HELP 5.0 shaking and flashing CEL???

[IBLEEDFORDBLUE]

Today my wife was driving our 97 5.0 when it started shaking and the check engine light came on steady. Then a few miles later it started blinking. She quit driving it. I drove it home, It felt as though it was missing on a cylinder. I accelerated hard and it never shifted down, and it didn't have the power it should. At an idle it shakes pretty bad. I checked to see if it was a broken motor mount, it was not. Any one had this problem? Thanks in advance. Richard

 

[section525]

I'd bet my friend jamest that it's a coilpack.

 

[Garth]

You can pull the wires to and see if the coil pack is giving out energy. My bet is on the wires. I recently had that problem and changing the wires fixed it. The faster I went the more the cel flashes. How old are the wires?

 

[IBLEEDFORDBLUE]

You can pull the wires to and see if the coil pack is giving out energy. My bet is on the wires. I recently had that problem and changing the wires fixed it. The faster I went the more the cel flashes. How old are the wires?

Original Wires (76K miles). I bought new tonight. I'm going to go with the double platnum plugs too. If that don't help i will run the codes i guess? will this tell me if its a coil pack?

 

[Garth]

Mine gave out at 71,000. Yes, the code will tell which. I got the wires for $93/set Motorcraft.

 

[Glacier991]

Gee a check engine light, and an available computer code that will give you a clue as to what's wrong, and we are sitting here "guessing" as to what it is, and no one has suggested maybe you should pull the code? C'mon guys. THAT is what the CEL, or MIL is for! PULL THE CODE!!!! Then diagnose.

 

[james t]

Pull the code first. Yes, it could be wires, but the type of drama you describe seems like a little more than a bad plag wire. If it is wires, then one must be burned in half or something.

And it also could be a coilpack.

 

[IBLEEDFORDBLUE]

Pull the code first. Yes, it could be wires, but the type of drama you describe seems like a little more than a bad plag wire. If it is wires, then one must be burned in half or something.

And it also could be a coilpack.

Thanks to all that replied. I pulled the codes, they were PO351- IGN Coil Pri/Sec A and B. So i replaced both coils and wires and went with autolite double platnum plugs. Runs fine now. I did have a spark plug wire that burnt all the way through. Thanks again to all that was a help. Richard

 

[yakuza76]

wow this very same thing happened to me this weekend. Mynephew was driving the X when it started doin the same thing , he got it home and i checked it out. One of the Spark plug wires was touching the Exhaust minifold and burned into it. Only reason I found it was cause I Shocked the Crap outa myself when I touched the wire lol..

 

[duke16]

Sorry to resurrect this thread, but I think I've melted one of my wires also. Engines a little hot to get a good look right now, but it does look like one of the wires was touching the header. Does Ford sell their wires singularly?

 

['97 V8]

Nope.

 

[duke16]

Damn, well I think I'm fine. I put the heat shield back over it (it had slipped down), and I'll put a little electrical tape around it to prevent any shorts.