Screwed by Goodyear
 

I took my '96 GT into Goodyear this morning to get a tune-up. About 15 minutes after I left the shop it was spitting and sputtering and had no power at all. (I was at a stop light and a f***ing minivan took off quicker than I did). My car was missing a little before I went in and the check engine light was on. And yesterday I went to Auto Zone to have them check to see what was wrong and all it said was that one of the cylinders was misfiring. I called the shop but nobody answered....My question is, what do I need to do?

Bennett

Check the plug wires. Make sure their all hook up in the right order.

What's the order on the plug wires? I'm new to the 4.6. I just bought the car this week.

Bennett

The Funny thing about shops
 

The question is, when you went to Goodyear for the tune, did you specify that you wanted to get rid of the misfire. If they had a technician diagnose the problem, then recommend a full tune-up, then I would suggest bringing the car back. However, if a customer comes up, requests a tune, then that may be all that he or she gets. The mechanic does the tune, backs the car out and flags his 1 hour or so of labor on the repair no diagnosis needed.

I doubt that you have a misplaced plug wire, as the routing on the 4.6 is great. My money is on a plug wire going bad. It has been my experience with the Triton engines be it a 4.6 or 5.4 that plug wires take care of the condition you are describing. As an aside, it is paramount that you go with quality wires, OEM (from Ford) or a reputable company that you recognize.

I hope this helps.

Ron

Better place for the thread
 

Bennett,

A better place for this thread is probably "Modular Madness".

Ron

Thanks for the reply. I took it back up there and they said the reason that it's running like crap is because the intake manifold is leaking antifreeze into the heads. And it's gonna cost me about 500 bucks to get it fixed. Does this sound right or are they trying to get more money out of me? I noticed that antifreeze is leaking out around where the hose goes into the intake. If this is all they are talking about I really don't see it costing that much to fix it.

Bennett

Ron, this was actually in a different forum but was moved here....your guess is as good as mine why though :D

What Goodyear has said is a possibility, albeit a remote one. In my experience, if coolant is entering a cylinder badly enough to cause a misfire, you should be able to see steam exit out of your tailpipes. Not to mention, you would be adding coolant at a pretty high rate to keep it at the full mark. I recently replaced an intake on a 1997 Lincoln Town car which has the same general style of intake as your car. The vehicle had a coolant leak by the upper radiator hose behind the alternator. To make a long story short, there was a 4 inch crack on the coolant passage as it was heading up to the thermostat. Thinking of the design of the intake, it would be very difficult for coolant to enter the engine through the intake as that passage is very well isolated from the intake port. By the way, the intake that I installed on the customer's car was an "updated" design, which incorporated an aluminum coolant passage instead of the stock plastic one, in effect reducing the possibility of the same problem happening again.

The best advice that I can give you from this point is to bring your car to a different shop for a second opinion. The shop you bring it to would charge a nominal diagnosis fee, and they would not have any reason to cover their previous repair, so the diagnosis would be unbiased. Try to find a shop that does "drivability" repairs, as they usually have the equipment and the technicians that are there to fix malfunctions instead of just performing maintenance. (No disrespect to Goodyear of course)

Good luck, just remember to keep in mind, that once this problem is taken care of, you'll get around 3,350 pounds and 225 horsepower of enjoyment out of your car.

Ron

You have a 4.6 with a plastic intake? The answer to your question is yes, and you need to stop dealing with goodyear. I have a 97 and there is a 'service bulletin' or whatever the pc term is for it for that part. Call Ford with your VIN and make sure you fall into the covered group.

Sounds to me like that's what is happening. The repair should be free, and the work warrantied for I think 7 years from date of service. Worth looking into.

Bennett:

Did you get your intake issue resolved?

I'd hate to see you fork over $$$ to have this repaired by a private shop.

The cracking intake manifold is a known 'issue' at Ford and I believe you will have a free replacement if you take it to a Ford dealer.

I have two friends (1996 & 1997 Mustangs) whose intakes cracked open on them spewing coolant all over the engine compartement/windshield.

Both got free towing (reimbursed) & replacement intake manifolds from Ford.

Good luck!

lxfiveoh:

I ended up just having goodyear fix it for me. (A whopping $500) It's no longer leaking, but now my damn transmission is slipping. Oh well...it's getting late in the year, might as well go ahead and park it for the winter and save up some money to fix her up a little more. Can't wait for spring time :)

-Bennett

oh man it should be on a tsb, the 96-98 intake, is a pos , the heads arent that great either, that's why most 96-98 look for a 99+ head swap & intake, better flow. throw's flame suit on.