MustangBenoit

My 2001 V6 (around 68000 miles) had a SES light few months ago, and had no other symptoms. The code was pulled at Autozone and was P0153, which called for an O2 sensor1 in Bank2. I bought the thing ($54+) and I didn't know which was Bank2 since it had 4 (actually I did, but just didn't really have the time). So I just left it there and the light went away shortly.
Then couple of weeks ago when we had a severe cold day, and as I was driving, the car started jerking under load (when I gave gas) for a little bit. It wasn't apparent once it picked up the speed. The SES light also came on. This time the code was P301, which was Cylinder #1 misfire. I checked the spark plug, it looked okay, so where should I start? I can start changing the plug, wire, and eventually the coil pack, but I'd want to save as much money as I can.
Has anyone experienced this problem? Could anyone please help? WhiteFoxGT?

thanks in advance

LilRoush

If you had/have an O2 sensor on the way out the door, change it first. Incorrect A/F ratio reading can cause the computer to add/pull fuel according to what it thinks is going on. The side effect is the new code you are getting.

MustangBenoit

Sorry I've originally said it was P0128, but it was P0153 - my mistake. Also, Bank1 is Passenger side and Bank2 is Driver side, right?
I also posted this same question in V6 forums. I don't mean to flood the forums, but I am a student and my class starts on Monday the 12th. I desperately need help!
thanks

forcefeed

pretty simple to diag, switch plug, wire than injector one at at time in that order with another cylinder and see if your problem moves to the other cylinder, when it does you know what component to replace

aode08

usually when I run into this, the plugs have black, brown or white carbon on the porcelin, indicating a misfire.


If yours do, replace and GAP them, reset the ecm, both codes should go away.

Wires come only if yours are brittle junk, or you spray a water bottle in a fine mist at night, and see a firework show, but never the less, they may be bad as well.

MustangBenoit

I've heard about switching ignition wires on cylinders... I am not sure how this works, I mean if I swap the spark plug wire for cylinder 1 with cylinder 2, won't that mess up the timing? Some one please give me more info on this..

How can I switch the injecter line? where is it located?

The thing is, the original code (P0153) called for Sensor#1 in Bank#2, which corresponds to Cylinders 4,5,&6. Now the misfire is on Cylinder 1, (code P0301) which pertains to Bank#1, so, I am kind of confused as to whether to change O2 sensor or not... What if I just went ahead and change all 4 O2 sensors? (can't afford to b/c I am a student). I already checked the Plugs, and they seem just normal (no difference between the looks on them)... Any thoughts?
thanks...

forcefeed

i never said anything about switching injector wires, i said plug, sparkplug wire, than injector only in that order

MustangBenoit

okay, so first I replaced all 6 plugs with Motor Craft ones ($4.69 from O'riley) with spacing (0.054) between them. I also added some fuel injector cleaner stuff (Lucas brand from Autozone - they sware that brand is the best, so I poured one bottle with a full tank of gas - Shell V-power (93 Octane)).
Then I test drove it, and it improved a lot, not much jerking but still had a little bit at the beginning of the acceleration in each gear.

So, I was like okay, now I should replace the wires as well. So I bought Motorcraft ($42.99 at O'Riley) plug wires and replaced them because some wires were touching other hoses and there are slow melts on them because of that. (But replacing them was not much fun, b/c the plastic clips and the slit wire covers are not easy to transfer to the new ones)

Anyway, I thought it should be perfect now that I have replaced the wires also. So I test drove, and found it still does that, but it has improved even better. It only jerks when at the beginning of the acceleration in each gear (especially in 3rd and if I switch to 4th gear and I didn't have enough speed). Once the speed is picked up, you don't notice anything.. Some times it doesn't even jerk (that is, no misfiring) and it does it only intermittently!

What do y'all think I should do next? Should I replace the coil pack? Or replace the O2 sensor? Should I replace all four O2 sensors? Would it be a good idea to replace them as part of maintanence for better performance? How long do they typically last and what brand would you suggest? The one I bought originally from Autozone was Bosch and I still haven't installed it as it says in my original post... The coil pack runs around $80 at O'Riley (not Motor Craft) and the O2 sensor at Autozone is around $49.99. Please help because I am a college student and my classes have started already...

MustangBenoit

Okay so new developments:
I pulled out one connection at a time from the coil pack while the engine was running to see the sparks as I was advised in this forum... There is spark flying between the wires of cylinders 2-6, but not from #1!!! But when I pull it out (cylinder 1 connection) the engine rpm drops a little bit, though... and when I plug it back in, the rpm gets back to normal... So, does this mean the cylinder 1 is firing, but not very strong? But there are no sparks flying between them when I have it unplugged..

So, is it a bad coil pack? I thought I was told somewhere in this forum that if the coil pack is bad it would miss two cylinders... Could someone please help? It's kind of hard to get response on this forum quickly...