Ford Escape – Replacing Coil Packs

Engine sputtering again.. Check engine light again..

Here’s a list of the symptoms:

  • Misfire only occurs when it’s been raining
  • The truck is parked outside
  • Eventually it will start running ok after driving it for a while
  • If stored in the garage, problem does not occur

The first time this happened, the truck was driven to Autozone so they could connect the code reader to the computer.  It showed that cylinder six was misfiring.  Purchased some Lucas fuel injector cleaner, a set of spark plugs and an intake manifold gasket set.

Replaced the plugs without too much difficulty, the manifold was not as bad as I feared.

All was good for a couple months, then it started again.  Like last time, it was raining and very damp outside.  Next on the replacement list:  Coil pack.  Again, a replacement was purchased at Autozone.

It went a little faster due to the familiarity of removing the manifold.  Once again the engine was idling ok, but when taken out for a test drive, it started sputtering.  I accelerated hard and it started running ok.. no idea what that means other than maybe the coil was a waste of money.

Doing research on this has shown there are many, many people with the exact same problem (for example).  And unfortunately there are many different fixes.  If this happens again, we are going to replace:

Replace the coil connector
Check the catalytic converter
Replace the PCM?

Notice that the list gets progressively more expensive?

 

Comments please!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.