'03 3.9 surging

[BCA]

This is good info Gus. Mine was doing the shuddering Monday on the way to work and at lunch time. In the morning, it would shudder going up grades but not on flat sections or down hill, cruise was set at 55. At lunch time it shuddered getting on the highway and again going up hill but not on flats or down hill. Monday evening and yesterday, I couldn't get it to act up anywhere. But I didn't have any of the shifting symtoms that you described. No CEL or anything yet. I put injection cleaner in it last night and I'll have my mechanic do fuel filter before I do anything else. Yup, these things are tempermental but they are such damn good cars it's worth a little headache now and then.

JMT,

You might want to have the coils load tested. Your symptoms of the shuddering are the same as what was happening to my car a year or so ago. I was only able to replicate it while the car was under load while accelerating up hill and couldn't "feel" it while on flats.
I took it to my local dealer where they tested and replaced two bad coils.

 

[JMT03LSV8]

JMT,

You might want to have the coils load tested. Your symptoms of the shuddering are the same as what was happening to my car a year or so ago. I was only able to replicate it while the car was under load while accelerating up hill and couldn't "feel" it while on flats.
I took it to my local dealer where they tested and replaced two bad coils.

I couldn't get the car to act up again yesterday but that certainly doesn't mean much knowing how tempermental electrical issues can be. One good thing is that there's a dealership less than half a mile from the house! Thanx for the input.

 

[LS4me]

You might want to have the coils load tested.

Wouldn't it be less expensive to just purchaser the Visteon coils?

 

[joegr]

Wouldn't it be less expensive to just purchaser the Visteon coils?

Not if he has an 03, 04, or 05 with less than 100K miles.

 

[LS4me]

Wouldn't it be less expensive to just purchaser the Visteon coils?

Not if he has an 03, 04, or 05 with less than 100K miles.

Right, then the extended warranty would be in effect.

 

[joegr]

Right, then the extended warranty would be in effect.

Yes, but the guys with the 03s should be aware that the 10 year limit is sneaking up on them. (Many 03s were made and, more importantly, sold in 02.)

 

[JMT03LSV8]

Right, then the extended warranty would be in effect.

A couple of good points here. Problem is, the 2 nearest dealerships both literally suck! Not too many people around here are complementary of either. So my game plan is to just buy the Visteon coils and a set of Motorcraft plugs. When I pull the coil covers off and if I see any oil, then I will call another Ford dealer that's a little further away and have it all fixed. And then I will have the coils and plugs for the future.