1996 Ford Explorer - 5.0L Miss

[brianp87]

Steve, the long hose and carb spray is how I get cars with dead fuel pumps into the shop without straining my buttermilk!!!

xactly

[steven kiser]

i use a garden chemical sprayer

[civicsi1279]

I NOTICED TODAY WHEN I PULLED # 8 SPARK PLUG WIRE IT WOULD SAY #6 IS MISSING. IF I PULLED # 5 IT WOULD SAY # 7. IM LOOKING AT THE FIRING ORDER DIAGRAM AND ALL THE WIRES ARE IN THE CORRECT SPOTS. EVER HEAR OF THIS ANY SUGGESTIONS.

[civicsi1279]

does anyone have any suggestions

[steven kiser]

only thing that pops into mind is, has the engine or pcm ever been replaced with one from a salvage yard? the firing order issue sounds like a 5.0 high output from a mustang. the firing orders are different from that of a 5.0 truck. I'd run the numbers on the pcm to make sure it's correct as well as making sure there hasn't been a performance chip in it.

[civicsi1279]

i know the engine was swaped from an salvage yard. is the firing order differnt and if so what should it be and how to fix it

[civicsi1279]

i know the pcm is original

[brianp87]

Could be a different eng? You have to find the eng info and then go from there.

[civicsi1279]

but every 5.0 engine i pull up that has coil packs the firing order and were they place the plug wires are the same

[civicsi1279]

any suggestions

[steven kiser]

i'm still curious if you can get it to skip doing a brake stand. set the e/brake, press foot brake with left foot as hard as you can, put in drive and let her rip. if it doesn't skip under load but as soon as you drive it in od it skips i'd lean towards your first thought on the transmission. the used engine issue should have no real bearing on this because it's a coil over. oh ya, when doing a brake stand make sure you have plenty of room in front of you incase the brakes fail. this isn't something i recommend doing for a long period of time because if the transmission isn't bad now it sure as heck will be after. let's get this solved before it ruins a new year.....................

[civicsi1279]

i did the brake stand and had no miss. if im getting on the interstate i have no miss. it only seems to be when driving around town with ligh acceleration. but if i gun it to 80 or so there is no miss. only traveling between 50 to 55 just traveling lightly is when the miss will accure

[steven kiser]

i'm starting to rethink my original post. it may in fact be a transmission issue. with a scanner see if it's dropping in and out of over drive.

[wbuxton]

I found a post where the MAF was cleaned and cured an intermitent lock up problem.

[civicsi1279]

i got the maf cleaner a while ago and tried that but that didnt work.

[steven kiser]

i've read and reread this post and put some thought into it. more and more i'm leaning towards transmission issues. at first i would have bet it was a plug gap or something along those lines because of the description you gave. out of 100 issues like yours i've seen one where it was the transmission. so many times it's not we'll assume it isn't. a quickie here that i use is pull the starter and inspection plate and take converter bolts off. i have a t.v. style probe to see if there are converter to crank bolt head imprints on the converter. if you can see, and there is, the converter is probably the culprit. the front pump is probably damages as well. you could do a wicked neutral drop and eliminate any question as to whether the tranny has be be yanked....

[brianp87]

I NOTICED TODAY WHEN I PULLED # 8 SPARK PLUG WIRE IT WOULD SAY #6 IS MISSING. IF I PULLED # 5 IT WOULD SAY # 7. IM LOOKING AT THE FIRING ORDER DIAGRAM AND ALL THE WIRES ARE IN THE CORRECT SPOTS. EVER HEAR OF THIS ANY SUGGESTIONS.

This would indicate something other then trans? Lets start over what have you checked?

[civicsi1279]

new spark plugs, wires, coils, cleaned mass air flow. i have even put the seefoam stuff in gas tank to clean injectors. i have no fault codes on injectors when driving the truck. if i drive this truck with the scanner hooked up over the weekend i will get differnt missfires for each cylnder at a time. one drive could be 1 miss fire on # 5. another drive can be a miss on # 7 and so on. im thinking it somthing to do with the torque converter.

[brianp87]

Could be does it (scanner ) have capabilities to watch lock up?

[civicsi1279]

im not sure it is a matco determinator