#3 cylinder misfire

[miahmoore]

Hey guys, hope you can help me get this ifgured out. The other day I was driving and my check engine light came on. I shut it off checked all fluids everything seemed fine. I finished driving home 3 miles, my check engine light flashing at this point. I then rechecked everything oil, tranny fluid, and anti freeze. Everthing was fine. I diconnected my battery to reset the computer when I reconnected my battery the check engine light wasn't on. I took it to the shop where a diagnostic test showed codes p0303 (Cylinder 3 misfire), and p1000 (obdII test incomplete). I replaced all the sparkplugs with champion platinums. But the truck still has a sputter under acceleration. I have 66000 miles on my truck. So should I replace the wires? Any help is appreciated.

'99 5.0
MAC cold air
Dual exhaust

 

[Alec]

Yup, replace the wires too. I recommend Motorcraft replacements. Ford recommends plugs and wires every 60k anyway. If the problem still persists, you may need a new coilpack, or it may be related to another system.

 

[mrboyle]

I wouldn't suspect the coil pack, since there would be 2 cylinders missfireing if the coil was bad. I'd definatley replace the wires. The p1000 is a normal code recorded after you reset the computer. It sets when the computer hasn't had the oppertunity to do a complete relearn before being shut off. It doesn't mean anything.

 

[miahmoore]

Thncks guys. I went to buy wires at O'reilly's Auto parts last night but they don't have any in stock. Plus what is the normal price to expect? They had two in the computer one for $59 the other for $129. Thancks again.
Miah

 

[taxx]

I paid like $30 for plug wires. I just had this problem on my wife's car. If the plugs and wires don't solve the problem you may be looking at a dirty or bad injector. That is what it ended up being on my wife's car. Try the plugs, if it still does it then either take it in or start pulling the injector to look at it and the line.

Edit: you may even solve it with some of that injector cleaner.

 

[randallm]

I had the same misfire 3 on my wife's 2002 Explorer Sport 106,000 miles. She drives it like the little old lady from pasadena, so no check engine light. I drive it once every couple of months. Under hard acceleration it would not drop down a gear or rev very quickly. The check engine light started flashing and the misfire 3 code appeared. I occasionally received EGR codes too. Drove me crazy looking for vaccum leaks, bad plugs, fuel injectors and O2 sensors.

Turns out, all it needed was a new set of plug wires from Autozone $40. I ohmed out the old ones and from the shortest to longest they read increasing by length 5k to 13 k ohms. I did not ohm out the new ones.

Thanks for posting the plug wire issue. It saved me a lot of money and was the cheapest of all the other possible fixes.

 

[wood1]

A good way to check your plug wires is to spray a salt water solution on your wires at night and start the engine. You should be able to see any shorting.