Proactively Replace COP (Coils) ???

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Trainmaster

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Moose, we're the same vintage. And yes, those years do teach a few things to those of us who learn.

I listened to my kid's swearing by "Gearwrench" Chinese tools, until he watched me walk the exhaust manifold nuts off my 2000 with a Snapon socket. He learned exactly the same lessons we learned a few decades earlier. But he didn't learn enough: A $50 Chinese air spring exploded on the Pennsylvania Tpk two days after he put it in his Grand Marquis. Now it's the $150 Motorcraft for him too.

As we grow up, changing the same part three times becomes less and less fun. Some of us learn.
 

1955moose

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Hell I remember our tv repair man coming by once a year to replace tubes in our Admiral console tv. Tv did make it 10 year's though! We watched a lot of tv, my brother and me, kept us from slugging each other. It is getting tougher and tougher to rationalize or afford the good stuff. When cars cost more than houses a few years back, its gonna be tough. Well the good news is theirs going to be a ton of first and second gen expeditions to buy, and keep rolling down the road!

Sent from my N9131 using Tapatalk
 

Gumbyalso

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I've had my 2000 5.4 EB since new. It's got almost 296,000 on it now. COPs are original and plugs have been changed twice at 100K and 200K. Will change them again at 300K and plan on using the same COPs until they fail. I would spend the money on the Motorcraft COPs if I do need to replace them.

I went on a 1000 mile trip in May that included driving through the Smokies and had some serious bucking going up hills that I assumed was ignition related. There are no hills where I live so I hadn't noticed the issue. So when I changed the plugs at 298K I changed all the COPs for the first time. The issue went away (son test drove it to Georgia and back) so I'm going to assume I had one or more COP going bad. The plugs didn't look too bad. I also changed the fuel filter and tranny oil & filter because they were due, but I don't think they were part of the problem. So it appears I did use the same COPSs until they failed - but that wasn't until almost 300K. I replaced them with the Motorcraft COPs. They weren't too expensive online. It has 301K on it now and runs like it was new.
 

stamp11127

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Here is something for the "el cheapo coil consumer" to consider. Do you remember the "bell shaped curve" during testing in your public school years? That is also the curve most manufacturing processes follow during production.
The best of the production run is in the highest point. One standard deviation out from the mean is the best of the run, they will have the Motor Craft Logo. Go out two standard deviations and you have lesser priced but not quite as good as OEM products and will probably work well but aren't the best. Go out to the ends of the curve, this is where they look just like the expensive OEM but will work, is anybody's guess - these are the el cheapo's off ebay. You get what you pay for.....

Think I'm crazy? I've dealt with quality control in a production environment and saw it day in and day out.
 

rjdelp7

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Ford farms out parts to manufactures, that are lowest bidders. They meet factory spec. My crappy rear window wiper motor, was made in Mexico by Valero. The coils are probably made in China, for Ford. Jegs sells high performance coils, cheaper than Mototcraft.
 

Trainmaster

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I've had no luck with aftermarket coils, wither from an auto parts store or from ebay. Never had one that worked more than a week, except for a Standard that ran for six months. The last Motorcraft one I bought was made in USA. I only change them when they start to fail. My 2000 has had two replaced in 254,000 miles.
 
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