Help Car Hesitating and I Need to get home for Christmas

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jcrosie001

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I am so mad right now...Right when i am ready to travel home 100 miles away my car starts to hesitate when i press on the gas and I dont want to drive it all the way home like that. My check engine light came on and I dont know what the problem is. It only hesitates when I press on the gas and when im sitting at a light it also idles hard. Does anyone know what this problem could be?
 
try getting the codes read at autozone and its free
maybe that can give u a start with whats wrong
 
I think a easy first step would be check all your connections on the coil spin the plug wires on the coil make sure they are all getting a good connection
 
Since it's a 97, it's more than likely a cylinder missfire.
Getting the codes read will tell you which cylinder is missfiring.

The last digit in the code will identify the Cylinder #
That is.. IF the code is a miss fire code.
 
Maybe the IAC? If so, easy to replace and I think they sell for about $40?

Need that CE code to be sure of anything. We could guess all day. It could just be a vacuum leak at the T or MAF issue, etc....
 
$20 bucks says its a COP.... pull the code and it will prolly be for only one cylinder.

If it comes back as a random misfire and lean codes it is probably a vacuum leak.

If there is a random misfire and you pull a cop and they are all oil soaked you might have multiple bad COPS...
 
ok I took my car to autozone and they told me that I had a misfire in my 1st and 8th cylinder..I changed all of my spark plugs and when I pulled out the 5th and 6th cylinder plugs they were drinched in oil.my car is still hesitating and idling rough...idk what's wrong....anymore ideas?
 
Like I said you have bad COPS, they are easily damaged... the oil deteriorating your COP boots probably cause arcing in the plug well which seems to fry them.

They don't need oil or contaminates to cause them to go bad, they can fail randomly.... trust me I know.
 
The only way to tell is by swapping them around to see which is bad, but seiing how you have 2 out of eight bad already and seeing that they can go bad easily change out all the boots and start from there. They are cheap.
If this is still bad then you need to buy adleast 2 coils.
 
ok ill try that and if not ill go with the coils,....thanks everyone for ya help...if u have anymore suggestions please let me kno
 
The method if you have a scanner or some time for deducing which coils are bad is:

Read which cylinders have the misfire code, in your case 1 and 8.

Take the 1 and 8 coils and swap them with a different pair of cylinders, say 2 and 7

Erase the previous codes, and then drive around until you get a new CEL

Read the new codes, and see which cylinders they are for, if it is now 2 and 7 instead of 1 and 8 you can deduce that those two COPS are bad and replace the coils now in 2 and 7...

If the code does Not follow you have some more deduction to do... there is a very slim odd that you have a faulty injector, but I will bet money on a COP.

If you have oil in the wells you really need to replace the gaskets, or plan on replacing COPS and boots every year or so....
 
But wouldnt the coils with the oil in them b considered the ones that r bad? The cylinders that are misfiring dont have oil in the valves thats what i dont understand. I was thinking about just changing the coils in the two that had lots of oil in them. Is that the right thing to do?
 
I pulled one of my plugs that was missfiring it had oil in it also. I got lucky and was able to clean it out with a bottle brush, I then very carfully tightened up my cover got a tad of tighting and the leak seems to have stoped.
 
But the cylinders that the codes say r misfiring are not the ones with oil in them...thats what i dont understand?
 
jcrosie001 said:
But the cylinders that the codes say r misfiring are not the ones with oil in them...thats what i dont understand?
Click to expand...

Just because the coils have oil on the boots doesn't mean that coil is bad, but prolonged exposure will probably knock the coil out. For now try the method I posted above for deducing which coil/coils is/are bad. Just expect further coils to fail if the valve cover gaskets are leaking and are soaking the boots in oil.
 
Me.......

I would replace the valve cover gaskets, replace the two bum coils and all 8 boots, and do the plugs while I was at it.
 
jcrosie001 said:
so what would u do if u were in this situation?
Click to expand...

Replace the 1 and 8 cylinder COP and keep the others as a spare for now.

You be out $80-$100 bucks. Clean out the other two cylinders that have oil and tighten up the gasket as previously stated.

If you have a guy that has a Ford scanner, you can do a cylinder balance/load test. That is THE best way to see of a COP is going bad. Hook it up to the OBDII, stand on the brake, put it in drive and rev to 2000 rpms. The scan will show which cylinders are weak.

The COP are usually good for 100-125K. Then time to replace.
 
jcrosie001 said:
How do I clean out the oil thats in the blocks?
Click to expand...

Do you mean the oil that is inside the spark plug wells/holes?

Or do you mean the oil that is in the "engine block"?

your question isn't very clear..
 
If they had oil on them when you pulled the plugs out all the oil drained down into the cylinders.... did it smoke on start up?

I personally use my air compressor and blower nozzle to blow all the crud out before pulling out the plugs.
 
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