Ocasional ?misfire? rough idle and putter

[Kalikandu]

Hi, I'm new here to this site. I recently became poor and have to do all mechanical work on my car myself. lol I am no newby to working on cars and trucks (diesel). Just not very good diagnosing.

I had a valve cover leak on my 2000 Lincoln LS 3.9L
I replaced the gasket and the plugs and coils. What a rough day that was.
I don't have the body like I used to. All my plugs were sitting in oil and the coil boots were shot. She ran like a champ afterwards. It has been 5 days now and tonight on the way home from work, she started puttering at a stop. As soon as I took off, it was fine. then again at a stop it was almost like a misfire but I couldn't pin point which side.
I took the coil covers off and check the plug holes and they are dry, no gasket leak and no engine light on.
My second thought was the timing chain. I didn't bother with it when I had the covers off because of the oil on the plugs I figured that was all that I needed to deal with.
Any help is appreciated as since i saved all that money doing the job myself, I don't want to have to find it and spend it on a mechanics shop.

Thanks

 

[Kalikandu]

I just took the car to the store and it was fine. I didn't get on it as there were a lot of stops but when I got home, it stuttered for like a milisecond. The only other thing I can think is I got a bad coil from the factory or spark plug. Dunno!

 

[Shredicus]

Kinda a long shot but did you gap the plugs to spec? What plugs did you use? Also what coils?

 

[joegr]

Kinda a long shot but did you gap the plugs to spec? What plugs did you use? Also what coils?

To add to this good advice, also check to make sure none of the latches broke on the connectors that plug into the coils.

 

[G-RELL]

also, how many miles? when was the fuel / air filter last replaced???

 

[oldhead]

seeing that it only happens at idle I would check the IAC. it may be sticking.

 

[Kalikandu]

Today the drivers side was very very hot. I couldn't imagine what it could be. It only putters when warm or hotter. I took it to Auto Zone and they said the code was #2 cylinder so I got a coil and a plug; pulled out the plug and it had oil on the inside. Now there was a lot of oil that dropped into the cylinders when I replaced everything so I put the new plug in and old coil.
Runs good!.
Will see on a longer run tomorrow but I was able to get a quarter turn on the valve cover gasket bolt near the #2 cylinder. It didn't look like the gasket was leaking so I' imagining it was left from before. Atleast I hope so.
I will find out this weekend.



FYI-Passenger side valve cover gaskets are harder to replace than drivers side!! lol

Thank you for all your replies guys. My next project is replacing the struts on the car. I have done them on a 87 firebird, but the shop wants 800 bucks. The heck with that!!!

 

[HighRule]

Kinda a long shot but did you gap the plugs to spec? What plugs did you use? Also what coils?

I was told you don't gap platinum plugs. Is this true?

Not sure what type he's using, I'm just trying to find out lol.

 

[joegr]

I was told you don't gap platinum plugs. Is this true?

Not sure what type he's using, I'm just trying to find out lol.

Not true. The last new set I bought had a couple of incorrectly gap'd ones. You just need to be careful when checking and adjusting the gap, as they are easy to damage.

 

[Shredicus]

For platinum plugs I'd invest in a gapper like this instead of the coin type to avoid damage:

Cost $2.50 at autozone

Glad to see OP got his issue fixed.

 

[HighRule]

Thanks guys. Right now the plats I have installed are not gaped but I've had no issues with them.

 

[Shredicus]

Yeah, I literally JUST gapped a full set of NGK plats after this thread reminded me of them and the differences were pretty minimal. Every now and then you'll find one that's abnormal.

 

[Kalikandu]

So the car ran great for three long runs, then on a start she started fouling again. Then she ran fine after about 5 minutes. I read somewhere on this forum a it took a guy a week and a half to blow through the oil that dropped into his cylinders when he did his valve cover gaskets. I thought it wouldve burnt through it with in an hour. What do you think? Cause when I pulled that fouled spark plug out it was coated in oil. This is killing me not knowing and the fact I love my Lincoln and want her to be happy!!!

I'm just not sure whether I got a bad coil from the store. The store meaning RockAuto online.

 

[Kalikandu]

A little word of caution. Always check your fittings and wires! All this time and I thought I messed up or had a bad coil or plug and it was a loose injector connector. Thank God!!!

Thanks again to all. My baby is running great!