98 Escort Misfire and Engine Stutter

AMALTHYA83

MEMBER
1998 FORD ESCORT

Have a 98 Escort, got it back in April. Has ran fine up until now. I have done all proper maintenance on the vehicle. Car developed a bit of a stutter a couple weeks ago. It was no major issue and seemed to simply go away on it's own. Mechanic did not find a problem. The stutter came back though. Seemed almost like a fuel problem, like running low on gas, or a bad fuel filter. It was neither though. Stuttered in all gears, mainly at lower RPM's, and would sometimes stutter while idling. The stutter was present whether the vehicle was hot or cold. Seemed to go away mostly while accelerating. However, today, the stutter came back in very hard, very shaky, and punching the gas pedal did not get rid of it, within a few minutes, I got the flashing SES light, indicating a misfire. So far, checked spark plug wires, which seem to be fine. Any ideas on this?

2 Replies

TOBYU

MEMBER
89 POSTS

Did you test the plug wires with an ohm meter? That is the only way without espensive diagnostic scopes to see if there is a break in one.

If you get around 6-12K ohms on each wire they should be fine. I like to replace them when they get over 15K ohms. Check them from end terminal to end terminal.

You definitely have a miss if you got a code. A strong miss will give you a flashing check engine light.
If all was well before. The most likely cause would be a plug wire or even a plug.
The code will tell you which cylinder.
On that one the cylinders are 1-2-3-4 from passenger to driver side.
You can swap plugs on the missing cylinder to a no missing one and see if the miss goes to the other cylinder. When it pops a code.
I would replace the plugs and install new GOOD quality wires. Too many junk ones on the market.

In plug wires. You can get the, form discount part stores. Just don't get the bottom of the line cheapest ones.I have had no problems with the better ones they have.