2006 Ford Freestar 3.9L Misfire

[Rand]

My friends freestar is misfiring (you can hear it)
its dropping a misfire cyl 1 code I thought I screenshot'ed it but it was something 301.



any ideas? I could smell gas so I'm thinking failure of spark.
And I have ordered motorcraft wires, motorcraft plugs, and if that doesnt fix it ..next step is the coil.

Any other ideas?

Also it was failing these tests


Edit: no its not COP
its standard 6pack coil. you cant see anything the engine is transverse mounted and the cowl covers over half of it.

codes were reset and battery was disconnected.. it did not help.

initially on cold engine it doesnt misfire.. within 30s-2m it starts.. and is much worse under load than idle.

 

[OVERKILL]

Sounds like you are starting in the right direction. Is this engine COP?

 

[Kuato]

By "6 pack coil" do you mean one unit with 6 leads for the plug wires? I had a similar, hard to diagnose miss on the Wrangler. Although a 4 cylinder, it had the setup listed above. Turned out the pack was bad, but only on 1 of the leads. There was some corrosion buildup on the lead to the misfiring cylinder, you might want to look for that.

 

[Rand]

plugs and wires were 40$
the coil pack in name brand is 75+shipping$
friend is poor.. so I know it needs plugs and wires.. they are originals (6yr 50k miles)
on the other hand its a huge pain in the [censored] to get to..
so if it still isnt fixed I'll probably buy off brand local coil pack, before reassembling.

Any tips on how the cowl comes off.. i know there is 4 screws some clips and you have to take the wipers off... also I will probably disassemble the intake to get room for the number 3 plug.

the engine is transverse with
123
456
and its tilted backwards slightly with a cowl with 2-3"
clearance covering 2/3 the engine.

translation.. huge pita.. I dont even want to work on this pos.. but friend is poor so I'll try.. worse case scenario he pays someone else to put on the rockauto parts.

 

[mechanicx]

My suggestion since 6year/50k miles isn't really all that long for plugs and wires and theyre a pain to change, the misfire is cyl #1, and your friend is on a budget, I wouldn't replace all the plugs and wires.

I would focus on cylinder 1 and check for good spark at the plug wire. Inspect the plug, wire and wiring and replace only the ignition wire and plug to that cylinder if bad. Maybe get a voltmeter and a service manual even if a Chilton from the library that covers the ignition system diagnosis.

The last thing you want to do is replace all the plugs and wires and go through the trouble and cost because the car "needs" it anyway and the misfire is still there. Even if you determine it is the plug or wire liek I said Id just replace that one.

 

[earlyre]

if only my sis & fam didn't live 30 mi away... they have an '03...
what i would look for..that i don't remember the freestar having off hand, was an engine access panel in the cabin.

we had several Aerostars while i was growing up, they all had a panel just under the center stack(radio, climate control, etc.) - Looked like a peice of carpet with latches holding it down on either end - so you could get to the back half of the engine.
granted, the Aerostar wasn't transverse mounted, but....

 

[Rand]

to get to the number 1 plug you have to disassemble everything so no point in not changing them all.

plug 1 is passenger rear bank.
right where the a/c intake bulges towards the engine..

there is 2-3" clearance and its so far back a 5 year old contortionist couldn't fit an arm in there.

my only real fear is cracking the windshield washer tubing or the coil pack is bad I'm not taking this apart twice :\

 

[JTK]

I know years ago my 2001 Windstar 3.8L started massively misfiring out of the blue. I had about 60Kmi on it at the time. I took it to the dealer. They charged me around $200 for new plugs and wires IIRC. I saved some $ by going with aftermarket wires, which wound-up being Motorcraft anyway. On a lift you could probably get the job done w/out pulling the cowl apart. On the ground, not so much.

EGR plugging issues and upper intake manifold air leaks also caused misfires on the Windstar 3.8L. Not sure if any of that applies to the newer Freestar engine.

Joel

 

[stroked93]

There is a TSB on this van. I own one the ecu connector is wet. water leaks down through the cowel panel into ecu. Remove cowel cover 10MM socket and about 8 bolts. The ecu is on pass side has a 10mmm securing harness. remove. you will find water. dry it out and your good to go. i built a cover for mine to keep water off of it after drying it twice.

 

[Rand]

What code does it throw when its wet?

 

[Rand]

I got around to working on this today.. It was a matter of 2 people's working schedules and my grandma(86) being in the hospital.

He drove it for over a month on 5 cylinders.

Let me just say this again.. I HATE WORKING ON MINIVANS!
Can I throw a tantrum about how retarded the engine bay layout is?

Anyway the problem turned out to be a bad coil pack.
got a new motorcraft for 74$ after coupon from AAP.
Also replaced the plugs and wires. They were originals. I used the oem nickel type long life motorcraft.

Wires were also motorcraft.

total parts were about 150. which I think is good for a oem coil pack, 6 oem plugs, an oem air filter, off brand carbon cabin air filter, and oem wires.
My labor was 15$.. (worth of food)

It was pretty straightforward except me being retarded and putting the wires on
123
654
by accident after I straightened them up.
That took about 30sec to diagnose and fix..

(proper order is)
123
564

Edit:
the spark plugs looked worn but still serviceable but at 2$ each and not wanting to take that engine cowl etc apart anytime soon they were replaced.
2 were super fouled, 2 were chalky white and 2 looked decent.

The wires were super glued on and took alot of pulling but being 7 years/50xxxmiles old they were also replaced being a new set cost 28$

 

[The_Eric]

Rand, I feel your pain about minivans (and vans). Good to hear you've got it all sorted out for your bucks down friend!

 

[OVERKILL]

Great to hear that you were able to complete it

 

[artificialist]

Often the Cam Sync Plug would fail on engines equipped with one, and cause all kinds of ignition problems, and a noise that sounds like a slipping serpentine belt.

Good thing that didn't happen to you.

 

[Rand]

well i have a good code reader and I dont jump into repairs that I dont know whats going on

A cyl 1 misfire that keeps coming back is pretty easy to diagnose esp when it smells rich exhaust.

that means lack of spark usually.