My 2003 Ford Focus had the common issue of having the jacket on the ignition coil wires disintegrate causing performance issues. I soldered a new ignition coil pigtail on it years ago. I used the regular Home Depot lead-free electrical solder I had on hand and have been using for ages. The car ran much, much better, but it wasn't what I'd call perfection. Considering what I bought the car for and the fact that it passed emissions with flying colors, I was ok with it.
As of late, the car had developed a slight miss at part throttle. It was never all the way right, but it seemed to become a bit more pronounced.
I knew it was ignition system related (you know how when you own a car for so long, you just "know" your car? That.). I just had to figure out where the weak link was.
I figured I'd use this as an opportunity to replace (and upgrade) the ignition coil, wires and spark plugs for something better than what was on there. It ran much better, but still had that part throttle miss (albeit a lot less). Something in my gut said to buy some leaded solder and clip the old soldering job off and do it over with the leaded solder.
The result is the car runs better than it ever has during the time I've owned it. That slight miss is gone, it accelerates a lot smoother, I picked up additional mpg (it was just one mpg, but I'll take it) and little stuff that existed the entire time I've had the car such the engine having a bit of a surge at idle with the A/C on are now gone. The car starts up like a champ on cold starts and hot starts are nearly instantaneous.
I don't think I'll ever go back to using lead-free solder. Is there a notable brand of lead solder out there? I ordered the highest rated lead solder off Amazon. I wasn't necessarily looking for a specific brand. Just something with good feedback. After this roll of solder runs out, if there is a notable brand out there, I think it's worth the $$$ based on this experience and I'll be using it going forward.
Figured I'd share this information for anyone that cares or has electrical stuff they can't quite figure out.
As of late, the car had developed a slight miss at part throttle. It was never all the way right, but it seemed to become a bit more pronounced.
I knew it was ignition system related (you know how when you own a car for so long, you just "know" your car? That.). I just had to figure out where the weak link was.
I figured I'd use this as an opportunity to replace (and upgrade) the ignition coil, wires and spark plugs for something better than what was on there. It ran much better, but still had that part throttle miss (albeit a lot less). Something in my gut said to buy some leaded solder and clip the old soldering job off and do it over with the leaded solder.
The result is the car runs better than it ever has during the time I've owned it. That slight miss is gone, it accelerates a lot smoother, I picked up additional mpg (it was just one mpg, but I'll take it) and little stuff that existed the entire time I've had the car such the engine having a bit of a surge at idle with the A/C on are now gone. The car starts up like a champ on cold starts and hot starts are nearly instantaneous.
I don't think I'll ever go back to using lead-free solder. Is there a notable brand of lead solder out there? I ordered the highest rated lead solder off Amazon. I wasn't necessarily looking for a specific brand. Just something with good feedback. After this roll of solder runs out, if there is a notable brand out there, I think it's worth the $$$ based on this experience and I'll be using it going forward.
Figured I'd share this information for anyone that cares or has electrical stuff they can't quite figure out.
