2002 Mustang V6 3.8l Rough Throttle From Idle/Hill

[garyfishell]

So awhile ago I had the car washed at some gas station car wash and soon after the car ran horrible no matter what. It shook at idle and it hesitated a ton when ever I gave it some gas. Took it to my mechanic and he said it was the fuel injectors so he had them cleaned. Never did say though if it was because moisture got into the injector or anything like that (from the car wash).

So about a week later, it is still giving me problems just not as bad. Now it is whenever I start the car on a hill or try giving it heavy throttle from an idle or throttling on a hill. I ignore it for a little and then I took the car to get it washed three days ago and right after it seemed to get worse. Just two days ago after getting off the freeway it threw up a cylinder two misfire code (P0302). But then weirdly enough, the code went away yesterday but the problems still somewhat persist.

Not sure if it's something with the fuel injectors or what but some help would be amazing, thanks a ton!

 

[R18Civic]

Check your coil packs, due to the inclination to act up in moist conditions my money is on a coil or possibly cam/crank sensor.

 

[Trav]

You need a new mechanic, the fuel system is a closed system so unless you left the gas cap off and water got in the fuel there is nothing in the injectors except possibly (highly unlikely) moisture in the connector as they have a seal in the connector.
Remove the plug wires or coil packs if its COP and dry them out, spray a little WD40 in the boots once its apart and blow it out with a compressed air (canned air will do), reassemble using die electric silicone grease on the boots.

Check all connectors for moisture while you are in there, just unplug and have a look, anything wet dry it and check why the seal failed to keep water out.

 

[SatinSilver]

Why is your username garyfishell?

 

[kschachn]

Originally Posted By: SatinSilver
Why is your username garyfishell?

Hmm, what do you think it should be?

 

[SatinSilver]

Here are some results under that name:

https://www.google.com/#q=gary+fishell&spf=1495582615365

 

[kschachn]

Originally Posted By: SatinSilver
Here are some results under that name:

https://www.google.com/#q=gary+fishell&spf=1495582615365

Interesting, that wasn't what I was thinking.

 

[RichardS]

Originally Posted By: SatinSilver
Here are some results under that name:

https://www.google.com/#q=gary+fishell&spf=1495582615365


You know Satin, I've given you grief before over questions like these. But I tip my hat to you on being so observant!

 

[aquariuscsm]

Originally Posted By: Trav
You need a new mechanic, the fuel system is a closed system so unless you left the gas cap off and water got in the fuel there is nothing in the injectors except possibly (highly unlikely) moisture in the connector as they have a seal in the connector.
Remove the plug wires or coil packs if its COP and dry them out, spray a little WD40 in the boots once its apart and blow it out with a compressed air (canned air will do), reassemble using die electric silicone grease on the boots.

Check all connectors for moisture while you are in there, just unplug and have a look, anything wet dry it and check why the seal failed to keep water out.


This. Water and/or moisture down in your coil packs.

 

[Colt45ws]

Originally Posted By: Trav
You need a new mechanic, the fuel system is a closed system so unless you left the gas cap off and water got in the fuel there is nothing in the injectors except possibly (highly unlikely) moisture in the connector as they have a seal in the connector.
Remove the plug wires or coil packs if its COP and dry them out, spray a little WD40 in the boots once its apart and blow it out with a compressed air (canned air will do), reassemble using die electric silicone grease on the boots.

Check all connectors for moisture while you are in there, just unplug and have a look, anything wet dry it and check why the seal failed to keep water out.


Agree. If I heard these complaints in the same sentence as "car wash" I would go straight to the ignition. I believe these engines are still coil pack, so I would be looking at the coil pack and the spark plug wires.

You aren't washing the motor are you? If you are, stop that. Ive never understood spraying water on a electronically controlled engine except in specific circumstances.

If you are just washing the body and its doing this, I would go wash it again, and pop the hood right there in the parking lot. Should be able to see what on the engine is getting wet and that should give you a good clue as to what is going wrong. Probably leaking somewhere on the back of the engine.

 

[garyfishell]

Originally Posted By: SatinSilver
Here are some results under that name:

https://www.google.com/#q=gary+fishell&spf=1495582615365


There are multiple Gary Fishell's, but actually surprised you looked up my name. But thanks for all the help from everyone anyways

 

[SatinSilver]

Hi Gary,

It struck me as odd that someone would use their "real" name as their username on here is all. Most people don't do that which is why I asked.

 

[garyfishell]

Ah okay

Well I did some tests on the coil pack with a multimeter (Never used one of these before in my life) and I set it to 200 ohms and got the following readings

Bank 1 - 1.2ohms
Bank 2 - 1.3ohms
Bank 3 - .8ohms

So I'm guessing Bank 3 is the bad one?

But then I ran 200k ohms on the towers and got the following
Tower 1 - 10.6
Tower 2 - 10.8
Tower 3 - 10.8

Not to sure if this indicates a bad coil pack or if I need to look elsewhere for the problem.

What is weird is that I am pretty sure that bank 3 is for cylinders 4 and 3. If this is the faulty bank then why did I get a engine code for a misfire on cylinder 2 (P0302)?

Just want to make sure its the coil pack before I go out and spend 90 bucks on a new one. Any help would be great, thank you!

 

[Lubener]

In your case, I would also be checking for cracks too. If in doubt, swap them and see if the code follows the coil or stays with those cylinders.

 

[Trav]

Primary spec is .3-1 ohms and secondary 6K-11K. moisture can alter the ohm readings. As the other poster said look for cracks also.

 

[The_Eric]

Yes, definitely look for cracks- they don't have to be huge, gaping ones either. Small little hairline cracks are enough to let water in and muck things up. These coils can have them anywhere from the towers to the underside and anywhere in between.

 

[garyfishell]

Hi okay so I've looked around the entire thing for cracks and I can't seem to find any at all. Not too sure if this means the coilpack is fine.

Were the ohms readings I got correct? Or were they indicating a problem

And also just to clarify, this was after a car wash not an engine wash. Never done an engine wash before.

 

[Trav]

Going by the numbers coils 1 & 2 are out of spec, 3 is okay. Just how much this small difference would make or if its enough to condemn them I cant say.
I would probably try them, make sure there are no codes then give them a light misting with a spray bottle and see if anything happens.

 

[garyfishell]

Okay so I just went and bought a brand new coil pack, installed it and the car still has lots of hesitation. What else could it be?

 

[Trav]

Which coil pack did you replace? This car needs a proper scan tool used on it, it could be almost anything incl a sensor or ignition module. Like I said I honestly don't know how much 0.2 of an Ohm difference would make.