Changing coils and plugs

[markanthony]

Well. It's been my experience and research. A misfire causes the other parts to go out.
A misfire gives a bad gas/air mix. With more gas the cat(s)will get hotter then they should, with not enough air to cool them. Then cause the o2 to clog up or get hot.

Thought. Yes a bad o2 can cause a misfire. it tells the computer how much more/less air/fuel mix to go with.

A bad cat>>> plug up and not allow enough flow and stall the engine or engine hesitation, or not get hot. If after a while of driving. if u can touch and hold the cat for five min. its bad or something is wrong. If the inlet pipe is hot, the cat and exit pipe is not. the cat is bad. The cat should be around 200 or so degrees. hot enough to give a good burn.

I have hear that a o2 can be cleaned by dipping it in a can of paint thinner or turpentine. ALLOW TO DRY COMPLETELY FOR A MINIMUM OF 1 (ONE) HOUR BEFORE INSTALLING BACK INTO SYSTEM.

With mine. I had two. Five and six that both gave a code. I went and replaced them all. I was not going to have this same trouble.

 

[Titus]

Updating this. Mine is still running like crap, 8 cylinder went out and CEL came on, so I took it to the mechanic. 12* out, 14 inches of snow on the ground and no room in the garage, he can do it. I had all the parts so all I paid was labor.

In the end he ran into an issue with the #4 cylinder spark plug. He couldn't get the socket around the plug. Putting a LED camera down their it showed a white hard substance around the plug that wouldn't budge. #4 wasn't misfiring, but that looks to be the next one to be fixed.

I'm still running into trouble driving it. It's giving me major hesitation while going around 50, shakes a little and as I press on the gas then she goes.

I was reading on the board about swapping out the fuel filter. Bought one and going to do that today. I checked my K&N air filter and that's clean. Hopefully the fuel filter will do the trick. I shall report back.

 

[RHSC]

Titus, mine is doing the exact same thing. This weekend I am replacing the o2 sensors. I have already replaced all the plugs and coils.

Also, try to clean your MAF sensor. Sometimes the oil from the air filter gets on it and causes weird sh*# to happen. Rough idle, hesitation etc.

 

[Titus]

Update: PCV valve was hanging off, they never put that back on for starters. #4 cylinder I got out and it was very clean, looks like they are too lazy to do it and just didn't want to. 5 minutes I had it out and it didn't have the "blockage" they claimed it to have. Cleaned the MAF, changed, fuel filter, plugs, injectors, COPs, still running rough. Took the OD off and drove it around. Shaked as I would go up a hill or force was applied to the engine.

What is the proper spark plug torque? The F150 forums are all over me for posting what Ford told me 12/13 foot lbs torque with anti-seize. What do you use? They are saying 28 with no anti-seize.

Going to clean my Throttle body today.

 

[TheGuyWho]

Wow! I must say I am very surprised to see how many people have had issues with their coils and plugs. I had no idea… BUT I myself went out today to find that my Expy was sputtering and driving very sluggish. Couldn't even get her to climb the hill back to the house. 50 was her max with the peddle to the floor. Called a buddy who is a Ford genius and far more mechanically inclined than I am. He told me pretty much what everyone here has written. He did tell me something that maybe some people here can verify…

He said that a lot of the Ford F series vehicles have trouble with drainage. Meaning the water that falls from the cowl panel between the hood and windshield glass, does not drain down to the sides like it is supposed to, but rather drops right on coil pack and cylinder #4 (back of the row on the passenger side). Well We had a bunch of rain this week, and the car was driving fine before it rained, but hasn't been driven since it rained, until today. I mean wether or not its true, it makes sense to me…

I didn't feel like dealing with it today, so I drove the Lightning instead. Tomorrow Im planning to get in there and figure out whats up, and determine if it is in fact the #4 coil pack. I ordered new motorcraft plugs anyways, and if one coil pack is bad Im going to replace all of them.
By the way my Expy is a 2002 with 156k miles on her… I thinks its about time.

 

[RHSC]

Accaording to my Haynes repair manual, which I have become very familiar with lately, the proper torque specs for the spark plugs are as follows:

2002 and earlier models ------ 84 to 168 in-lbs or 7 to 14 ft-lbs
2003 and 2004 models ------ 15 ft-lbs
2005 through early 2008 models----- 25 ft-lbs
Late 2008 (brown coil boots) and later models-----108 in-lbs or 9 ft-lbs

I have a 97 XLT. I have been having all the same problems as you guys. I have replaced all the coils and plugs, fuel filter, o2 sensors and I have cleaned my MAF sensor. I have also replaced the pcv valve, tube, and elbow. Last year, I replaced the egr valve, egr tube, and exhaust manifolds. I am still getting the hesitation and stumbling when accelerating from a cruising speed, and when going up hill. It is better now than it has been, but still very anoying! The only other thing that I can possibly think of is that the cat/cats are blocked/plugged and need to be replaced. I am taking it in to have the exhaust checked and fixed this weekend, unless someone else has a better idea for me to try...........Anyone, Anyone, Bueller, Bueller.............

 

[dpl98expy]

Vacumn lines

Did you check the vacumn lines at rear of manifold. The do get brittle and crack. Sounds like you covered most possibilities.

 

[Titus]

Yes I sure did, replaced that, my PCV valve, cleaned my TB and replaced that oval oring. Still misfiring on cylinder 8.

 

[Titus]

And here's the update. I broke down and brought it to the local ford mechanic that all my FD guys go to. Almost a month ago now, just got it back today only because I was being a pest to this guy. In the 3+ weeks they've had it, I got 2 phone calls. Many promises for return phone calls and nothing. They said they had roughly 2 hours into it and don't know what's going on. The internet site they post on is telling them to tell me to go to Ford.....So in other words, pass the problem along to someone else since they have no damn clue.

He came into the room saying that I'm going to need new coils. Now I've put 16+ new friggin coils into the thing. It can't keep being the coils.

He didn't charge me anything, I don't know out of guilt maybe for wasting my time and using a quarter tank of fuel, so I'm happy about that.

And I brought it to Ford, paid the $100 for them to simply look at it and they tell me its misfiring...well no sh*t. But that's all they're saying, and that they don't know how far down the rabbit hole goes and how they dont want to rack up my bill then find out that the coils simply aren't the issue. The lady on the phone is telling me that it's her and I'm quoting word for word here...her gut feeling that it's internal. Well that's not doing me any good.

I've never been to a dealer before but this is insane, I need to know what the problem is and can't continue to guess. I'm simply beyond frustrated at this point and don't know what else to do about this friggin misfire. Go figure the ticking went away...

They're telling me it's my coils and plugs, that I need motor craft for both, so I went ahead and bought both, all 8 motorcraft.

Compression check is complete and here's the results.
Cyl 1: 195psi
Cyl 2: 97psi
Cyl 3: 135psi
Cyl 4: 95psi
Cyl 5: 190psi
Cyl 6: 175psi
Cyl 7: 133psi
Cyl 8: 185psi

A few things to note, throttle was fully opened, and did 5 full cranks of the motor.

So far on cyl 2 & 3 testing with oil resulted this:
2: without oil was 97psi with oil 130 psi
3: without oil was 135psi with oil 150psi

It's looking like I'm going to need to tear into this motor, but what are your thoughts? Valves sticking?

 

[dano]

coils

Hello everyone,
I gotta replace my coils on my 05 Expy. But since I'm a po' boy, I aint got a lot to spend at this time. The ole girl has been giving me fits in the 40 mph/1200 rpm range, kinda feels like tranny issues. Took it to my local ford dealer and they got me for $72 to tell me 1 & 7 coils were bad. so I figured for now, I'd just replace the tw0 coils and hope for a windfall soon to do the rest.
Anybody have any links for discount Motorcraft parts? I was told at one time the 5.4's are happiest with Motorcraft parts.
Thanks for any information.
dano