Hi all, I loooked through the forum for a problem similar to mine but couldn't find anything exactly, so I'm hoping somebody might be able to help me. First of all, I own a '98 CV HPP with 118K miles on it. The problem with the car is that under acceleration, especially at low speeds and going around corners such as turning into my neighborhood, the car loses almost all power and makes a rapid clicking noise before returning to normal about 3-5 seconds later. It also stutters at times while cruising at highway speeds, but this is rare, brief and intermittent while the problem at low speeds and around corners is constant. I've had the IAC valve replaced, fuel pump and filter replaced, a full tune-up done, MAF cleaned, and one fuel injector replaced all to no avail. The problem has been ongoing for about 2 years, however it continues to evolve. At first it idled horribley rough and threw some codes (misfire) and the CEL. After this, I had the tune-up done and the IAC replaced and it fixed the rough idle problem, but it would still randomly jerk while cruising and threw more codes (misfire again). Then I had a fuel injector replaced (on the misfiring cylinder), the MAF cleaned and the fuel filter replaced which seemed to fix the problem for a couple of days and then back to the same deal again at which point the shop that replaced my plugs the first time actually replaced them for free hoping that maybe I had a bad plug. This didn't fix the problem and I just resigned myself to living with it and then one day the car wouldn't start at all and that's when I replaced the fuel pump and the filter for a second time. This seemed to do the trick for about a month, and now I'm back to this same old problem. I took it in to have it looked at, and it's throwing no CEL or codes of any sort and the shop can find nothing wrong with it (checked fuel pump pressure, looked for leaks, etc). The mechanic drove it around and saw what it was doing and says he can only guess that it might be the transmission, but I'm not sold on this. I'm really at a loss here and just want the thing fixed so if anybody has any ideas, please let me know.

PS - I don't know if it makes any difference, but the whole problem actually started immediately after having the engine detailed. The detailer does all the engines for a local Ford dealership and said that the rough idle was normal after an engine detail and that it would go away within a few days, but as you can see, it never has.

You know, I own a 1999 CVPI and it has done the same thing. And it has continously done this. I first replaced a catalytic converter since the damn thing glowed cherry red and was boggin my engine down horribly under acceleration. Then i replaced the IAC and it worked for a while then it gave me codes on misfire on #5 cylinder, so i replaced it. It worked for some time and then went back to normal. I have had the car for about 3 years and it just doesnt get better. All my injectors are working properly, coil packs are fine, sensors also are fine. The only light in this dark tunnel of a problem was that i took off my intake manifold and completely cleaned everything to a tee. I put this thing back on and the car started and ran beutifully. IT RAN GREAT. but then it got worse. So i finally gave up and took it to a mechanic and he said that it would be very expensive to just do exploratory work on the car but he did say he thinks that the manifold does not have a good seat on the heads and is sucking in air on one side, he said this because he noticed residue on the head and manifold juncture. wetness. I have most of your problems and this is the only thing i think would help me. Just some advice and to let you know your not the only one out there with a mystery problem like this.

YOU SHOULD HAVE THE COILS CHECKED OUT AND THE CRANK SENSOR. I HAVE A CONTINENTAL WITH A 4.6 DOHC AND I DID A TUNE UP AND THE CAR LOST 3/4 OF ITS POWER. A COIL WAS BAD. SO I REPLACED IT AND NEVER HAD A PROBLEM AGAIN

Thanks for the help guys. Still have no idea what's causing the problem. My '98 CV is "coil-on-plug" and after the tune-up didn't cure the problem, he actually did a complete second tune-up using a different brand (motorcraft). The first brand was something else (I don't remember what) but the hope was simply that maybe we'd gotten a bad plug or that it would work better if replaced with stock parts, but unfortunately it made no difference. I haven't done any work to the manifold but being on my 3rd CV I'm definitely aware of the potential for trouble there. But of course, when the mechanic checked it out, he said it was still fine. They literally can find nothing wrong with it and say it looks perfect, yet they've driven it and the fact that SOMETHING isn't ok is very obvious. What gets me is I put 30K miles on this car and it was perfect, then I get the engine detailed and poof, it's shot.

It still sounds spark related. Personally, I think it is a Coil pack boot.

Pull the coils and "squeeze" together the boots, look at it from the bottom for cracks. YES this can cause it.

You might also try replacing the DPFE sensor. Its located at the rear of the engine. There have been previous posts on this. It can be damaged by water and cause your same symptoms. I had to replace mine after detailing my engine.

Yep. DPFE is $40.00 Replace it at ford dealer.

Get a NEW set of COPS (Expensive at the dealer) or cheap on ebay ($100) you can do this yourself and save money.

The cops and boots are shot. Plugs are new so those are fine.
To be sure, just replace all 8 (cops and boots)

"The problem with the car is that under acceleration, especially at low speeds and going around corners such as turning into my neighborhood, the car loses almost all power and makes a rapid clicking noise before returning to normal about 3-5 seconds later."

The traction control is kicking in. Is the traction control light flickering when this condition is happening?

I have noticed that if I have one low rear tire the T/C will activate even on a low speed corner. If you put tires on the rear that are smaller in diameter than the front tires you can end up with T/C on all the time.

If they are even slightly smaller than the front tires the T/C will kick in much quicker.

Replace the coil on the cylinder that was misfireing and replace the boots and wires on the other coils.

Hey guys, thanks again for all the replies and I think I may have found some other threads on this site that could help with this. When searching for threads on the DPFE (because I didn't know what it was) I saw some threads on cleaning the EGR passages as well and I'm thinking at this point that it's one of the two or both (DPFE / EGR). The reason the EGR stands out for me is that my car DEFINITELY has the hesitation issue almost exclusively when the engine is warm, never when it's cold. In fact, the shop I took it to recently couldn't get it to duplicate the hesitation I described until I told them to drive it until it got good and warm and then take it through a neighborhood (low speed, lots of turns)...presto, big time hesitation / loss of power. DPFE sensor makes sense for the same reason I think (it controls the EGR, right?) plus it would make sense because the problem started after an engine detail. So, I guess my question now is, where do I start, DPFE sensor or EGR passages? Thanks for all the help!

hey, if you dont mind can you show me those threads that you found, i have the same problem. thanks,
joe

If your hesitation problems started with and "engine detailing session" and if such session included spraying a lot of water around the engine compartment, I think that it would be reasonable to suggest that you may have water in one or more of the spark plug wells. This will cause a misfire and may ruin both the coils and the plug.

If you have a 98 you can probably rule out the EGR passages. The EGR passages tend to block up on the 92 to 95 models which have an aluminum intake manifold with EGR passages located under the throttle body. They also tend to burn more oil due to leaking valve seals and the combination of flawed design and leaking seals produces ideal gunk to block the passages. 96 and newer models experience very few if any blocked EGR channel issues.

Hey, just wanted to update anyone who might be interested on my "problem". Turns out I had a gasket leak on the intake manifold. Finally discovered this due to loss of coolant (started losing about 90% of a tank every 3,000 miles). Coolant was going into the spark plug well on cylinder #4 and causing a misfire (got really bad and finally threw a code). Went ahead and replaced entire manifold with one of the "fixed" versions and also had to replace the coil pack on cylinder 4 as it was damaged by the coolant. 3 weeks now and not so much as a single miss / stutter / sputter or anything else. Problem appears "fixed" (crosses fingers).

Congratulations on the fix.

-Mayonaze-

Good work. wish you many more happy miles.