Fixed my truck (no, I won't help you move)... :)
Well, I say it's fixed, but I may have just jinxed it. Time will tell.
First, a little background... my dad and I went in 50/50 on a 2000 F150 with a 4.6 V8 and a scant 210K miles. It's a little beat, but it rides great and everything works - including the A/C. We got it cheap from the original owner, who said the only thing wrong with it was a "slight, intermittent misfire." Late last year, I thought I had the problem fixed after I had it scanned at AutoZone and diagnosed a bad coil pack on #7. Hmmmm... the owner said he'd had one pack replaced already, and by my count from Chevy experience, it was the #7. So I consulted the trusty Haynes book before moving further. Turns out Ford and Chevy don't number their cylinders with the same method:
Chevy
8 7
6 5
4 3
2 1
Ford
4 8
3 7
2 6
1 5
Looks like the PO actually had CP #8 replaced. Oops! Lesson learned. I replaced the correct pack this time, but only had time for two spark plugs before I had to finish watching baseball (Rangers won, BTW).
Fast-forward a few months... Unfortunately, as soon as the warm weather returned, so did the misfire - even worse than ever. A couple of weeks ago, I wasn't sure I was going to make it back home from downtown Garland (3 miles). The CEL came on, it ran like shit, and it stunk like hell. Good times.
Yesterday I borrowed gabkwong's code scanner and I got to work this morning. This time the code was a misfire at #1. Fair enough. Before I went to the parts store, I started replacing the rest of the spark plugs. When I pulled off the #5 coil pack, it literally crumbled in my hand - it looked like somebody had tried to "fix" the harness connector with some kind of "pooky." Shit. Add another CP to the shopping list.
An hour later, $100 lighter, and a little greasier, the thing purred like a kitten. So far no more CEL, no new codes, and no shaky misfires. It runs so good it'll spin one tire! We'll see how long that holds, but I'm encouraged...
I had to share.
Gab, I'd like to hang on to the scanner this week in case the beast throws any more codes. I may still have to pick one up at HF though... that's a nice tool to have if you've got an old OBD-II vehicle.
