Due to some complications (terrible service from the Ford dealer), the part will not go in until this Tuesday.
Like I alluded to above, this is a very common problem on this car. My problems are known symptoms of VRIS solenoid issues, so I am fairly confident it is going to solve my misfire. hellokit is correct.
What I don’t understand is how a timing adjustment solved the issue for about 30 miles, then it came back. That is what worries me and makes me think twice about the VRIS issue being… my issue.
Hope that fixes it but I’m a bit skeptical over the diagnosis as compared to the symptom. An alteration of the performance characteristics I could see but I don’t see it causing an arcing of the wires.
Once the spark plug wires have arced through their covering to ground, even if the other problem is fixed, the paths that the prior arcs made will still be there, and the arcing will still occur. Maybe, only under acceleration, but, they will still arc. If you still have misfire, put on new spark plug wires.
Check one more time to make sure you don’t have the plug wires crossed. Go back to the manual; the old ones may have been crossed when something was done around the engine.
The VRIS Solenoid went in. The car drove fine for about 30 miles, then the missing came back. The car is back at the dealer and I am waiting to hear from them again.
As an interseting side note, I’ve got a Ford Fusion rental car with 1500 total miles. Since I’ve had the car, the speedometer has gone crazy, and the check engine light has come on…
I was pretty dubious about that VRIS solenoid diagnosis anyway. JMHO, but this could still fall back on the spark plugs, recently replaced or not. New out of the box does not necessarily mean good out of the box.
What type of plug? Correct heat range?
Let me try and address all of the above questions.
The bottom line is that the car is misfiring. I don’t think arcing is the problem now and honestly, I don’t know if it ever was. What I do know is that the car was misfiring and is still doing it.
Everytime I get the car back from the dealer, the car runs perfectly fine for about 20-50 miles before the cycle starts up again. It misfires once. Then it misfires again 5 minutes later. Then it happens 2 minutes later. Then it becomes more frequency, sort of an exponential growth.
I only believed the VRIS diagnosis because its a common problem on these cars and there was a noticable increase in power when the car reached the 4200 RPM mark, exactly.
What makes no sense to me is how it can run fine for a while everytime I leave the dealer and while they drive it. Then the problem comes back? It is as if the computer is being reset, then somehow a virus eats away at it, causing it to screw up again. This just can’t be a mechanical problem, right? If the problem is gone for a while before it re-appears, doesn’t that eliminate all obvious causes (wires, plugs, filters)?
The spark plug wires have been re-arranged by the dealer. In fact, that was part of their initial $400.00 labor charge. They are wired correctly.
The spark plug are NGK V-Powers. Replacement of the plugs was the first thing I did when this problem came about. The first mechanic who messed with it had me replace them all over a second time. Before the replacement, there were some Bosch Platinum’s or something like that in the car.
So I don’t think Arcing is the issue, only this misfire. It appears all diagnosis have been wrong so far. As for the questions that keep coming up, I can almost guarantee you all that they have been answered earlier in this thread.
It seems to be presumptive of you to say that all questions were answered before they were asked. They have NOT! You have made this discussion much more difficult, and fruitless, by taking such a stance.
If you think that re-setting the engine computer is a major player in the return of the misfire(s), either, go to an auto parts store and have them to “erase DTCs”, or, rent or buy, a code scanner and erase the DTC (Diagnostic Trouble Code), yourself. THEN, you can see when the codes recur.
From what you now say about this I would guess that there still may be a problem with arcing. The problem would get worse as time goes on as the path for the arcing gets burned in more and easier for the arc to pass through the insulation. If this really is the problem you should be able see any arcing by looking at the wires at night, while it is dark, or in a garage with the lights out.
I appreciate all of the input and appreciate the time everyone has to respond.
What I still don’t seem to be getting across is that I no longer have the car. The FORD DEALER has the car. They are the ones coming up with this diagnosis. I don’t have the car at my disposal to screw with it any longer, as they are now responsible for fixing it. All computer clearing, code checking, and part installation has been done by the dealer.
The questions I’ve said I’ve already answered are those about spark plugs, wire crossing, and things like that.
I am trying to keep this thread updated for those that are interested. I am also curious to hear your input, such as why the problem has gone away mulitple times for the dealer, only to come back after I’ve driven the car for a little while.
The reason it doesn’t make sense to me is that the problem has gone away each time the dealer has worked on the car. It goes away for 20-50 miles before the missing comes back.
Either way, I’ve got the car back in my posession. When I get some time, I will investigate the arcing farther. The dealer has basically left me with the car, because they don’t know what else to do other than replacing the spark plug wires again, which I will probably do myself.
Was driving today after the first start of the morning. After about 5 minutes the tachometer went crazy (jumped around wildly), then the car died while I was driving. It started right back up and it hasn’t given me a hickup since then (another 15 miles were driven).
Also, since the VRIS solenoid was replaced at the dealer, the car does not start nearly as quick as it did before. It cranks for quite a while before it fires up.
What are the current possibilities? Can the throttle position sensor cause a problem like this?
I should add that there was a starting problem when I first bought the car (got a GREAT deal because of it). Every 75th or so attempt to start the car was a failure. A few hours later, the car would end up starting. The distributor was replaced by a mechanic who couldn’t re-create the problem or trace it down. It didn’t fix it.
My own research and a helpful engine code when it happened to me lead me to replace the crankshaft position sensor, which cured that problem. There has not been a failure to start since.
Can this all be related, or am I just crazy?
Is the vehicle speed sensor something to investigate too? Some other wiring? I’m at a loss here. I did buy another car in the mean time, so I do have the ability to screw around with this one now…
Is there any chance a bad CV Joint could cause any of these issues while driving? The car will not misfire while standing still and there is no more arcing. It only occasionally “bucks” now, other than the random shut down the other day.
Can a CV joint make it seem like a car is occasionally misfiring?
A jumping tach needle usually points to a problem in the secondary ignition; distributor, ignition module, coil, etc.
Since the dist. has been changed, and if you’re really experiencing this arcing problem, then I would be leaning towards a weak coil rather than an ignition module. Coils can be a hit and miss affair.
I believe this vehicle uses a generic Ford coil (something I mentioned previously) so you should be able to scrounge one up cheap off of an old Taurus or something, swap it out, and see what happens.
I don’t know what the dealers mechanics are doing, but I would first check the valve timing, but I’m leaning away from that as being the problem. If you are getting a misfire code only and the timing is drifting and it runs good after the code is cleared, for a little while, I’d start looking at the CPU itself. I’d start with the ground because the the computer controls the timing, current for the coil goes through the computer. If the ground for it has gotten a little corroded, dirty or loose, this could cause some problems.
That is a shot in the dark though, worth checking because its free. Ultimately, I think you are going to need a new CPU. The CPU has to relearn your engines driving characteristics each time it is reset. Somewhere along the line, the information it is gathering is causing it to miscalculate something that is lading to the misfiring. You might even check to see if the computer has been changed, maybe to the wrong one.
I am fairly confident in saying that the issue has been solved.
The VRIS solenoid solved the misfire. Whether there ever was arcing and whether the VRIS solenoid or the timing adjustment fixed this issue, I don’t know. I am assuming there is no arcing now. The engine misfire went away once the Solenoid was replaced.
The stutter during driving that continued (exact same symptoms of misfire) was apparently caused by a bad drivers side CV Joint. It would appear this is also the cause of the car stalling at low speeds with no check engine light. Since replcing the CV joint there has been no hint of a stutter at low or high speeds.
The car is running great. As much as I hate to admit it, I am thoroughly enjoying this car again!