Hello all,

Let me first of all thank you all in advance for advice I have recieved over the past month on my trailer charge line problem.

I am now having another problem, and am getting frustrated with my newly aquired ford truck.

I washed my truck under the hood using a pressure washer to get things clean last weekend. Everything was fine afterwards, I left the truck run for awhile so everything would dry off and left the hood open for a few hours afterward to make sure it dried out.

On Thursday this week my wife went for a drive into town (about 12 km's) with no problems on the way in, but after she left her first destination she noticed the truck surging/missing, but she also noticed the low fuel light had just come on so she assumed that was the problem, and immediately got fuel. The problem went away.

On Friday she made another venture into town, but the truck was idling rough, I assume missing, it was started cold. She proceeded into town anyways and within 2 km's the service engine soon light came on. She arrived at her destination where she phoned me and I went up and had a look at it. It was still missing MIL light was still on so I disconnected the battery for 10 minutes to clear the light. I then proceeded to drive down to "Canadian Tire" to get the code read if it came back on. Truck ran rough for about 3 km's, then smoothed right out to normal. Light never came back on.

On the trip home, the truck again began missing and the light returned. I parked it for the night.

Saturday I warmed the truck up and took it for a drive down the highway, it was missing a little bit, not quite as bad as before, until I began to accelerate onto the highway, then the SES light began to flash. I backed off right away, pulled over, turned the truck off, then re-started and proceeded with no problems. It now seems to be very intermittent, and will start missing at anytime warm or cold.

I did not get the code read yet, everyone around here wanted $80 to read the code, so I bought the Equus Innova 3100 OBDII code reader and am waiting for it to be shipped to me.

Does anyone have any experience or comments on the above code reader?

Does anyone have any ideas or things I can try in the meantime before I recieve to code reader?

I am guessing the problem is one of the coil-on-plug's. but can a single coil-on-plug cause a misfire severe enough to make the SES light flash?

Thank-you very much in advance!

Chad

 

HEY CHAD,
I HAVE A 2000 150 WITH A 5.4. I TOO WASHED OFF THE ENGINE AT THE CAR WASH, LEFT IT RUNNING WHILE I DID IT. IT DROVE HOME OK. ABOUT 2 HOURS LATER I STARTED IT AND WAS ON THE FREEWAY WHEN IT STARTED SHAKING AND CUTTING OUT REALLY BAD. THE CHECK ENGINE LITE CAME ON ALSO. I TOOK IT TO AN AUTO ZONE WHERE THEY SCANED THE CODE AND IT WAS #1 SPARK PLUG FAILURE. REPLACED THE PLUG AND STILL DID IT. I TOOK IT TO FORD (WARRENTY) AND THEY ENDED UP REPLACING THE COIL PACK FOR THAT CYLINDER AND REPROGRAMING THE COMPUTER. NO PROBLEMS SINCE.

 

Hey guys, I hate to say this, but you will have more bad coils down the road. The coils sit straight down in the head, and water will seep in when you wash the motor. The water lays in the plug well, and eventually will ground the coil, shorting it. A possible fix is to pull the coils but leave the plugs, and blow out the well with compressed air. When it is dry, pull the plug and check it. I guarantee when you pull the coils, the end of the boot will be wet, a sure sign......The idiot I bought my truck from washed the motor before I picked it up, and I have changed 6 of 8 coils in 4 months. Thank god my wife works for a lincoln dealer, I pay $45 for a coil and change it myself.

 

Hey, sounds almost like what happened to me except I didn't wash my engine. Shortly after I got my truck I took it off roading, nothing serious becuase everything was still stock, wound up knocking my radiator hose loose and it leaked onto a fuel injector, coil pack and o2 sensor. I did not realize anything was wrong until my check engine light came on, I checked the manual and it said that bad gas was probably put in. I had normally filled up with chevron and around that time I had filled up at a texico and so I thought it was the gas and drove it for a while until the light started flashing and the engine started to backfire, took it to the shop and they told me the radiator hose had come loose and leaked onto the above mentioned components and had to have them replaced. I am asuming in your case it would probably just be the coilpack.

 

Hi guys! I'm having the same problem on my 4.6. I pulled a couple plug boots off and with the help of a flashlight looking into the boot; I saw that the plug connectors are corroded. Somehow moisture is getting into the boot. I don't know yet if I can just clean them or replace them. My project for the day. I'm glad I found this site. I'm not the only one with this problem.