Hesitation/missing under acceleration

[yosh18981898]

About 2 weeks ago my x started to get this really annoying hesitation/miss under acceleration. I looked under the hood and found that the air intake hose had partially slipped off of the mass air flow sensor, so I put it back on. A day later the problem was back so I looked under the hood again and found that I had forgoten to re-attach the PCV vaccum hose to the air intake, I did this as well as tightened up a loose spark plug wire. The X then ran great until yesterday when the problem came back again, this time I can't find anything under the hood that is not put together right, everything looks good. I put new plugs, wires, a PCV valve, and fuel filter in about a year or 25,000 miles ago so I doubt that any of these parts are the culprit. I am going to test the ignition coil as soon as my dad gets home with his test meter. The check engine light hasn't come on so a code reader won't do me any good. Anyone have any ideas???

 

[yosh18981898]

I just tested the ignition coil. The primary (between pins on the control connector) measured fine, but the secondary (between corresponding spark plug wire terminals) measured at 14.8K Ohms between 1 and 5, 14.75K Ohms between 3 and 4, and 14.7K Ohms between 2 and 6. The haynes manual says it should be between 6.5K and 11.5K Ohms. Does this warrant replacing the coil? I don't imagine that it is all that cheap. Does this sound like the cause of my problem or should I look else where? Any help or guesses would be appreciated.

 

[Ru Dawg]

I've never worked on an ignition coil before, but I have worked with lots of electric motors and generator windings. Dirt is one of the worst enemies of windings.
Is it possible to get to the coil and clean it with low pressure air? You'll want to use less than 40psi of air to prevent damage to the coil laminations.
If you need a new one, here's a link to order one:
http://www.parts.com/partlocator/in...&make=10&model=Explorer&year=1992&catalogid=1

 

[yosh18981898]

Autozone has 'em for $79.99. I really don't want to try and take it apart, from what I can see, it is pretty well sealed, and I can't see any bolts or other fastners to take it apart.

 

[yosh18981898]

Come on guys, the 911 forum is supposed to move a lot faster than this. I can't stand driving the X like this in its sad state one more day. I guess I'll go to bed now and hope there are some helpful replies in the morning.

Thanks again

 

[yosh18981898]

I thought bumping was for the "For Sale, Trade, and Wanted" forum but here goes anyways:

bump

 

[yosh18981898]

Just tried replacing the ignition coil to no avail. I'm taking the stupid part back to Autozone tomorrow. I've checked and tested everything and I am kinda stumped. I'm leaving for college in about a week and a half so I need to get this problem resolved soon.

 

[yosh18981898]

Back to top,
Somebody please help me figure this out, it's driving me nuts!

 

[Blockay Sockay]

Is it bucking while under load, or is it just hesitating? My explorer used to buck really bad when it was under load. I had just replaced the spark plugs so I didn't think that could possibly be the problem. I checked all of my sparks plugs just to be sure and the foward most cylinder on the driver's side spark plug was burnt up with carbon deposits in the spark gap. If it seems like you have a dead cylinder, check the plugs. It can't hurt to check the plugs if all else fails. Have you tried cleaning the injectors with a fuel injector cleaner you put in your gas?

 

[yosh18981898]

I just ran seafoam through the engine, it runs a little better but the problem is still there. I think that its an electrical issue because it only does it from idle to about 2800 RPMs, once you get to 2800 it's like the engine completely opens up and throws you back in the seat. I was thinking that it could be the fuel pressure regulater. It can supposedly cause hesitation and stumbling, but won't (unlike almost all of the sensors) throw a code and cause the check engine light to come on. Any ideas would be appreciated

 

[cfkane]

Check the bottom side of the air intake between the MAF and the Intake manifold, they have a tendency to wear through. Unless you have good evidence of a spark related problem do not discount air/fuel ratio as a cause. Due to the way the EEC is mapped the problem may be going away at higher rpm due to power enrichment. If you have a scan tool you may want to check O2 sensor response to see that it is in the mid range and also look for other signs of abnormal A/F ratio. High CO can be a spark related issue, low CO and erratic HC is generally lean burn misfire

 

[yosh18981898]

I fixed the problem. Believe it or not, it was the spark plugs, I pulled them out and they were all white and blistered. I find this hard to believe because they were autolite platinums and only had 20,000 miles on them. My guess is that while I was driving around with the intake hose lose, my MAF sensor reading was super low and causing the computer to run an incorrect air/fuel mixture, causing the plugs to get all messed up. I put new plugs in and now it runs better than ever.