The problems started when I washed my engine...

[Juruense]

Last Sunday I detailed the car and this included washing the engine which I have done many times.

Driving to work Monday morning I noticed the car was missing pretty bad especially under load. I figured I got water in the plug wells from washing the engine this has happened before no big deal. By the time I got home the SES light had come on I assumed due to misfire. Monday night I pulled all the cops and did find some water in wells 3 and 4 which I removed. I also reset the PCM to clear the SES.

Driving to work Tuesday morning the miss is still there. I theorized that perhaps driving all the way to work and back may have fouled the plug that had water in the well somehow. On the way home from work I picked up some Autolite 103 copper plugs. The SES light had again come on. I gapped the new plugs at .039 and swapped out the current plugs. All the plugs I removed looked perfectly fine. After the plug install I took it to AutoZone and had them pull the code it was P0304 which they told me was misfire on #4. The car felt ok but I did not extensively test drive it and I had AutoZone clear the code that night.

Driving to work today the problem is still there. I looked at the intercooler tank and the pump is definitely running. I pulled the vacuum line off the FRPS and it is bone dry with no gas smell. The alt seems fine no flickering of lights or other power issues. I am suspecting the coil on #4 but I am reluctant to throw parts at the problem.

The exact nature of the problem is that the car bogs when I try to give it significant throttle. Easy throttle normal driving it seems fine perhaps a slight miss. When I give it any throttle at all it bogs and makes a sound almost like a 2 stroke motocycle. Kinda like the boost bypass is kicking in or something?

I would really appreciate any suggestions and I would also appreciate guidance on exactly how to use my multitester to test the suspected coil on #4.

 

[VirtualSVT]

The easiest way to test for a bad coil IMO is to swap it with another COP. Thats what I did. Took 5 mins to test and see if the SES chased the COP

 

[Juruense]

Well it takes about 30 miles of driving to get the SES light. I was wanting to test it with multitester... That is a good idea though.

 

[04sleeper]

Some quick info I found online.

Many shops are reporting a large number of coil-on-plug failures with Ford engines. The majority of the problems are directly related to customers WASHING their engines. Water can seep into the spark plug hole where engine heat turns it into steam and damages the coil.

Here are some rules to prevent the problem:

1) Never wash the engine unless you cover the coils

2) Always replace spark plug boots when you change plugs.

3) Always replace the spark plug when you replace a coil

4) Apply a liberal coating of dielectric grease to the rubber seal on the coil where it connects to the engine.

To test try the following:
You will need to remove the coil (COP). You will need to make two resistance measurements, one for the primary side and one for the secondary side.

The first measurement is for the primary side of the coil. Where it connects normally to the connector will be two connections or terminals you will need to measure across, this if for the primary side. Connect your meter leads to the (+) and (-) terminal. The resistance should be somewhere in the neighborhood of 0.55 ohms.

The secondary measurement will be from the (+) terminal and the terminal that is connected to the spark plug when it is on the car. This measurement should be in the neighborhood of 5,500 ohms, or 5.5M ohms.

If either measurement shows 0 ohms or “overload” “OL” “999.999” or what ever your meter reads when there is an open the coil is bad.

What may be a good idea is to take two coils off then you can compare the readings you get.

Or you could buy a tester like this:
http://www.sjdiscounttools.com/wae76560.html

Hope this helps.

 

[DUMBASS]

switching cops is the best way to test it. also check your injectors. i had a misfire in cylinder 6 acting just like what you described. tried switching coils around and it was still there. ended up being one of the injector harnesses was not connected 100% and it was causing the miss and throwing the code. plugged it in all the way and the problem went away. it is worth checking.

 

[Juruense]

Great advice gentlemen! Thanks to all especially 04Sleeper who is the ****ing MAN! :beer:

 

[AaronK]

switching cops is the best way to test it.

+1 ... The same thing happend to me on my gt. I just replaced all the coil packs with the MSD blasters. It's a lot more exspensive that way though...

 

[OH3Cobra]

is there a benefit to the MSD blasters? Sorry to hi jack. Kilgore I hope you find your issue soon, and that its a cheap fix.

 

[AaronK]

is there a benefit to the MSD blasters? Sorry to hi jack. Kilgore I hope you find your issue soon, and that its a cheap fix.

People say they're better... I'm not sure why, but I got them for cheaper than stock so I replaced them. I'm pretty sure MSD doesn't make replacement coil packs for the 4v motor.

 

[antiv6]

ya it the coil , this happened to the #4 cylinder of my sisters car like 2 weeks ago

 

[Juruense]

Well I stopped by the Ford parts counter on the way home from work last night and picked up a new coil for $39. It came with a new boot and spring as well.

Installed the new part last night and the problem is now FIXED! :dancenana:

 

[CobraBob]

That is great news! That was great info that 04Sleeper found.

 

[VirtualSVT]

Well I stopped by the Ford parts counter on the way home from work last night and picked up a new coil for $39. It came with a new boot and spring as well.

Installed the new part last night and the problem is now FIXED! :dancenana:

Sweet.




Now were you using a pressure washer to clean the bay? lol

 

[AaronK]

Well I stopped by the Ford parts counter on the way home from work last night and picked up a new coil for $39. It came with a new boot and spring as well.

Installed the new part last night and the problem is now FIXED! :dancenana:

Awesome! Go easy with the water next time ;-)

 

[Juruense]

Yeah, next time I wash my engine I am not going to drive it to determine if water got in the plug wells. I am just going to assume it did and vacuum them.

To vacuum I attach a drinking straw to a keyboard cleaning attachment on my shop vac. This gets all the way to the bottom of the well and works great for people like me that do not have an air compressor and wand.

That was a great article 04Sleeper found.

My engine bay is very clean, not as clean as some in the thread (we all know who) but clean nonetheless.

 

[04sleeper]

Glad to see you got it fixed! :thumbsup:

 

[Nicky Pass]

I don't use water when I clean my engine. There is a thread in the detailing section that shows how to use foaming tire dressing....it works awesome! Especially if you have a compressor to blow excess liquid off. Give it a good wipe down once a month and you should be good to go.

 

[CobraChris08]

I don't use water when I clean my engine. There is a thread in the detailing section that shows how to use foaming tire dressing....it works awesome! Especially if you have a compressor to blow excess liquid off. Give it a good wipe down once a month and you should be good to go.

That does work well.


another great thing to use if you dont like the tire shine that collects dust.

I use tuff stuff from autozone. Its a foaming cleaner that lifts the dirt out. Easy on easy off. Also clean by hand with a microfiber. Idk how you guys do it spraying a hose under the hood.

 

[black 10th vert]

When I wash mine, I usually use a very gentle setting on the nozzle for light rinsing only, and never do a direct blast to electrical components, or vulnerable places like the COP covers. If you keep up with it, it never requires a huge cleaning anyway, so just a quick pass with a soapy wash mitt gets it done, then a light spray to rinse. I also fully towel dry it as soon as I'm done, then just leave the hood open for as long as I can to air dry any residual water that I can't get with the towels. Usually, though, the front part gets wet whenever I wash the car anyway because of the billet vent screens, so I just wipe that up, and use the towel to just "dust" the rest of the bay without the need to actually wash it. Works awesome, and keeps it show-ready all the time.

Kilgore, glad to hear your fix was that simple and cheap! Good to see threads like this because it is just more troubleshooting knowledge to tuck away for when it's needed!

Brian

 

[torchanniv03]

glad you got her fixed!! :beer: