coreyarchitect

I have a 2000 Ford Expedition 4X4, 4.6 L, 60,000 miles, that is missing when I exelerate. It does not do it all the time, maybe about once every 5-10 minutes of driving. I realize the chore it will be to simply change plugs on the truck. I understand it may take up to 2-4 hours to change them. My question is, should I spend the money to pull the engine codes to see which cylinder is missing, or should I just replace all the spark plugs and see if my problem disappears? Today, I added some Sea Foam to the engine to see if that helps. Will know in a few days, I guess.

Also, the truck growls sometimes when going up hills. I had the truck in for service and the mechanic told me the differential gears are controlled by a computer and that they needed to be told to mesh tighter together. They charged me $500 and sent me on my way. It still makes the noise and I am wondering, have I been taken advantage of? Does the computer really tell the differential gears how much pressure should be on them? Any other ideas as to what the noise may be? It feels as though it is coming from under the floor boards of the passenger side, but I am not exactly certain. Please advise?

Thank you.

89F150

For the miss i would start with the plugs first and see how you go with that. As for the other thing i am not much help.

351w

first of all i hate to hear stories like yours where people pay un-godly amounts of money to service stations and nothing is fixed.
as for computers now a days they do control just about everything and anything but i have never heard of any computers controlling the pinion depth on a ring gear and frankly i think it would be stupid to have something that is even capable of changing the depth in the first place.
if your pinion depth was to deep it would cause a whining noise under some conditions though and on the other hand if the pinion depth was to shallow it would easily snap teeth off under stress.
unfortunately the ford expeditions are notorious for making all sorts of noises and i cannot begin to tell you where to start looking.
do some more research on noises and you will soon see for yourself.
as for the plugs i would get a code scanner or have the codes pulled i doubt that a plug change will fix the problem since it is so speratic.
i would tend to think it was a sensor or something else as the plugs and wires are rated for 100,000 miles and also the dealer would replace those if they were the cause.

please let us know what you find to be the problem for future references.

p.s. welcome to the site

__________________
i would rather push my Ford than drive your Chevy !

albrjmnz

It is very possible that one of you coils is out. To check your coils, shut the engine off, take off the wire(try each one,one at the time) start your engine if you see a big spark it, your coil is good, if you see a low spark your coil is bad. It is better to check the coils at night because you are able to see the spark.GOOD LUCK!

coreyarchitect

Thank you for the information. I can not tell you how I appreciate this website and all of you that reply to assist those of us that are not as involved in the trades, yet havethe ambition to do some of the work to save our bottom lines.

I have sold that truck, but I now know how to check the coil packs without changing them individually one by one. Thank you.

I do have another problem with my Pontiac Bonneville. It is sometimes hard starting. It is a 2003 with 24000 miles on it. I was wondering if the fuel filter could already be plugged? Thoughts? It misses a bit when put under accelleration, but not allways.

Coreyarchitect

albrjmnz

on the pontiac im sure its the fuel filter, thats what we did to my moms grand prix

euroclydon

I changed all the plugs on mine. It was a pain! Still having missfire problems in 1 6 and 7. Any ideas why all three would go out like that. I know its not the plugs now, but it could be those lousey coil-plug things. Could 3 go out at once (its a pain to even pull them off to check each individually)? Or is it likely something else?

Please reply

euroclydon

Ford said my problem was a fuel pump. I just replaced this last July however, so we will see if thats what it really is...

Jerry927

My miss started last winter about once a week accelerating at 45 mph. Eventually started missing at red light. Recently would miss after driving about 2 miles and miss would go away and come back and go away. I finally took it in and the computer analyzer found the #3 spark plug coil to be bad and they replaced it. They found the plugs fouled pretty bad and suggested changing the plugs. After that - the engine was missing worse. Now, found #8 coil bad. The engine is ok now but $$$ 730.00 - coils $131 each, double platinum plugs $85 the set plus labor - I am retired and that just knocked a hole in my bank account. I looked at JC Whitney and they had the spark plug coils for $59.99 each.

My question now is: What about the remainding 6 coils? Are they apt to go bad with the new plugs or they apt to not go bad? - I should mention I have a 2000 5.4 liter 4wd with 69,000 miles - well, Ford says change plugs at 100,000 miles - I would think the coils went bad because of the fouled plugs.?? One other thing - I also had the water problem - water sitting in there where the plugs are - rust stains on the rubber covering part of the spark plug coil.

I am thinking or I should say hoping these remaining coils will not go since I have new plugs. What do you people think? Or the other way around - they will go bad with the new plugs.

thanks - Jerry

GumpDan

Did anyone receive the "service engine soon" light that stayed on?