I need more help!! (misfire) (Non-working fogs)

[breezd]

98 'Tour SE Sport
2.5 V6 DOHC
112k miles

Bought the car back in August (106k on it at the time). This is what I have done to it so far:

Mobil1 Oil Change (previous owner used Mobil1, so I will continue)
Spark Plugs
Spark Plug wires
all 4 O2 sensors
Replaced 2 of the Cats
Rebuilt Alternator
New Battery

Most of this has been done because of the CEL coming on about 2 weeks after buying the car. And, since then the CEL has been throwing a misfire code (the CEL is blinking). I haven't had a chance RECENTLY to run to Autozone to see exactly what codes its throwin right now

I haven't driven the car in about a month while doing all of this work on it. Today, I finally got it all put back together, and the CEL started flashing again after about driving a 1/2 mile.

How do i figure out what to do now? If I work my way down the line, the Coil pack is next, but I dont want to replace it if I dont have to...

I called my mechanic (my uncle) and he told me that he had to recently do 2 intake gaskets on 'Tours also with misfires. He also went on and on about how 'Tours are pieces of $h!t and I shouldn't have ever bought it. Can I prove him wrong?

So these are what I'm thinking:
Coil Pack: DIY- Autozone $61.99/Advance $75.94/NAPA $80-135
Intake Casket: Not DIY for me-$??


Also, the fog lights have not worked since I bought the car (previous owner said he didn't know how to fix the problem either). Fuse is fine, bulbs are fine, they just don't turn on! Switch seems to work, it turns on the light on the dash... suggestions?


So, any help is appreciated! Thanks in advance!

PS. Thanks again to Tony2005 for helping with my alternator/fuse#5 dilemma...

WIRES ARE IN THE CORRECT FIRING ORDER ON THE COIL PACK!!!

 

[Tony2005]

...WIRES ARE IN THE CORRECT FIRING ORDER ON THE COIL PACK!!!

Humor me and check it again.

In addition, check the sp gap (0.054 inch) and wiring order for the spark plugs at the cylinder end.

Did they install the correct upper O2 sensors? Check to be sure.

But the most important thing is to get codes read and post exact codes here. If that doesn't help, you may need a real time scan and post PIDs or freeze frame data. (1 hour diagnosis or buy a Actron 9145 $200 and you can do all the scans you want).

 

[SVTGT350]

A flashing CEL dosen't necessarily mean a misfire, it means that whatever is happening is going to do damage to the catalytic converter.

 

[KenshinSVT]

Make some time to get the codes. That will save you a lot of Mind stress wandering what is the problem.

Regarding the fog lamps it is very probably that your switch is gone. I owned a Grand Marquis 1997 for several years and I changed the lights switch every year. I don't doubt that Ford maded the same mistake in the contours/mystiques.

P.S. Be sure that the switch is the wrong thing before change it, because is a kind of expensive (more of 50 dollars in autozone)

 

[BrApple]

A flashing CEL dosen't necessarily mean a misfire, it means that whatever is happening is going to do damage to the catalytic converter.

please site your source for this .... the CEL only flashes when there is a missfire otherwise it stays on solid ... why in the world would a flashing cel mean the cat is in danger :shrug:

 

[AliasJerk]

please site your source for this .... the CEL only flashes when there is a missfire otherwise it stays on solid ... why in the world would a flashing cel mean the cat is in danger :shrug:

+1 I believe even the ford service CD says that a flashing CEL means a misfire. When the CEL flashes, it only flashes for a couple of minutes then stays on solid to tell you which cylinder is misfiring, or if it says "P0300" it means there is a random misfire.

 

[breezd]

ok... so I made it to Autozone today... only code is a Misfire in Cylinder#4. I didnt get to get the actual code cause the guy was busy and in a hurry so he told me what the problem was and pretty much ran away.

The car is really runnin like crap. 500rpm, whole car is shaking...

And I CHECKED THE SPARK PLUG WIRES AGAIN AND THEY ARE CORRECTLY HOOKED UP IN THE RIGHT FIRING ORDER!!!

 

[breezd]

Got it fixed!

Got it fixed!

Well today I decided to check out the spark plugs again. Since the car was misfiring in Cyl4 (and since its the easiest to pull) I pulled that one first. Sure enough, the boot of the wire was burnt up. (See attached image). Sometime after installing the new wires in the past couple days, the wire arced and put a hole right thru the side.

So I pulled all of the wires, brought them back to NAPA, and they replaced them no questions asked. Went back home, put em in, and ALL BETTER!

My dad bought a code scanner today for "Our" christmas present. Its awesome too!

Cleared the codes, took the car for a drive, and no more CEL! In fact, I dont think that the car has run this nice in the 3 months that I have owned it!

So tomorrow morning, after I get off work at 7am, I'm off to emissions, which was supposed to be done 2 months ago...


One more note, my father has been on these threads to keep up with everyone's responses. He felt that with my couple of posts, where I had put the last line in all CAPS, that it seemed as if I were yelling. That was not my intention! I apologize if that is how it seemed! lol

 

[KenshinSVT]

Good 4 you. As you see, reading the codes can save you a lot of money. Can I borrow your new code scanner??? Just to test it! LOL

 

[Tony2005]

..So tomorrow morning, after I get off work at 7am, I'm off to emissions,...

If you have to deal with the emissions check (plug in and look for CEL codes), you have to go through the OBDII drive cycle or you will fail due to System Not Ready P1000. If the test consists of just "visual no CEL on" and then sniffer test, you might pass if the catalytic converters are working efficiently.

Read this.
http://www.contour.org/ceg-vb/showthread.php?t=4710&highlight=obdii+drive+cycle

 

[breezd]

I went to get my emissions done today. No problems. They only did the OBDII scan and they did a gas cap pressurization test.