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1999 Mercury Villager Cylinder 2 Misfire

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BSERO
  • MEMBER
  • 1 POST
I have a 99 Mercury Villager, (163,000) miles: Out of the blue it started to sputter, and cut out when it was raining. We took it to a mechanic, and he checked it for us, said it needed new distributer cap, rotor and spark plug wires. So we changed all that, (note)(no codes or lights were on before that) after changing the sparkplug wires, the "check engine light" came on, and the van was still ideling below 1000 rpm's in park, then it would begin to jerk the van back and forth a bit, and idle rough.,then we took to another mechanic he checked the codes, said the cylinder #2 code came up. Do we have a bad fuel injector?, or bad wire? We didn't change the plugs cause the first mechanic said they were fine. My van continues to run ok on the highway with some jerking motion(hesitant), but when you come to a slow or stop it will idle below the 1000 rpm's and start the girking motion again. We are planning a trip out of state in a few days, and need some answers. Do we get it put on a machine to tell us what we may already know? Or start doing process of illimination with wires, injector, or ? Please help.......my husband thinks we may have gotten bad gas and it may have clogged the injector or something? could that be the cause of all this? Please advise......
Jun 22, 2006 at 1:12 AM
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EPERRY
  • ✓Experienced Mechanic
  • 21 POSTS
check the wire first change wire 2 with wire 3 reset the ECM (computer) take it to garge again to get code read if the wire is bad it will say #3 missfire.
Jul 28, 2006 at 10:03 PM
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SERVICE WRITER
  • ✓Experienced Mechanic
  • 9,123 POSTS
I agree with swapping two wires. Is would also swap the # 2 plug with another cylinder different than the cylinder wires that get swapped. Also check that the #2 wire at the cap is in tight.

If no change, swap injectors for misfire movement.

Bad gas would give multiple misfires,not just one cylinder. Very rare that bad gas is a problem.
Jul 28, 2006 at 10:58 PM

Suggested Repair

Swap the cylinder 2 spark plug wire with another cylinder and the cylinder 2 plug with a different cylinder, confirm the wire is seated tightly at the distributor cap, reset the ECM, and recheck codes to see if the misfire moves. If it does not, swap injectors to see whether the misfire follows. Bad gas is unlikely because it would usually cause multiple misfires rather than one cylinder.

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Conversation Summary

A 1999 Mercury Villager began sputtering and cutting out in the rain. After the distributor cap, rotor, and spark plug wires were replaced, the check engine light came on with a cylinder 2 code, rough idle below 1000 rpm, and jerking, while highway driving was mostly okay with some hesitation. Experts recommend swapping the cylinder 2 wire and plug with other cylinders, verifying the cap connection, resetting the ECM, and reading codes again. If the misfire does not move, swap injectors next. They note bad gas is an unlikely cause of a single-cylinder misfire.

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