Accel Ignition Coils

[Adieu]

I replaced all of them with NAPA gold coils. If I remember, they were about $30-35 or so. My expedition is used for everyday driving and for towing 7500# of boat. I value my recreation time, so I did niot want to replace one at a time, and have another one go bad while towing.
I also replaced all the spark plugs when I di this, as it was about 95K miles on them.
This was 4 years ago and the NAPA parts are still doing well
Blowing out the debris is good advice.
Note: buy the plugs at a Ford dealer. They can look up the plug number on their computer based on the VIN of the vehicle/

No & no

Everybody and their grandmother sells the same Japanese Motorcraft plugs, for $6-8 a piece, and everybody can look up what you need for your vehicle... no need to pay dealer margins.

And rebranded generic from auto parts store brands is marked up AT LEAST+150%... SET of generic coils costs $30 - 60 depending on model year, not 35 ea.

 

[trhymers]

I had a coil fail at about 90k. Figured i would replace the plugs then also, when I put in the Accel coils. No complaints at all. Actually seemed to gain a bit in the mpg department.

 

[rjdelp7]

Do not keep driving with that miss fire! You will ruin your catalytic converters. Unplug the injector on the miss firing cylinder. I was forced to buy one Accel coil, when I experienced a miss fire. It was the only one the store had. It was fine and has been on it for 10 years. The stock coils should last 250k. I got a few OEM spares from the local junk yard. $5 each.

 

[the bus]

I had the accel coils. They did not last very long. Stick with oem and shop around. Rock Auto, dealer with a discount, or tascaparts. I am with you on changing all 8 but save the other 7 for an emergency change

 

[Sgt Darkness]

I would've done em all myself too, just makes sense no matter how old or young you are.

 

[1955moose]

I'm curious the bus, did your accels fail due to coolant leaking on them? Did you at any time try to hose down the motor to clean. Most of the other members that put on the cheapies, had no problem with them. I'm all pro Ford parts, but $80.00 x 8 = ridiculous. Especially when the cheap ones usually work well.

Sent from my N9131 using Tapatalk

 

[ManUpOrShutUp]

HI,

does anyone have experience with Accel ignition coils? i have a power on acceleration issue,flashing light under hard acceleration with a misfire, so i think i have a bad plug or coil. im replacing all the plugs and since im in there im debating swapping out the coils as well. Accel coils are only $150 ish for 8 and a motocraft coil is running about $60 each.

so, any experience with the Accels or am i throwing away my money and stick with motorcraft?

I don't know where you're looking at Motorcraft coils for $60/ea, but shop somewhere else. Walmart sells the Motorcraft DG508 for $27/ea and you should be able to find a set of 8 for even less. Alternately, AC Delco makes a replacement also (BS2002) and you can get a set of 8 for $105.

With 120,000 on the stock ones, I didn't want to change one at a time as they failed. Just change them all at one time and have peace of mind for awhile.

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What would lead you to believe they would fail? In 25 years of driving every vehicle I've owned into the ground, I've never had a coil fail. Coils aren't a maintenance item. Usually, it's a bad plug that causes them to go.

 

[TobyU]

These Ford coilsl certainly do go bad.
They don't have to be damaged or abused in any way. They can be totally dry with no coolant or water getting to them and they can just fail after 10 or 12 years and 125 k +. Maybe you don't keep your vehicle's long enough to experience a coil failure or maybe you figure after 10 or 12 years of course anything is fail. That's probably true but a lot of us have quite old Vehicles still running perfectly and getting the job done. All these will eventually need a coil or two and most of this opt for an entire replacement or they get suckered at a garage for an $850 tune up for all new coils and plugs.
I really have my doubts about a set of Accel coils only lasting a short time unless they were wet with coolant or water or something else like was mentioned.
We must also remember that sometimes the parts that we were just now replacing from the factory from 98 to 2004 that are just now failing are not going to last as long he even when you replace them with the OEM Motorcraft brand part. I just don't think they make any of them as good as they did back then. Before coils used to be made in the USA now they are made in China. Not that that's any guarantee one way or the other but it does kill part of the old argument everybody had about buying OEM instead of cheap Chinese ones.
Even back when I was getting Ford calls 460-8272 dollars I still opted for the $39 won at the local parts store because it had a lifetime warranty. I keep my car's a long time and the warranty is much more important for something it is so easy to replace.
Back to those accel or other replacement coils failing soon. If you don't put a brand new set of plugs in that are properly gapped you can't be upset when the coils have a shortened life. I have dealt with Volkswagen before and the Turbo Beetle and Jetta engine is known to eat coils. It is very sensitive to plug gap. If you put a set of new plugs and these Ford's and gap them at a nice snug . 052 you should get more than your money's worth for any coils You by even the cheapies.

As example of factory coils going bad, I just had two go bad over the past couple of years on a 2000 with about 200,000 miles on it. Picked up ignition miss one day that lasted for a few seconds and then went away and then came back later. A few days later it was a constant miss. I was able to unplug the coil and of course that maintained the steady miss. As I would plug it back in it would fire for about three revolutions or Three Fires and then it would stop and miss would come back. I did this over and over. That means the coil is breaking down and not able to maintain its firing rate.
I had some of the yellow cheap Chinese ones do it after about seven years in a v10. I ended up replacing two of those with some old used ones I had lying around that we're good.

 

[ManUpOrShutUp]

These Ford coilsl certainly do go bad.
They don't have to be damaged or abused in any way. They can be totally dry with no coolant or water getting to them and they can just fail after 10 or 12 years and 125 k +. Maybe you don't keep your vehicle's long enough to experience a coil failure or maybe you figure after 10 or 12 years of course anything is fail. That's probably true but a lot of us have quite old Vehicles still running perfectly and getting the job done. All these will eventually need a coil or two and most of this opt for an entire replacement or they get suckered at a garage for an $850 tune up for all new coils and plugs.
I really have my doubts about a set of Accel coils only lasting a short time unless they were wet with coolant or water or something else like was mentioned.
We must also remember that sometimes the parts that we were just now replacing from the factory from 98 to 2004 that are just now failing are not going to last as long he even when you replace them with the OEM Motorcraft brand part. I just don't think they make any of them as good as they did back then. Before coils used to be made in the USA now they are made in China. Not that that's any guarantee one way or the other but it does kill part of the old argument everybody had about buying OEM instead of cheap Chinese ones.
Even back when I was getting Ford calls 460-8272 dollars I still opted for the $39 won at the local parts store because it had a lifetime warranty. I keep my car's a long time and the warranty is much more important for something it is so easy to replace.
Back to those accel or other replacement coils failing soon. If you don't put a brand new set of plugs in that are properly gapped you can't be upset when the coils have a shortened life. I have dealt with Volkswagen before and the Turbo Beetle and Jetta engine is known to eat coils. It is very sensitive to plug gap. If you put a set of new plugs and these Ford's and gap them at a nice snug . 052 you should get more than your money's worth for any coils You by even the cheapies.

As example of factory coils going bad, I just had two go bad over the past couple of years on a 2000 with about 200,000 miles on it. Picked up ignition miss one day that lasted for a few seconds and then went away and then came back later. A few days later it was a constant miss. I was able to unplug the coil and of course that maintained the steady miss. As I would plug it back in it would fire for about three revolutions or Three Fires and then it would stop and miss would come back. I did this over and over. That means the coil is breaking down and not able to maintain its firing rate.
I had some of the yellow cheap Chinese ones do it after about seven years in a v10. I ended up replacing two of those with some old used ones I had lying around that we're good.

As I already stated, I run every vehicle I own into the ground. They've all had 225-400K+ on the clock when I sold them with the exception of a Ford Probe that I sold with 98K on the clock because it was a completely unreliable money pit. That said, I didn't say or imply they don't fail. I said they're not a maintenance item. There's no logical reason to replace them on a routine basis. Replace them when they fail or replace the rubber boot when it starts to show signs of deterioration. You can also test them w/ an OTC 6589, which will cost you less than a single coil. Replacing an entire set "just because" is just throwing money away.

 

[1969 Bulldog]

There's a lot of very cheap Chinese ignition coils on ebay and Amazon. My '04 was missing at light throttle. It had around 130,000 miles at the time so I went ahead and ordered a set of plugs and what I thought were made in the USA ignition coils (Delphi) from Amazon. Turns out they were made in China, too. I was ticked off about it & wrote a negative review about that but Amazon never published it. Anyway, a friend & I went ahead and installed them. That was two years and 17,000 miles ago this month & the truck is running fine. The price on the coils has been reduced by $13 a set, too. It's hard to find anything not made in China these days. I do see that Amazon has a complete set of Motorcraft ignition coils for a little over $200, which is a good price for OEM.