coil pack question

[angi1]

Hi. My car's been acting up for quite a while now (sputtering, awful acceleration) but I've held off from doing anything about for fear of what it might cost. But today the "service engine light" came on and stayed on. So I took it to Autozone to have that hand-held computer code read-out done. I was told it read that there were multiple misfires. The Autozone guy said it was most likely a bad coil pack. So I'm going to bite the bullet and take it to get it fixed.

question: How much can I expect to pay for a new coil pack and installation at a Ford dealership?

-also, Am I doing any damage driving it like this with the "service engine light" on? It may be couple of days before I can get to the dealership,.
Thanks a lot.

 

[Skymarshal]

Having been through this before, I can give you some pointers about what to try. It might be the coil pack, or it might be a plug or a plug wire. If you want to eliminate the plugs and wires, you can try swapping them two at a time to see if the misfire moves with them (you'll have to get the code read each time to see which cylinder is misfiring). Or, if it's time you can just replace all the plugs and get a new wire set. It's still cheaper than a coil pack! Did the auto store say that there were multiple cylinders misfiring, or just one misfiring a lot?

If the misfire doesn't move, then it looks like you'll be getting another coil pack. They're about $80 online, and probably about $250 at the Ford dealer. Replacing it yourself is really easy- it's right on top of the engine and there are just a few fasteners to unscrew. Just make sure you don't mix up the wires- transfer one at a time to prevent that.

You shouldn't drive the car too much with that condition, but it won't kill it to drive it to the auto store and back. Once it's fixed, you might want to get the oil changed since the unburned fuel from the misfiring cylinder might have been washing down the walls into the oil, diluting it.

 

[angi1]

Hi. Thanks for the great info. The Autozone guy said there were multiple misfires. I believe he mentioned three.
Wow, I figured I'd probably get soaked taking it to a dealership, but that's a really big discrepancy compared to replacing it myself. I think I'll definitely look into the do-it-yourself route with the coil pack. Thanks for all the tips.