When going up steep hills engine loses power

PATSJAM

MEMBER
2003 FORD EXPEDITION
5.4L
V8
4WD
AUTOMATIC
75,000 MILES

Car was losing power on steep hills. Took it in. They supposedly changed the spark plugs and I assumed the coil wires. After a week the same thing happened (I had paid over $1,100.00). They told me they had only replaced one coil wire because it would be too expensive to replace them all. What! Now after paying off the repair cost at $100.00 per month for six months or so the same thing is happening. I bought one of those car computer reader things from Amazon for 25.00 it said cylinder four misfiring. Have I been taken by Ford or what?

1 Reply

MHPAUTOS

MECHANIC
31,937 POSTS

Hard to say with out experiencing the first problem. If they fixed it then and you had no problem with it you well jobs done, but they should of contacted you with a quote to replace all components then and there, that way you know what you are up for, and they should have advised that they recommend replacing other components because they may fail soon. Most people say yeah sure just a way of making more money, and if they do not and it does fail, well they ripped me off what have they done. Often work shops are between a rock and a hard place. Yes they made a mistake by not advising on further work, so do not be over hard. I do not know what they did for the $1,100.00 bill either.
I would check the ignition on that cylinder it may well be an ignition problem, you can check the coil by swapping a known good one to cylinder four and see if the misfire follows the coil, if so replace the coil. After market coils can be around $60.00 genuine a lot more expensive. Try this and see how you get on.