KansasArt
Senior Member
Needing some help with a misfire/running rough diagnosis. 2003 Ford Escape, 3L V6. 80K miles.
My mom (89yo) text me her car was running rough, almost quit on her. CEL on. I go over there and it’s only showing 2 codes. P0316 & P0304. #4 cyl misfire. Drive the car to my house, it drives & idles fine. No problems. Since it’s running well, I can’t swap coils. I pull the coil on #4 to check the plug and the tube has about 1” of oil in it, #5 is clean & number 6 has a little bit of oil in it. Not as bad as #4. I decided to change the valve cover gasket & the O rings. Didn’t do the back bank as it was 20` in my garage. I can do the back bank when it warms up. Plug #4 black with lots of carbon. # 5 normal gray. #6 like #4 but not as bad. Sorry, didn't think to take pics.
After buttoned it all back up with new Motorcraft plugs I started the car. Running like Mom described. Barely would idle. I unhooked #4 coil, no change. Unhooked #5, ran worse. Unhooked #6, no change. Swapped the coils around (keeping track of where they were) and the results were the same. Swapped again, same results. Swapped the plugs, same results. Of note, #4 & #6 looked like they haven't even fired. #5 looked like it had been firing. New plugs, remember.
So, my question is can I check with a dvm whether or not the coils are receiving current to fire? I only have a simple scan tool so I can’t dig deep into it. Anything else I should check?
My mom (89yo) text me her car was running rough, almost quit on her. CEL on. I go over there and it’s only showing 2 codes. P0316 & P0304. #4 cyl misfire. Drive the car to my house, it drives & idles fine. No problems. Since it’s running well, I can’t swap coils. I pull the coil on #4 to check the plug and the tube has about 1” of oil in it, #5 is clean & number 6 has a little bit of oil in it. Not as bad as #4. I decided to change the valve cover gasket & the O rings. Didn’t do the back bank as it was 20` in my garage. I can do the back bank when it warms up. Plug #4 black with lots of carbon. # 5 normal gray. #6 like #4 but not as bad. Sorry, didn't think to take pics.
After buttoned it all back up with new Motorcraft plugs I started the car. Running like Mom described. Barely would idle. I unhooked #4 coil, no change. Unhooked #5, ran worse. Unhooked #6, no change. Swapped the coils around (keeping track of where they were) and the results were the same. Swapped again, same results. Swapped the plugs, same results. Of note, #4 & #6 looked like they haven't even fired. #5 looked like it had been firing. New plugs, remember.
So, my question is can I check with a dvm whether or not the coils are receiving current to fire? I only have a simple scan tool so I can’t dig deep into it. Anything else I should check?
