Misfire help needed

Hey I’m new to the forum I have a 2006 expedition while driving I experienced a misfire my check engine light began to flash I turned it off and back on it would stop a few weeks later I took it to the ford dealership and asked them to fix the problem they told me it would need a new engine and cost 7000 I told them I would get a second opinion and they gave me the keys I drove about 2 blocks before it started misfiring and this time shut off I had it towed home and it sat for months while I drove other cars I wanted to look at it myself but don’t know where to start the battery is now dead I plugged it into a trickle charger and want to get started working on it any ideas

Welcome to the site.

Anytime the check engine light comes on the first step is to read the codes stored in the ecm/pcm. That will tell you what sensor(s) are reading out of spec.

TheDon253 said:

Hey I’m new to the forum I have a 2006 expedition while driving I experienced a misfire my check engine light began to flash I turned it off and back on it would stop a few weeks later I took it to the ford dealership and asked them to fix the problem they told me it would need a new engine and cost 7000 I told them I would get a second opinion and they gave me the keys I drove about 2 blocks before it started misfiring and this time shut off I had it towed home and it sat for months while I drove other cars I wanted to look at it myself but don’t know where to start the battery is now dead I plugged it into a trickle charger and want to get started working on it any ideas

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Has it been using coolant or getting low on it?
IF it had blown head gasket(s) and getting coolant on plugs causing the misfire I "guess" it would be ok to say you needed a new engine but I will say with most certainty that they are FULL OF CRAP. Most of them are!

Get a cheap code scanner. Even a under 10.00 ebay plug in one for your phone to bluetooth to will work and get the codes.

Since it was a misfire you will have PO301- P0308 stored.
0301 is #1 cyl misfire, 0302 is #2 and so on.

The cylinders are from radiator to windshield....and are passenger side 1-2-3-4 and driver side 5-6-7-8.

Once you know which cyl or cyls were misfiring you pull the COP (coil- actually Coil On Plug) out by removing small 7mm bolt and pull it up IIRC. Then I would remove the plug on any ones that were misfiring and check the gap or just put a new one in.
Only prob is you have the offending 3 valve with the two piece plugs (if original ones) and they are know to break off.
SOOO, read up on 3 valve spark plug replacement.

I would run it for a few minutes if you can ( like idle for 15) then remove coils and soak the plug well with PB Blaster and wait 10 mins then crack it loose a very little bit. Then soak more Blaster. Then tighten it back, then loosen it a little more but not much. Re-soak with a lot of Blaster and let it sit for 30 min or so then try to remove. I like to go out about 1-2 turns and then back it. Work it back and forth. Or go for the impact method and hope they don't snap. Many have great luck with impact.
You can get cheap ebay COPS for under $7 each shipped to your door.
You might just try coils on the misfiring ones but it is nice to see what the plug end looks like and it there is any coolant on it and if the gap is messed up or on those if the ground electrode is sometimes GONE!

Unless you overheated it or it had not much coolant in it and it froze, I doubt you have anything more than ignition misfires that plugs and coils will take care of.

It could also be intake gaskets leaking air/vacuum but it should run if you keep the gas pedal down a little bit like to hold rpms at 1600-2000.

Thanks for the detailed response I’ll check the coolant today. There aren’t any codes stored in the seated I assume because the battery was dead. I don’t want to drive it until it comes on because I don’t want to tow it home again. I’m just going to change all the coils and spark plugs then I’ll risk it having to Be towed home again

TheDon253 said:

Thanks for the detailed response I’ll check the coolant today. There aren’t any codes stored in the seated I assume because the battery was dead. I don’t want to drive it until it comes on because I don’t want to tow it home again. I’m just going to change all the coils and spark plugs then I’ll risk it having to Be towed home again

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If your scanner shows pending codes or if it has test results and has the &6 test results you can see misfires way before the check engine light comes on.

I let it run and 4 codes came up P0012 P0021 P0344 P0340 I’m beginning to think it’s deeper then coils

Def something in the timing cam sensors or cam phasers with all those codes.
You might get lucky and it might be a cam sensor or wiring or loose connection in the cam sensor circuit.
I stay away from 05 and up 5.4s because of the 3v and VVT.

If you took it to Ford and paid for the diagnostics, they should have written the problem on the service sheet. Realize that with labor cost and to prevent comebacks, they will recommend an engine change for something as simple as a head gasket problem. From their point of view, they can charge $5K to do all the work to replace a head and gasket (common on this engine) or $7K and avoid the next problem on a 15 year old engine. There can be a lot of things wrong that you can fix yourself. If you can rebuild the engine yourself, you can get away with under $2K. However, if anyone needs to tear open the engine, you probably are looking at a rebuild and installation costs at least $5K.

I would start with "why" they recommended an engine replacement.