please help, I need my truck back, fuel system issue
 

Hi,
I'm new here so greetings!
OK, I have a 2001 with 5.4 engine. Yesterday I added a bottle of fuel system cleaner to my tank which was just over 1/2 full. I then drove it for an hour to visit family. I drove it back without issue.
Today the engine took a bit to fire up. Usually it starts right up. I figured the fuel additive caused some crud to loosen. I had another trip today so I topped of the tank at the gas station. I went to leave and the engine won't start now.
I figured the loosened crud maybe plugged the filter. I changed the filter and still nothing.
I only have my truck so I need it to run. I also don't have $ for a mechanic. $100 just to hook it up.
I will admit I'm not great with mechanics but try to do basic stuff myself. Please keep my lack of knowledge in mind when responding (use small, basic words).
The filter is in the proper way. I kind of think it's not the fuel pump or it would have been having issues before going out. It fired right up and drove perfect before today.
Any help or advice for me on what this might be?

So the engine turns over when cranked, but doesn't fire? Make certain you're getting fuel at the rail. You can do this by disconnecting the fuel line at the rail and having a buddy bump the ignition switch. If you can get one, put a fuel pressure gauge on the fuel line. You should be seeing 30 to 40pis. If you're not getting fuel, check to make certain you didn't put the fuel filter in backwards and check your fuel pump relay and fuse.

Went out to continue troubleshooting this morning. I decided to try cranking it over. It cranked a bit hard but fired up. I let it idle for a bit. Idled without missing a beat. I found the air filter needed replacing so I drove it across town to get a new one. Drove perfect (no missing, stalling etc). I let it run while I grabbed the new air filter. Drove it home with no issues.
I turned it off, waited a few seconds and turned it back on. It fired right up, no turning over hard even. I shut it back off and let it sit about 10 mins. Fired right up again. Did some farting around in the garage and fired it up again. Turned right over.

Any ideas? Perhaps the fuel filter had been the issue after all but why wouldn't it have started after I had changed it right away?
I thought maybe a sensor is starting to go bad? No check engine ever came on at all.

Uh oh! I had once used the fuel cleaner and that had caused me lots of problem. Dont know what others have experienced with it.

Good old 150 fuel problems. Difficult to troubleshoot without any tools, but there are a few simple things. Not being familiar with your truck year one thing is when you first turn on the Ign switch the pump should run for approx 1 to 2 seconds. A noisy pump is easy to hear, a little hum sound from under the truck. You can listen through the fuel door, remove gas cap. Have someone turn the Ign on to RUN, (not start) and listen for a hum or buzz from the fuel tank for approx 2 seconds. Thats an easy thing you can do. Another EASY thing you can do is if you have a schrader valve on the fuel rail, you can simply depress the schrader valve and see if any fuel shoots out, try this after a non start crank, this will tell you if any fuel pressure has been built up by the fuel pump. Other than that there is not much you can do without some basic test equipment.
Good Luck ...2001 f150xlt auto trans 2wd and lots of issues
Darryl..