To make a long story short: Does a 2003 Ford Mustang 3.8L with 83,000 miles. My Service Engine Soon light has been illuminated for many months now because of misfire in cylinder 3 The car has new sparkplugs, sparkplugwires, fuelinjectors cleaned and new fuel filter. The car has also gone a bit rough, but today everything went wrong.

Because of Isaac, I was looking to driving in heavy rainshowers, and the water splashed in all directions because the streets were flooded. After a few minutes driving the car began to run rough (all the car was shaking), loss of power and the Check Engine light started flashing!

On the way into the garage I was able to record a high-pitched sound awful from the engine, and the exhaust smells a bit like fireworks.

(Hear the engine sound here: http://www.2shared.com/audio/y6sEN_v5/mustang.html)




I got a code scanner, but it showed no new error messages Besides misfire in cylinder 3, but it has been there a long time now.
Any idea what this can be?

 

Are the spark plugs gapped correctly? I had that issue once, plus check the grounds.

 

Possible bad coil would be my guess.

 

squealing after water is likely a slipping belt, which can cause any number of problems.

Maybe someone else will listen to the file but, not interested in downloading a file from an unknown sight

 

This really sounds like a bad/cracked coil pack.

Go down to your local parts store and grab a new one, you can put it on yourself in just a couple of minutes.

My 01' had the same coil pack that your 03' has and mine had the same issue.
I bought the Borg Warner with a lifetime warranty and it did great, if you can not find that one then try to get another Motorcraft unit.

 

Thank you guys! I switched the ignitioncoil today, and everything is now working. The CEL have been illuminated since I bought the car, is now gone, and the car is running smoother than ever