Anyone have a diagram or know of a website that shows how the cylinders in a 5.4 are numbered? I have a bad #5 Spark Coil that I need to locate so I can replace it! These damn coils keep dieing 1 at a time, this will be the fith one I've replaced in the last two years..... The killer is you have to pay Ford $80 to scan the OBDII, then pay $108.00 for the coil, so it's almost a two hundred dollar job if you do it yourself! I let ford do the first one and it cost me $350.00, I shoud have known something was up when I saw the handles and grease at the cash register. So far all of the failed coils have ohmed out to spec, so this means there has been no shorting or opening of the coil. Instead the cheap insulation used to isolate the turns is breaking down and the spark is arking across the coil body instead of the spark plug. If anyone can point me in the right direction I would appreciate.

MarkA

 

Driver Front Passenger
5 1
6 2
7 3
8 4
Rear

 

Sorry my formatting screwed up. 1-4 are front to rear on the passenger side. 5-8 are front to rear on drivers side.

 

Firewall
4 8
3 7
2 6
1 5

Fan

It is the front plug on the drivers side.

 

Take it to Autozone. They will scan the codes for free, and a replacement coil is only $48.

Aaron

 

i invested in a code scanner so that i can do it myself. it has been well worth the money. I hate to pay some one for some thing I can do my self

 

SHOP SHOP SHOP. Don't even consider the auto dealers. The parts houses can vary by $20.00 for the same cop. The truth is that FOMOCO built a "designed to die early" part in the cop, so get used to changing them. I live in Springtown Texas and the ONLY technition that I have found, that knows his stuff, is DICKY. Ask the parts houses, they will know him

 

Not found any of this to be true, about OEM COP's anyway. I'm running a '00 E250, 5.4 motor with 266K miles, all original COP's. I did install a set of Granatelli COP's and they were problematic within a month or so.

OEM COP's do occasionally go bad but overall they're reliable and in the end worth the few extra bucks they cost. Shopping online or through one of FTE's sponsors gives you a few options, all well worth the effort.

 

If the OEM parts are superior, why have all of the aftermarket suppliers prospered?

 

Because the aftermarket guys promise improvements over stock parts which is rarely if ever proven. Plus OEM's tend to be sold by dealers which keep the price high, at least to the average consumer.

Ford's modular motors seem to have specific requirements that time and time again here in the FTE Forums have been shown to be better maintained by using OEM parts. O2 sensors & spark plugs are two items that immediately come to mind. Having already owned three E250's ('97, '00, '03) the stock exhaust systems are amazing (although expensive) and I've yet to see anything from the aftermarket match OEM parts.

That's just my opinion and after a while longer here it might seem much the same to you as well Terry Morris. Remember you heard it here first!

Welcome to FTE BTW!

 

Been a Ford man all of my life. My first was a 41' coupe which I bought in 1956. I am happy that you are pleased with the OEM parts. If they fit your needs then Hola.

As for me, I still prefer to think my way through my own automotive problems and find my own answers.

I am peeved at our domestic auto industry. We can do better.

 

Then you really don't need FTE do you?

 

Apparently not, their former advice on missing F-150 trucks did not work, and now I'm stuck with you.

 

Nothing worse than useful advise even if its not to our individual liking ay?

Read here a while and see what others (besides me) have experienced. Along with my own COP failure and countless positive replies about OEM maybe you too will eventually agree?

 

I bought OBDwiz (www.OBDsoftware.net) for $49.00...it comes with a OBDII connector and a USB harness so I can just set up my laptop in the truck and read out codes. It will clear or reset codes if desired.I bought this program expressly for the purpose of discovering which COP was failing in the truck. My 5.4 has had four (now five) of the eight coils fail in 172,000 miles. I replaced one once at a Ford Dealership (please shoot me) for 500.00 to change a coil and a plug..ok then I got smart. I do not use Ford dealership service except as a last resort. So far, since I've always found an alternative, like this forum and you tube. I have bought after market coils on Ebay and none of those have had to be replaced, so far. They've all been motorcraft coils that have failed; (the first one failed at 37,000 miles...right after the truck went out of warranty).

(adding, the Coil has to pretty much fail to fire before the ECU will set a code) simple misfires that still make the truck run like crap will not always set a code, so you are guessing...and who wants to replace all, just for one bad one? SO if you are like me..you nurse it along and hope for it to set a code so you can do something.