Shuddering & Check Engine Light - PLEASE HELP

[XJay]

Left work this morning to run home, '99 V6 was fine. Ran inside my place, came back out, and I noticed that the car seemed to shudder a bit when accelerating....got on the highway, and the 'Check Engine' light began flashing, and the engine seemed to 'drag' a bit, losing power (especially at lower speeds). When I'd be up to cruising speed, the Check Engine light would remain steady and the engine doesn't drag as much, but when accelerating it'll drag and the light would begin flashing once more. I also smelled something burning (not fuel or oil), and once I parked, looked under the car to see a bit of smoke coming from around the catalyic converter section of my Y-pipe.

Anyone have any idea what on earth is going on with my 'Stang? This came out of nowhere this morning.....please help a fellow Pony owner out if possible?


***UPDATE***

Ran over to Auto-Zone, had a code check done, seems the #3 cylinder is mis-firing. Just replaced the plugs and wires several months ago, but given that the plugs were cheap and I was driving about 130 miles each day (M-F) for a couple of months, maybe it's just the wires?

 

[foolygoofy26]

Researching the problem

Got the same problem here, so I decided to look for it. Yesterday I found a spark plug cable that was broken, so I replaced all the cables. After a test run, the engine performance was worst. Today I changed the spark plugs. It improved a little, but the problem still there.

I ran a little 3rd world country test yesterday. That is to start the car and unplug a spark plug cable from the rotor, if you don't see a difference in the engine, then that plug is bad. I got that on 1 & 2 cylinder as bad, that's how I found the bad cable number 2.

I believe it's the rotor, but in the dealer today they told me that this car don't have a rotor. But whatever it is, I think it's that part where you plug the spark plug cables. I just need to find more time to look for that part and change it...I hope it's that.

 

[XJay]

So I grabbed a screwdriver from the toolbox in the trunk (while still at work), removed the air cleaner assembly, and found the obvious problem - the wire to cylinder #3 had been resting against some sort of horizontal pipe, which had burned a hole right through it. So I got a new set of wires, replaced just that one (the others are fine for now), and the engine is running even smoother than before the problem (I think that one wire had been building up as a problem, and I should note here that the new wire is away from said pipe).

Now, the 'service engine soon' light won't go off....is it supposed to re-set itself, or do I need to have it done (or do it myself, if possible)?

 

[foolygoofy26]

Check Engine Light

To get the check engine light to go off disconnect the battery and wait a minute, then connect it back on. That should take the engine light off. The pay for this is that you will have to reprogram your clock and radio memory. If after you run around for a little bit, the Check Engine light comes on again, then there still a problem there.

 

[Yellow_V6]

pretty much after every thing you do that is going to affect the engine you need to restart the computer

 

[foolygoofy26]

My Solution

So I started with the engine light on and the lost power in the engine. After I found out a bad cable and change the cable the problem got worst, so I changed the spark plugs, but there was no improvement. I went to autozone and ordered an Ignition coil and two days later pick it up. I put it in today and I got my power back. The only problem now was the engine light. So I disconnected the power for a couple of seconds (30) and the plug it back on. I turn on the engine and now everything back to normal.

Cables............40 dollars
Sparkplugs......25 dollars
Ignition Coil.....60 dollars
Driving in style again...priceless. =)