my 2001 3.0 2 wheel drive is acting very strange.... it was running really rought felt to me like a spark plug wire fell off... I took it into autozone they told me that the code was a missfire, so I replaced the plug wires and the plugs.. and it still is doing it, what else could it be???

I checked for spark on the coil pack, by just barely pulling it off the wire where the cylinder is misfiring and it has a nice bright blue spark there so does this mean its not the coil or ... I dont know I need some sort of idea! I noticed before the truck actually showed a code it would kind of surge for a split second when at a stop light or something and was slowly getting worse until now when it totally is misfiring.... HELP PLZ! cant afford to take it to shop.

Oh and also not sure if this has anything to do with it but its been doing it for longer than the misfire, but when I get on it a little bit, or go up a hill and give it gas it would cut out real bad at about 3500 rpms and higher and I would have to let off the gas and kind of ease on the gas to get up the hill...

 

Sounds like the coil pack is bad, my roomates mustang GT did that when one of the coil packs went bad. This is a good excuse to upgrade to a performance coil pack from Wayne (graniteguy)

 

hmm does he got a site or anything with products and prices?... anyone else got any ideas or input on what it could be? or just the coil pack?

 

www.stuffforyourranger.com

 

anyone else got an ideas? If I disconnect the injector clip of the cylinder thats not firing to see if it runs worse or not will that tell me if its the injector?

 

Chris, you can check the coil pack with an ohmmeter. A haynes or chilton manual will outline how to do it or i can dig it up for you.

I went through the same deal about two months ago. I ohm checked the coil pack. I replaced the alternator (because I had a spare) and the code came back, swapped two plugs- came back, Swapped two plug wires- came back. Added fuel injector cleaner- came back. Each time I cleared the code with my scan tool.

What finally made it go away was I unplugged the battery for 30 minutes. Don't ask me why, but thats the last thing I did.

When I did forum searches about it, a bad head gasket was the cause for some guys. It wasn't for me and I hope it's not for you.

 

yeah if you could get that info for me that would be great how to check that coil, I got a ohmmeter so thats no biggy there, what was the cause of your problems? I dont got any water in the oil or anything its just that misfire on, think its 2 but not sure, its the plug closest to the firewall on the passenger side, its got a lil big of oil and fuel on it but since I put the new plugs in there that sylinder hasnt fire once, the plug looks brand new compared to the others I replaced.

 

also... how do i check the fuel pressure? I'm guessing with a fuel pressure gauge, but who or where do i get one of these? no one has them around here, autozone napa, schucks, no where.

 

Cyl 3 miss fire. Mine was cyl 3 and cyl 4. I don't know what my problem was. i went through a sequence of ruling stuff out and none of it cured it. After I reset the battery(which resets the computer) it never came back.

The coils are paired. Think of it as 3 rows of two pair. Stick one lead into each of the matched pair. I think it said it shouldn't read any higher than 15. I'll dig up the specifics. There's also a test for the plug connector also.

It would seem that since it's limited to one cylinder it wouldn't be a fuel pressure problem. Maybe a stuck injector? I picked up a FP gauge at Auto zone. it attaches to a schrader valve. $17 for a Haynes Manual would be the best $17 you've spent.

What happened with the other guys is the water was blowing into the cylinder. It never made it to the oil.