accelerates normally. I'm also getting a recurring check engine light with codes P0420 and P0430; which are related to the O2 sensors. Connecting the dots on these two issues leads me to believe that I have bad catalytic converters. Before I go through the work and expense of replacing the cats, I thought I would check with the group and see if there are any other thing I should try first.
Thanks all!

 

[Rambone]

Hey Kory. Sounds exactly what my ‘13 was doing when I bought it with 140k on it. Replaced all the plugs( happened to be the original ones) with Ford ones, and I immediately noticed a huge difference in performance. 5 years and 50k miles later, no check engine light and still running strong . Now I am currently midway through the process of doing a complete timing job. So far so good. Hope this helps

 

[Ford Frank]

You might still have the original spark plugs. Unless you know they have been replaced, I would start with new plugs.

 

[Hamfisted]

Your 2012 Expy has a 5.4L motor, not a 4.6L . Do you have a scanner that will read live data ? Or a laptop and the ForScan app ?
What are your long and short term fuel trims reading ? What is your mass airflow sensor reading ? What are your oxygen sensors reading ? Do you have a fuel pressure gauge you can read fuel pressure at the fuel rail ?


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