The day I was dreading has come. 03 LS8 skipping

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Farking Bastage

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I figured this day would come to pass eventually, but I am not 100% sure how to tackle it.

I have a 2003 Lincoln LS ( V8 ) with 80k miles. It has run like a top since the day I got it, but I started having a little skip at certain times that has now manifested itself into a problem. For about a week now, it has started jerking under mid acceleration. I figured there was a coil about to go somewhere, but when I took it in, no one could find a code, it was misdiagnosed as a torque converter hesitating to lock up and I walked out with a tranny fluid exchange.

The problem continued, although most of the time I knew how to manipulate it not to act up, but didn't mess with it mainly for lack of time to deal with it. Today it scared me.

Accelerating around a corner on the way home, it started the jerking again between 40-50 MPH and 2k RPM, then I suddenly lost all power, the AC stopped, the check engine light flashed on and off about 4 times, then it came back to life, almost as if the computer said "f-it" and rebooted. ( sorry I work in IT best I can describe) Everything I have read points to an ignition coil failing.

Steps to reproduce:

Get it good and hot, it's usually fine when cold

Put the engine under a load at around 2k RPM ( usually 40-50 MPH in normal driving) and if you listen very carefully, you can hear it skipping. It initially felt like an indecisive shift, but you can clearly hear the engine skipping.

This happens in both Auto and SST modes and I can reproduce it at low speeds by putting it in 4th or 5th and giving it about half throttle.

It happens under light to medium throttle right in the 2k range. Once it's above that, or if I am standing on it, it's not as noticeable.


My questions:
If it is indeed a coil, how would I determine which cylinder it is? I'd rather not buy a full set at this time if I can help it. I am capable of changing them myself.

The Check engine light went away. I am assuming the computer logs faults to be read at a later time. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Would your chain variety auto parts store be able to read the codes off this thing if there are any to read? I'll take it in if I have to, but no need in doing so if not necessary.

This car is, to the best of my knowledge, on it's original set of coils. Would a coil failure at 80k without any other signs justify new VCG's?

Thanks for taking a look.
 
Sounds like a coil is going bad. My car did the same thing. You can get the codes read at most auto parts stores. The code will indicate which cylinder is misfiring. When I did mine I needed two, so I relaced the two, they were like $50 each. However, since joining this site I have read a lot of posts where people say they like the Accel brand. The Accel ones are like $250 for all eight. Dollar for dollar, it would be a better deal to replace all of them at the same time. I would have done them all if I knew then what I know now.
 
Your best bet is to bring it to the dealer actually. Your car is covered under program R07M07, up to 10 years or 100k miles. Since it's an 03, in the event that oil is present in the plug wells, the dealer will replace the VCGs as well.

Insist that they bench test each coil in case they only go by the DTCs.

Good luck :)
 
^ exactly, make sure to take the letter to the dealer, and if you have to, take them for a ride so that you can reproduce the problem to them.
 
Why did they do that for the gen2's only? It makes no sense they are the same damn cars with the same damn problem.
 
214rod said:
Why did they do that for the gen2's only? It makes no sense they are the same damn cars with the same damn problem.
Click to expand...

Who ever made the claim to you that "life is fair" was lying. It's not.
 
214rod said:
Why did they do that for the gen2's only? It makes no sense they are the same damn cars with the same damn problem.
Click to expand...

Yeah and the 06 was excluded.

It really isnt fair.
 
I had a bad coil and it gave no code I took it into the ford dealer they stress tested the coils and found 1 bad. I could only replace one at the time, wish i could've done them all the damn oem coils are like 100 a piece
 
I had the codes checked and there are none. Provided that letter is legit, how much am I in for?
 
Farking Bastage said:
I had the codes checked and there are none. Provided that letter is legit, how much am I in for?
Click to expand...

$0 if at least one of the coils fails the stress test.

$100-$200 if none of them do.

Don't worry, at least one will fail.

Oh, and it is real. I've had coils replaced (four) under that program as have several other members on this board.
 
M4rk said:
Your best bet is to bring it to the dealer actually. Your car is covered under program R07M07, up to 10 years or 100k miles. Since it's an 03, in the event that oil is present in the plug wells, the dealer will replace the VCGs as well.

Insist that they bench test each coil in case they only go by the DTCs.

Good luck :)
Click to expand...

Thats exactly what happened to me, they did the plugs too :D
 
M4rk said:
Your best bet is to bring it to the dealer actually. Your car is covered under program R07M07, up to 10 years or 100k miles. Since it's an 03, in the event that oil is present in the plug wells, the dealer will replace the VCGs as well.

Insist that they bench test each coil in case they only go by the DTCs.

Good luck :)
Click to expand...

Under this program it's an either or thing, right? I seen an 03 I was looking at purchasing, but it has 115k. So it should still qualify since it's under 10 yrs, but not 100k, right?
 
kndawg07 said:
Under this program it's an either or thing, right? I seen an 03 I was looking at purchasing, but it has 115k. So it should still qualify since it's under 10 yrs, but not 100k, right?
Click to expand...

Nope. The extended warranty ends at ten years or 100K miles, whichever comes first. So, it's out of warranty.
 
I sense a degree of frustration with the idea of having to replace some items as part of an ongoing maintenance scenario.

Aren't you glad you don't live in a time when an ignition tune-up was necessary every 10-15 K miles? (And I was drag-racing back in the '60s when it was necessary to replace spark plugs after EVERY trip down the quarter mile.)

What we're talking about here is within the range of normal maintenance. Those who complain are only demonstrating a degree of cluelessness.

KS
 
cammerfe said:
I sense a degree of frustration with the idea of having to replace some items as part of an ongoing maintenance scenario.

Aren't you glad you don't live in a time when an ignition tune-up was necessary every 10-15 K miles? (And I was drag-racing back in the '60s when it was necessary to replace spark plugs after EVERY trip down the quarter mile.)

What we're talking about here is within the range of normal maintenance. Those who complain are only demonstrating a degree of cluelessness.

KS
Click to expand...

I also remember when you were doing pretty good to get 50K out of a set of VCGs. Of course, it is more of a pain to replace eight coils than one. On the other hand, it is nice to not have to replace points, rotors, distributor caps, and plug wires.
 
I am surprised my car was even running. The dealership replaced 6 of 8 coils, the plugs and the VCG's.

thanks again for the advice on that guys.
 
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