About to beat the chit out of my car...

04SSHD

04SSHD

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The Mark VIII has been pissing me off lately, it seems like everyday something else is wrong with it. First start off with the serpentine belt shreding off the day I bought the car, a week later the alternator goes, then I get some random stalling at low speeds, then the blend door takes a dump, then the keyless entry system stops working, then the airbags go out, now two days ago the car starts running like :q:q:q:q and the CEL comes on. I hooked up the OBD II scanner to it and it pulls a code for Cylinder 7 Misfire. I am gettin an intermittent problem with the car missing. Sometimes it does it and other times it runs perfect. I am going to try to fix this this weekend, I already bought new plugs, and wires for it. Is there anything else that could cause it to have a miss? where is the coil located and does each cylinder have its own coil or does it share a common coil?

Now today's problem...I went to the convienent store before work early this morning to buy a coffee and my lights were working fine. I went back to the car started it up and I can see in the store front reflection that only one HID is working. Then I get the check headlights message on the cars computer. I am thinking great...now I need to drop $200+ for a replacement bulb. Now when I got home I pulled the car under the car port and the lights came on and both HIDs are working... wtf is up with that? does that mean it is on its way out? Is it a bulb problem or a ballast/starter problem?

Seriously...this car is starting to piss me off, I put 10k miles on the car since I have owned it and it is currently a hair below 104k miles. Why does it seem like at 100k the car just falls apart? I am so close to taking it out to the desert and blowing it to hell with my shotgun....well maybe not but thats what I feel like doing right now...
 
04SSHD said:
I hooked up the OBD II scanner to it and it pulls a code for Cylinder 7 Misfire. I am gettin an intermittent problem with the car missing. Sometimes it does it and other times it runs perfect. I am going to try to fix this this weekend, I already bought new plugs, and wires for it. Is there anything else that could cause it to have a miss? where is the coil located and does each cylinder have its own coil or does it share a common coil?
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first off you have a GenII, you do't have wires to replace. I'm guessing you are missing because one of the boots is cracked. You have individual coils for each cylinder. The coils have rubber boots on them that crack and start arching to the walls of the valve cover.

As far as the lights, had that happen to me a while back, hasn't done it since.

Just a bunch of bad luck!
 
Jibit said:
first off you have a GenII, you do't have wires to replace. I'm guessing you are missing because one of the boots is cracked. You have individual coils for each cylinder. The coils have rubber boots on them that crack and start arching to the walls of the valve cover.

As far as the lights, had that happen to me a while back, hasn't done it since.

Just a bunch of bad luck!
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ah, ok. so what exactly do I need to replace? I have not taken the valve cover panel off to see what is down there. I check on the price of "wires" at kragen and they want about $100 for a set? I don't know exactly what comes in the box. I only have the new plugs, so I need one new coil?
 
I had gotten my boots from Rock auto, they came w/ new "springs" that are conductors between the coil and plug. If the boots are in good shape, swap them w/ a another cylinder to see if the problem follows. It may be a bad coil.

The low RPM cut out may be due to carbon build up in the Idle Air Control valve. It sits on top of your engine, take it off and clean it out, that may help.

As far as the lighting, you could shake the connectors and see if you have a loose one. Was it damp in the morning for your coffee run? Maybe a bit of silicone grease (diealectric tune up grease) on the connectors to help seal off moisture may help them form corroding or shorting out.

FWIW your not alone and most cars out there have many of the same issues. IE "value engineered" products, connectors, fittings, hoses etc...
 
04SSHD said:
ah, ok. so what exactly do I need to replace? I have not taken the valve cover panel off to see what is down there. I check on the price of "wires" at kragen and they want about $100 for a set? I don't know exactly what comes in the box. I only have the new plugs, so I need one new coil?
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you don't need to take the valve cover off, its got a cover on it that holds the coils in place. You may not need a new coil, maybe just a rubber boot. You'll understand more when you take it apart. Lightly flex the boot to check for cracks.
 
ill tell ya from experience. take a deep breath. work it out. it pays off in the end
 
Nitrobasher said:
ill tell ya from experience. take a deep breath. work it out. it pays off in the end
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I think we have all been there... in some way or form....

Just keep at it.... There are a lot of discount places to get your parts.

www.rockauto.com is a great start..

www.car-parts.com is a good place for those parts you could use from a salvage yard.
 
My 96 has been sitting for months..................

94m5 said:
I went from a 98 LSC, to a 98 GMC K1500. My wallet thanked me.
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Not because of any one particular problem, just because I hear all of the horror stories on this board. I only put about 3000 miles on it this year. Probably less next year. I have decided that the Mark will be my weekend car. I drive my 2004 Dodge Ram 4X4 on a daily basis. Yeah, the gas mileage sucks, but it doesn't have the same issues as the Mark does either. Of course it only has 36000 miles compared to 140000 for the Mark. I am not downing the Mark, just it's reliability for the long haul.
 
thats odd...the misfire problem almost went away on its own. I have not had it happen for 2 days now, I wonder why. And the HID has been on since that one time it did not come on. But seriously this is getting gay...I have two Mark's the 69 and 97 and neither of them are running right. The alternator is shot in the 69 and I can't find a replacement anywhere! and the 97 keeps throwing me new problems on a weekly basis.
 
04SSHD said:
thats odd...the misfire problem almost went away on its own. I have not had it happen for 2 days now, I wonder why. And the HID has been on since that one time it did not come on.
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You wonder if the weather had something to do with it... Just the right conditions to cause a little malfunction.
 
I'm not on speaking terms right now with my Mark, I'm debating pulling the from cover or pulling the whole engine to correct the problem.

So far I haven't turned the garage heat off, so I guess I still care for it. It may get moved to a unheated location though. I've been spoiling it and it doesn't return the favor.
 
mespock said:
You wonder if the weather had something to do with it... Just the right conditions to cause a little malfunction.
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nah, I forgot to knock on wood. I just drove the car and it is doing it again...damn. well, it looks like I will be busy this weekend....I have two lincolns that need to be fixed.
 
you wash your engine down recently? water could have gotten into a spark plug well.
 
04SSHD said:
nah, I forgot to knock on wood. I just drove the car and it is doing it again...damn. well, it looks like I will be busy this weekend....I have two lincolns that need to be fixed.
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Your in good company, I have had my VII up on jacks for three weeks waiting on parts. Still waiting on parts.....:mad:
 
the 97-98 have a bad problem with water getting into the c.o.p. you can take them out and either with a hair dryer to dry the water or w/ a compressor to blow the water out.....then place them back in...mine just started doing that....i had the same problem once on my 97...also check to see if any have crack..replace those..

dont worry...i have 98 C.E. and only has 58xxxx...driver seat track quit wokn, blend door dont work, tilt dont work.and my front air suspension is leaking...some of theses car are over ten or close to ten yrs old and plus they are fords....haha is said ford
 
Black87LSC said:
Try www.bakersauto.com... They should have what your lookin for
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I already got a replacement, just waiting for the weekend to put it in. None of the over the counter parts stores had the right alternator. They sold me the one they said fit the application but mine is special and has an internal regulator. So I just had my OE one rebuilt and it ended up being cheaper than the reman I got from Kraigen.
 
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