my mom has an 01 taurus with the 24 valve duratec engine. it has a miss on #3 cylinder. The ford dealer has Milked my mom for just arond 2 grand right now and it still has the same miss in it. Ford has replaced the injectors, plugs and wires, run a battery of tests and they still have no clue as to what is wrong with it. the service manager told her to just keep driving it it won't hurt anything, but hey the miss is really bad. it used to be worse when engine was cold but now it is all the time and at 3800 rpm it is almost a backfire. oh it has 78000 miles on it and this problem just happened out of the blue. any help would sure be appreciated.

 

Why not go to another dealer or some where else?


Sounds like that dealer just wants your $$$$$$$$$

 

Replace the coil.

If it keeps missing you will fry the converters - and the warranty on those is up at 80k, get this taken care of once and for all right NOW before you run out of warranty.

 

This may sound stupid but try putting dielectric grease in the spark plug boots. We had the same problem with a 24 valve Mercury Sable, 2001 at the RentaWreck where I work part time. The mechanic replaced plugs, wires and coil pack and that didn't fix it. He gave up and we sent it to the local Ford dealer, they put dielectric grease in the spark plug boots and that fixed it. It's a cheap and easy fix if it works for you. Give it a try.

 

thanks for the replies i will try the grease in the plug boots. and another suggestion was thw coil pack, mit is cheap and easy so i will try that too.
thanks again to you who replied

 

This is going to be a bit long winded, but here's my recent experience with a dealer and a misfire issue.

Background: Truck in my sig, 82k miles. 2 days before I was going to head up to Chicago with a trailer I fired it up in the AM and it started missing. Thought about how to approach this - I just moved here, my tools were still packed, time was short. I don't know any garages down here yet so I took it over to the local Ford dealer. Talked about it with the service advisor, decided to let them run a full diagnosis and replace the spark plugs. Dropped it off that night and tossed the keys in the night box. They called me in the morning, told me the wires were marginal and it needed an intake cleaning. Authorized a set of plugs and wires and a BG job. They did all that and tossed a can of BG44K in the gas. Fine and dandy, $575 (ouch), but it ran like a top for a couple weeks. One morning it started doing it again (coincidentally both times it did it in the morning after having been parked outside in the rain the day before), called the dealer, dropped it off that night, they found nothing wrong. They even water misted the engine and couldn't get it to miss. No charge. Took a weekend trip to Arkansas, once again towing, no problems. A couple of days later, same thing - after being parked in the rain again! Drove over to the dealer and left it running, they sent a tech out with a handheld scanner, let's go for a drive. Before even leaving the lot the scanner was showing a hard miss, cylinder #3. Dropped it off that night, next day the tech finally got it to miss again, he replaced the coil pack with a used tested known good one that he had on his bench. Dealer called that afternoon, coincidentally it was getting ready to rain. Asked them to park it outside and keep it overnight. Next day it fired right up and did not miss. Picked it up, still NO CHARGE - I sure can't complain about that. So far so good, but it hasn't rained since.........

Another thing of note - it has NEVER tripped a CEL through this whole mess.

I have since found out that this particular dealership has a crappy reputation, but I feel that they have treated me properly. Maybe it's because my discussions with the service advisor gave him the impression I might know something about engines and what I'm talking about? He never tried to BS me and actually went out of his way to avoid selling me on all kinds of random parts.

 

Wow! Is your mom the "Little Old Lady From Pasadena"? 3800 RPMs is about 115 MPH on my Taurus. Seriously, I don't like to just throw parts at a problem without being able to test the part first. However, considering what has already been done, it appears that throwing a coil pack at it is your best move. Not many people have the high voltage equipment required to test a coil for insulation breakdown. Good Luck, and let us know the outcome.

 

3800 rpm may be 115 mph in high gears, but what about 1st and 2nd? It's not hard hitting that simply accelerating at legal speeds.

 

the 3800 rpm is in park slowly bringing up rpms till it starts missing bad, not down the road (ha ha) but yes my mom sometimes has a lead foot. sounds like the coil pack might do the trick, its only 89.00 at oreileys, thanks again for the replies and suggestions. will let ya know how it turns out.

 

The dealer should have looked at the coil pack the first thing...I would go back and beat the chit out of them with a tire iron.
Not to mention that you spent 2 grand (major ouch) and they still didnt fix it, just said to drive it and forget about it

I would never go to that dealer ever again, and if I did, it would be to beat them like I said before

 

If it's not a coil...my guess is a broken valve spring on No. 3. A broken spring will show up on a compression test.

 

well gentlemen pat yourselves on the back!!!!!!!!! It was the coil pack, car is running great. Thanks for all the help.

 

Now I would go back and beat the chit out of the Dealer. Glad you got it fixed for her.

 

Even if you don't go back to beat on him you should at least go back and tell him you fixed it yourself with no help from him and let him know they lost a paying customer.

 

Don't these dealers have a device to load test a coil pack? I had the same issue but it was intermittent, they could not find anything wrong - the tech finally threw a used coil pack on mine and it hasn't missed since.