Alright- today I was driving up a pretty big hill- (sp. limit 45) and all of a sudden the car loses a bit of power, and the check engine light starts to flash, and then becomes steady. after that, the car regained power (i think...) and drives around alright, but has a rough idle (when in drive and stopped, the car vibration shudders slightly). under the hood, the engine also seems to vibrate/move a little more than normal. im going to make an appointment at the car stealership tomorrow (nowhere else to go
). anyways- anyone have any ideas?
by the way its a 96 zetec, ATX, and only 39k on the odometer. before this happened, it was running perfectly.
Report back with the code.
A flashing CEL is usually indicative of a misfire. Like Todd says, report the code here. The specific code will tell us which cylinder is misfiring, and that will narrow down your search for the problem. Its probably a bad plug or wire, though; easily fixable if that's the case.
will do- and i hope it's just a bad plug/wire. in the meantime- is it safe to drive?
Had something similar happened with my Duratec. I was in the garage and was just starting the car up. Except this time the engine was shaking like CRAZY! I immediate turned the engine off... Then start it up again... constant CEL. Took it to dealer... They replaced the ignition wire set. Apparently one of the wires got melted or something.
How much did it end up costing? I took it in today, and they "estimated" $117 to run the diagnostic...im not sure if that was JUST for the diagnostic, but if it was...
.
Nate,
Go to one of the following AutoZone's in your area and get the codes from the PCM. Make sure to take a pen and paper to write them down. Don't pay anyting till you consult this board. There's a good chance you can diagnose/fix it yourself.
*11414 Kinsman Rd Cleveland, OH ZipCode Phone: (216) 751-0571
*15103 Euclid Ave Cleveland, OH ZipCode Phone: (216) 851-9352
*15427 Snow Rd Cleveland, OH ZipCode Phone: (216) 267-6586
*16122 Lake Shore Blvd Cleveland, OH ZipCode Phone: (216) 481-5012
AutoZone and some other car part shops will scan your computer codes for free. Chances are this is just plugs or wires, but the error codes will be extremely helpful.
For 4 plugs figure maybe $25. Wires are probably about $40-$50.
P0302
was the code that the ford guy gave me (they just called). they said it was ignition coil and wires i think that were bad. also reccomended replacing the spark plugs b/c they're the original ones. total cost: around $500 for everything. thoughts on that price??
This is a Zetec, so I'm not too familiar with the ignition system, but on the Duratec plugs, wires, and coil are all very easy to change out yourself. Unless you're completely inept with a wrench, by all means do this yourself! Start by changing all four plugs (make sure the engine is cool). P0302 indicates cylinder #2, but since your plugs are original you should just change them all for good measure. If the misfire continues, change the wires. If that doesn't solve it, change the coil. These are in order of expensiveness (is that a word?) so hopefully you'll catch a plug or wire problem before shelling out for a new coil. On the Duratec a coil is about $100, I'm not sure about the Zetec.
Don't pay $500 for what amounts to a very basic tuneup.
EDIT: fordpartsonline.com has a Zetec coil for $93 and a Duratec coil for $125. If you're not in any huge rush, call Bill Jenkins. He'll probably have a price slightly lower than fpo.com (in my experience)
I agree with Hetfield, $500 is very high for these simple mechanical replacements. Many muffler shops even will have a mechanic on duty that could do this for much less. Just make sure you get the right parts for them.
if they are counting that 1 hour diagnostic in there then I can see how they came up with $500. Parts is maybe $125 or so, then maybe 1.5 hours of labor.
ok, well i got the coil pack, spark plugs (they were the orig. ones) and wires replaced, and they tell me the car is done. well i go to pick it up, and within a MINUTE of driving it, i can tell that the car is still not idling right, even though there is no CEL (the revs going up and down like when the check engine light was on), so i take it back. now they think it is the computer/chip or something (not sure on the details). ill keep you guys updated in case anyone is interested.
Yep, Ford charges $50 an hour here for "diagnosing" the problem. Luckily, I had my plugs and wire changed out at cost.
ok heres what happened:
i go to pick it up today, and well....lets see. they replaced the oxygen senson and PCV something..i honestly dont even know. 200 bucks. i go over to the car, and the rear windows are all the way open. no problem, except that the car is OUTSIDE, and a major rainstorm just passed through. my whole back end was soaked. so the guy goes and gets some stain remover and a TOWEL. my mom was with me, and she was absolutely pissed off. raving. the guy gives her a certificate for a free oil change. A 20 DOLLAR OIL CHANGE! they end up taking it to get detailed for a few minutes, and the end result is pretty good. actually better than before...but its still soaking wet. my mom is still pissed off, so she goes to the manager. he agrees with her, and decides to take off the 200 dollars. so then we leave. i go not even to the end of the block, and the check engine light comes on AGAIN. i SLAM the accelerator, drive back into the dealership, with some dr. dre blaring
, wheels screeching. they end up cleaning the fuel injectors (free...yaay). so far, nothing has happened again, and it runs like a dream, like it did before (crossing fingers).
Originally posted by Nate S:
ok heres what happened:
i go to pick it up today, and well....lets see. they replaced the oxygen senson and PCV something..i honestly dont even know. 200 bucks. i go over to the car, and the rear windows are all the way open. no problem, except that the car is OUTSIDE, and a major rainstorm just passed through. my whole back end was soaked. so the guy goes and gets some stain remover and a TOWEL. my mom was with me, and she was absolutely pissed off. raving. the guy gives her a certificate for a free oil change. A 20 DOLLAR OIL CHANGE! they end up taking it to get detailed for a few minutes, and the end result is pretty good. actually better than before...but its still soaking wet. my mom is still pissed off, so she goes to the manager. he agrees with her, and decides to take off the 200 dollars. so then we leave. i go not even to the end of the block, and the check engine light comes on AGAIN. i SLAM the accelerator, drive back into the dealership, with some dr. dre blaring , wheels screeching. they end up cleaning the fuel injectors (free...yaay). so far, nothing has happened again, and it runs like a dream, like it did before (crossing fingers).
Hmmm.. PVC something aye? I just found a bad PVC something
the other day and wrapped it with Tape. My car got some extra
HP back she lost.
200$ was not bad. I really can't stand people like your mom
though. Sure they were stupid for leaving the window open.
Looks to me like they cleaned everything up though. I would
not have given you a free 200 repair, service was done.
That is unless your mom was a lawyer, then I'd have to
think about the cost.
You should feel guilty, some guy worked on that car and did
a good job. But the guy that gets the 200$ bill taken out of his
pay check and can't eat dinner or buy beer is going to see
your name some day in the future and might give his pay back.
dude...it was completely unprofessional of them. leaving the windows open and the carpet stained was something i would expect from a 10 year old. give me a break. if i had leather seats, they would probably have been ruined. yeah, i know my mom and be a b!tch sometimes (PMS? lol shes actually very sweet). but, as she said to the guy there, "we have been buying cars here from joe for 13 years, we have brought our best friends here, and they have all bought cars from here. and this is completely unacceptable." besides a select few who i like very much at that dealership, the people there and the overall establishment (Marshall Ford) is extremely sleazy. youre right, i do feel bad about getting the 200 for free (thats something that my mom never even asked about, the service manager brought it up)...but it was the guy's fault, and he should pay the concequences. that's life.
plus, giving us the "free oil change" was kind of insulting. yeah, you just screwed up my car! like i want to come BACK here for a freaking OIL CHANGE!!?! NO!
What I am wondering is why the back windows were even down to begin with? Everytime I have taken my car to the stealership I have always gotten it in the same condition as when I brought it in...just my 2 cents
everytime they drive it out to the parking lot, the put the A/C on full blast and roll down all of the windows. apparently someone forgot to roll them back up.
I still just don't understand why they would have to do that....I dont feel they have the right to do that just to put in the parking lot
Originally posted by Nate S:
everytime they drive it out to the parking lot, the put the A/C on full blast and roll down all of the windows. apparently someone forgot to roll them back up.
LOL... roll up your own windows next time. 
You bought that car from Marshall ford?? You serious?? That place freaking scammed me when I bought my car from there. I traded in my 90 SHO for a 96 Cutlass supreme and they so called gave me $2000 for my SHO (which wasn't even worth it) and after that they added Gap insurance,and the extended warranty without my consent. They actually made up the $2000 from all that crap which really didn't happen. I'm not going to die anytime soon to not make my payment (I hope not). For those of you that dont know what gap insurance is that they make your car payment for you when you're sick or whatever. And for the warranty I told them that I don't want the extended warranty and the finance manager (Frank) told me that my interest rate will go up if I had him take the warranty off. He also kept giving me these nasty ass remarks like "you want the car or not" in a nasty way. So my parents went up and raised hell and told them off and they took off the warranty, gap insurance, and $2000 for my trade(which was their fault becuase they shouldn't have sold me the car anyways because they wasn't going to make any money off of it). I was a first time buyer by the way and I don't know why they approved me for the loan because I didn't have any credit at the time. I was 18 then. After that I have never bought a car from them again and I told my friends not to go there to buy a car. I go to mullinax ford(east) and they treat me really well.
do you mean the marshall ford on mayfield road?? woah!! yeah, that sucks man.we buy cars through the 1 guy who is honest there- joe wickowski (sp?). -
where do you live? we should have a mini-meet sometime. anyways...the check engine light came on AGAIN early this morning. right now im thinking it's just a bad tank of gas or water in the tank, b/c my car runs absolutely perfect. i ran some of that water remover stuff through the system. (and plus, i buy all of my gas from BP...never again
) im supposed to call them to "check up" on the situation on tuesday...lol actually, im kind of glad the CEL came back on...more fuel to the fire
Yeah the one on Mayfield. I hate them till this day.They're a bunch of scammers(isn't that a word lol??) Yeah im in Cleveland man. Yeah we should have a mini meet sometime. Do you know about the meet in Columbus that were having next Sat. If you don't check the E. Great lakes forum. Hope to see you there. Hey by the way don't buy gas from BP. It's mostly water and I think there's something in it that will screw up your injectors. I only go there only if im right on Eand it's the nearest one by. Well take it easy man.
wow, what a coincidence. i thought there was no one in the mayfield area! im like 15 mins from there in gates mills. yeah, ive been reading about the columbus meet. i wish i could go, but i think columbus is a little far for me. anyways, the CEL is off...guess it was just some water. no more BP gas for me!