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New plugs Big problems. wrong gap? wrong motorcraft plugs? codes and misfires

mxl4729

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April 20, 2010
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City, State
keyport, NJ
Year, Model & Trim Level
2003 explorer sport trac
New plugs Big problems. wrong gap? wrong motorcraft plugs? codes and misfires





So my 03 ST has 70K miles and ran ok to i messed with it :mad:. it had original plugs and wires so i decided to put new ones in. I went with motorcraft because most people here said it was the safe way to go.

ordered plugs and they gave me AGSF22FM. Took the old ones out and they were AGSF22PM. does anyone know the difference between the two? did they give me the wrong plugs.

I pulled out the old plugs and the gap looked huge but i had no gauge to check them.

put the new ones in and it runs like crap. misfires and got 6 codes after drive it around. P0302, P0316, P0000, P0000, P0000, P0000.

from what i can tell P0000 is there is a problem but the computer is not sure what it is and the rest are miss fires. WHen i floor it and get high in the RPMS i get a blinking check engine light which from what i read means the engine is missing,

after everything was done i got my hands on some gap gauges and measured the old plugs and they measured .075. the truck calls for .052 to .056. i pulled the new plugs and they measured .047.

is the problem because my gap is two small?????

or i have the wrong plugs?? does the stock have the small electrode??? or is it just worn away????

or could it be something else. Its a lot of work to put everything out and regap them.


Here you can see the plugs. the new vs the old.

7.jpg


here is the diff plug numbers old is AGSF22PM the new is AGSF22FM

9.jpg



misfire on cyl 2
10.jpg




Misfire on start up
11.jpg


code P0000 all i cound find on this was that the computer has no idea what is going on
12.jpg


Help me
 



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P0000 = no code
P0302 = misfire #2 cylinder
P0316 = misfire in first 1000 revolutions

You may have broken a plug, or even have gotten a bad one, or you have broken a plug wire. Examine the #2 cylinder and you'll find the problem. (Second cylinder on right side) If you have a volt/ohm meter check the resistance on #2 wire.

You new plugs are correct. The tit was just burned off of the old ones. The PM's were probably original. Some Fords originally even come with one number on one side and another number on the other.
 






yea i called the place were i got them they said ford no longer made the AGSF22PM and AGSF22FM was the replacement. the FM just has the thin wire.

It sucks plug 2 is the hardest to get to out of all the plugs.

it is not misfiring all the time.

You do not think the gap is the problem?

.01 is not much of a difference but i was figuring it might just be enough.

At this point i was starting to think that was the only thing it could be?
 






yea i called the place were i got them they said ford no longer made the AGSF22PM and AGSF22FM was the replacement. the FM just has the thin wire.

It sucks plug 2 is the hardest to get to out of all the plugs.

it is not misfiring all the time.

You do not think the gap is the problem?

.01 is not much of a difference but i was figuring it might just be enough.

At this point i was starting to think that was the only thing it could be?

I would definately take the plug back and exchange it for a good one.
 






problem hasn't been diagnosed as the plug yet, so I don't know about giving advice on taking it back.

- I would set the gap to the value on the engine emissions sticker for all the plugs

- check the plug wires with a multi meter, may have broken #2, or not seated it correctly

- disconnect the battery for at least 10 minutes, so the engine has to re-learn, unless there's a procedure for the computer to re-learn

edit: coilpacks can go faulty also
 






So last night i removed all the plugs gaped them to .055 and put them back it. the truck runs fine now. no misfire or anything any more.

so it looks like the gap was the problem

i double checked the plugs i pulled out and they were about .08 i guess 70k eroded it that much.

the new motorcraft plugs i pulled out were all about .047. I called the parts guy and he said motorcraft plugs are not pre gaped and they need to be gaped before i put them in. I said thanks for telling me that now.

So let that be a lesson for everyone. check the gaps because less then .01 can make your truck un drivable.

One question for everyone. how often do the coilplack go bad or ware out on this truck? just wondering if i would get better spark by changing it. do they make an aftermarket high output coil??
 






don't think the coilpacks are as bad as the VW ones.
There's a writeup on some VW sites showing how to retrofit ford explorer coilpacks for the vr6 motors.

If you suspect leaky pack or wires, a good test is to spray water (with a spray bottle) and look for arcing of misfires. Works well in low light conditions.

Going to higher voltage coils would mean better/bigger spark since the gap could be bigger.
Coil pack fails hard usually, it's a transformer(s) - they works or don't, and they can be tested with a multimeter. On these trucks "coilpacks" are used - multiple coils in a package, so there may be spark on some plugs and no spark on others.

No real need to upgrade unless you do engine mods for more power i.e. supercharger/nitro/turbo....

BTW, it's nice when threads are updated with root cause and solution.
 






So good and bad news. truck runs much better but i still have a problem.

I have NO check engine light. but it still seams like the truck has a slight misfire. at idle there is a slight shake. and when i am driving it seems like there is a lul and surge like there is a little misfire.

I have no idea how to track this down tho.

if i floor it is takes off. can spin the tires when its wet for a few 100 ft. but this miss sucks and i want to fix it.



so i checked the gap on all the OLD plugs i pulled and found this

on the driver side \

plugs 6 part # AGSF22PGM Gap .060

plug 5 part # AGSF22PGM Gap .060

Plug 4 part # AGSF22PGM Gap .060


on the passenger side

Plug 1 Part # AGSF22PM GAP .080

Plug 2 Part # AGSF22PM GAP .080

Plug 3 Part # AGSF22PM GAP .080


I found this very strange and i did some research and found

The factory plugs on one side have the platinum on the electrode the other side has it on the Anode. due to the way the coil pack fires one side on the positive side and the other on the negative side. The new plugs i got AGSF22FM have platinum on both sides


Why would i have so much more wear on the passenger side?????????

at this point i am thinking coil pack. anyone else have any other ideas??????
 






Did you check resistance on the #2 wire? The wires are going to be more likely than the coil since you're removing/installing them to change plugs ........ twice now.
 






No i did not check resistance on the #2 wire. I had no help doing the work so i did not have someone to hold the DMV on the other side.

Today on the way to work i got a Check Engine Light.

I pulled the codes and got a P0306 and a P0316.

P0306 code means that the the car's computer has detected that one of the engine's cylinders is not firing properly. In this case it's cylinder #6.

when when i pulled the plugs i checked plug #2 and and plug # 6 with a DMV and i got about 6k ohms. Just because i thought it was a good idea i swapped plugs 2 and 6 to rule out the plug #2 as the problem. but it looks like the problem moved to cylinder #6.

I guess i will get a new plug and try swapping plug #6 and see what happens.

unless anyone else thinks i should try something else?

and if that does not fix it i guess i will pull all the wires and check the resistance

what a pain :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:
 






If you moved the plug from 2 to 6 and the code went from P0302 to P0306 I believe you have it nailed down to a bad plug.
 






Yep, what I said in post #4. :)
 






So i changed out the plug and everything is working fine now. Never herd of a bad spark plug right out of the box before. the bad plug had about 6k or resistance using my DMV. but the other plugs had about the same so i am not sure how you could tell it was bad except that it made the truck run like crap.

now it time to write a letter to motorcraft *****ing about how they made a bad spark plug and how much time i spent on fixing it
 






So i did a bunch of testing on the plug that failed to see if i could find what caused it to misfire in every cylinder i put it in.

this test has me providing voltage to each plug so see if the spark jumps one better then the other. I am providing a lot of voltage here. i changed the order of the plugs with no change. one plug is the bad plug the other is an old plug i removed when i put the new plugs in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eKThwEtlZg

This is the old plug i removed from the truck. I turned the voltage down untill the spark no longer jumped the gap. then i turned the voltage up a very little untill i had a jumping spark. as you can see the spark looks great.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svJ3ItpB-qg

This is the plug that made the truck run like crap. misfired into each cylinder i put it in. I used the same voltage as i did on the old plug in the video above. as you can see in the video it seems to work fine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWsnRz8FHSo

so i still have no idea why this plug did not work but i figured the videos were cool so check them out
 






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