I have a bad skip and dealer says I need a coil pack and new plugs and wires. Over $400.00 Can anyone tell me on this six cyl. do i need 1 or 2 coil packs. any info. would be helpful...Thanks

 

I'm pretty sure it's one. I had the same issue at about 95K. Not sure how many miles are on your rig, but I went ahead and had the dealership do the 100K mile service on mine so my issue was fixed as part of that. Good luck.

 

Plugs are about $30, and wires about another $30. And don't the Ford engines use COPs? Anyway, you're looking at $100 for a simple DIY job. Why pay 4 times more and have someone you don't even know wrenching on it? Plus I love working on my truck, reminds me of the growing sentimental value.

I just replaced my plugs with 6x new Motorcraft Platinums, gapped .054" and it runs a lot better now. My truck used to hesitate when accelerating and also had a very rough idle. Reason being I pulled the 3 left plugs and they were marginally okay, all three being somewhere around the .054 gap. Then I pulled the #4 plug and it was burnt up a bit, #'s 5 & 6 were Bosch platinums gapped to .065" so it runs A LOT better now.

 

What year is your truck? They have changed the coil packs over the years. My '99 has one, and my dad's '01 had more (not sure how many). Neither had COPs (Coil Over Plugs), not sure about the newer V6's.

My dad had a coil pack fail on his '01 and the dealer fixed him right up.

FWIW, I had a Bosch plug fail on my '99, and I replaced my single coil pack trying to isolate the problem (it did not throw a code until later). The truck ran really bad with a bad plug for months before it threw a code. I spent a lot of time and money trying to find out the problem (figured it was not the Bosch plugs because they had less than 20,000 miles).

Bottom line is the coils on these trucks do fail, but it is a simple job to replace yourself. If for some reason you have Bosch plugs or your spark plugs are due for a change, certainly try replacing the plugs before you spring for a new coil. JMHO.

 

My truck is a 2001 model 4.2 V6 if that helps..

 

The 4.2l V6 is NOT Coil On Plug ignition.

It is EDIS or Electronic Distributor. Basically the plug wires plug into an electronic distributor or what is known as a coil pack.

It's quite similar to COP, but think of it as a long wire attached to each COP in a group of six sitting beside the engine, instead of each one being in the spark plug cylinder as a COP system would be. Same principle.

 

ALL 4.2's have a single coil pack mounted on top of the passenger side valve cover. The price the dealer quoted is correct - using OEM Motorcraft parts (list price) and labor at book rate.

To do it yourself, the cost for OEM Motorcraft parts at Rockauto.com is:

Plugs - $4.21 x6
Wires - $47.79
Coil - $81.79

Add shipping and a tube of dielectric grease.

 

$400!!! wow thats a crazy price for the amount of work involved...

About 3 weeks ago my coil went bad.... took me all of 45 min to change out coil , plugs and wires.... grand total about $115

 

Thanks everyone I bought everything needed and it's about 150.00. And yes it is the EDIS coil pack.. Thanks again I will tacled the labor and let you know how it turns out...

 

Thanks for the clearup Manual, you always learn something new every day!

 

Complain to the people that write the flat rate labor manuals. You also have to remember that the dealer is going to charge you LIST price for the parts. List price on the plug wires by themselves is $120.