1996 Ford Windstar Service Engine Trouble Light

JOHNANDJJ

MEMBER
1996 FORD WINDSTAR
6 CYL
FWD
AUTOMATIC
103,000 MILES

My '96 Windstar was hard starting and ran very rough (stalling till I floored the gas). The "service engine" light immediately came one. I took the car to an auto store, had a diagnostics run which showed the code "Cylinders 4 & 5 mis-fire". Starting at the basics, we changed the plugs and wires but the problem re-occurred afterwards.

What next?

5 Replies

BMRFIXIT

MECHANIC
19,053 POSTS

Still have the same codes?
Check if coil firing the two cylinders
if so
do a compression test
if OK check injectors
bad coil is more common

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Tuesday, March 10th, 2009 AT 6:02 AM

JOHNANDJJ

MEMBER
5 POSTS

The book identifies the coils for cylinders other than 4 & 5 (i.E. - Coil #1 services 1&5, coil #2 services 2 & 4, coil #3 services 3&6- I may have these wrong but there is no single coil that services 4 & 5. When we did the plugs, we saw that the egr ports were filthy. Could this be the issue?

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Thursday, March 12th, 2009 AT 10:43 AM

BMRFIXIT

MECHANIC
19,053 POSTS

If the EGR stuck open I would expect to see misfiring codes and other codes too
related ti that issue
but if its clogged and close no will not effect it
check the firing order making sure did not crose any wires
pull the wire of the coil and check if its arcking out and strong
coils is a common failure too
let me know
PS do u need the firing order?
Let me know

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Thursday, March 12th, 2009 AT 1:27 PM

JOHNANDJJ

MEMBER
5 POSTS

My son took of the manifold (?) To get access to the egr ports and cleaned them thoroughly with carb cleaner and compressed air. He last reported that the van was running fine. He cleared the trouble codes with the OBD and the trouble code did not recur. So I think that we got it.

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Thursday, March 12th, 2009 AT 2:06 PM

BMRFIXIT