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2003 Ford Escape missing issues

4.3K views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  jrholland6783  
#1 ·
Hi, new member here. I have a 2003 Escape that has an intermittent stumble/miss. It will do it when idling or driving, hot or cold, and no MIL/CEL. My wife drove it one day last week and she said it did it all the way to work and back. It only does it at times, and other times it won't act up at all and runs great. It started doing it really bad about 4 months ago, so I replaced the plugs and boots and it went away, now it's started doing it again. I've hooked my scanner up to it numerous times, but no codes, either pending or active. Sitting still with it warmed up, if I put it in drive and keep my foot on the brake, then steer the wheel one way or the other I can sometimes make it do it, but it will only missfire once, then continue running fine, then maybe missfire again, then run fine. I'm a heavy truck mechanic, but I'm not very familiar with newer cars. I've read up online, and I checked the ECM wiring harness and plug and everything looked fine there. The last time it did it to me going down the road, it would missfire intermittantly while cruizing, and it would do it like crazy if I just gave it a little more throttle, but if I stomped on it it would take off and run great. It's driving me batty, and I would love any advice! Thanks!
 
#3 ·
It may take some time to find it this way but I would buy a new coil (you should carry a known good extra coil in older cars for the "just in case") and replace one coil at a time and drive it a day. Like I say it may take a little time doing this but you probably have a weak coil or a bad plug.