Although this post comes over a year later, I wanted to share my experience with my 2004 Ford Escape. My Escape has been extremely reliable and dependable with 105K on it. About 6 months ago it sat outside in a heavy, rain, wind storm while I was at work. When I started the car after sitting for 9 hours, the car misfired miserably. After warming the car up and driving it home, it straightened itself out. There never was a problem until last week when I took the vehicle for a 200 mile trip to our vacation resort. The "check engine" light began to flicker and I could feel the car misfiring and skipping. I reluctantly made an appointment with the Ford Dealer that was out of state and I was unfamiliar with any of the staff. They took the vehicle in and diagnosed two codes that were causing the havoc. P0304 and P0316. They changed the plug and coil on the number four cylinder and assured me I was all set. After paying my $350.02 bill, I felt relieved that the problem was cured despite the non-budgeted expense while on vacation. I drove the vehicle back to our place and it sat for most of that day.

The following day we had plans and jumped in the Escape. Upon starting, the same, exact thing happened. The check engine light started flickering and the vehicle was misfiring. I was not happy. It was the fourth of July and no dealer in the USA is open on the fourth of July. I called the following day and the service writer was disappointed to hear I was inconvenienced and squeezed me back in, realizing I needed the car to get home. This time the codes P0305 and P0316 revealed the number five cylinder plug and coil needed replacing. I was completely at their mercy and had them complete this second job in less than two days. The dealership felt bad about the entire situation and discounted this job 100 dollars less than the last one. I was still not confident that the vehicle would make it home without more havoc.

The service department advised me that there is a TSB on PCM with Ford Escapes Ignition Coils and Plugs. So beware! Why Ford didn't recall the vehicle seeing this is a known issue is beyond me but I'm sure I'm not the only experiencing problems similar to this. I plan on writing a letter to Ford after buying Fords exclusively for 45 years. I'm sure they won't reimburse me for any costs but I am going to let them know my experience for whatever it's worth. The service writer advised me to keep my fingers crossed because once this cycle begins, usually the brain of the car will go and that's extremely expensive (not encouraging news)

Anyway, I wanted to share this with all the Ford Escape owners who have coil and plug problems. Again, this problem is a known issue with a TSB on PCM, Ignition coils and plugs.

By the way, the vehicle made the 200 mile ride home without incident. I am hoping that this is the last of it for a while but I don't think so. Although I don't plan on sinking $350.00 into a 10 year old car every time a coil blows, and they seem to be blowing regularly, I will give this car a lot of latitude. It owes me nothing and I hate to part with it.

Peace,

Glenn