Triton Coil issue options?

torboschen · 06-07-2019, 08:01 AM

Hi, I have a 2001 E250 with the 5.4.... The only issues the motor has ever given me is that around 100K it started to have coils fail.

I have a Scan Gauge II which shows a code when it happens even before the check engine light comes on but doesn't tell me which cylinder. Its a 20 min job to replace the coil but getting the rig into a shop on a road trip is a major hassle particularly in the winter. I'd carry a spare but I have no idea which cylinder has failed without taking it to a shop.

My question is does anyone have experience with an affordable code reader that will correctly assess which coil has failed?. I have replaced half the coils now with the Motorcraft replacements but am reluctant to swap out the remaining coils for no real reason. A friend of mine with the V10 replaced all 10 at similar mileage at his mechanic's suggestion and was losing coils within 10K miles. I think it makes sense to just swap em out as they fail.

Thanks much,
Tor

carringb · 06-07-2019, 08:03 AM

Did you replace all the plus already? If not this might be why you're eating coils.

To your question, I recommend autoenginuity.

https://www.autoenginuity.com/produc...d-family-ei01/

torboschen · 06-07-2019, 09:50 AM

Thanks for the reply!!

Yes plugs replaced about 10k ago... It was eating coils before and after the plug replacement.

The auto ingenuity stuff looks to be very capable, I assume I would need to buy the $200 ford enhanced package to get much more info than my scan gauge II gets me now...

arctictraveller · 06-07-2019, 10:18 AM

My 2001 5.4 has gone through a couple coils, and as I remember the Scangauge told me which cylinder each time. Actually, I know for sure it did because I've done the replacements myself (once on the side of the road) and each time it ran fine with the new coil on the first try. As I remember, it started running like crap, but there was no code at first, it took a few miles of driving to finally show a code, and a quick Google search determined which cylinder the code corresponded to.

MadScience · 06-07-2019, 12:48 PM

Drive it just a little longer and you should get cylinder specific codes on the scan gauge. It's not a super exact science, if one coil is really bad, you might get codes for the following (in firing order) cylinder as well.

There is one school of thought that suggests that all the coils have lived a similar life and should just all be replaced when the first one fails. This approach seems less common on the Ford engines than on vehicles marketed as a more luxury experience.

Are you seeing newly replace coils fail or just the old ones?

TheLetterJ · 06-07-2019, 03:41 PM

I recently had a coil fail, put in a good used one I got from a friend, and had another coil fail within 500 miles. I figured at 135k, it was a wee bit overdue for plugs, so I replaced all 8 of my coils at the same time too. As tempting as the $60 per set ebay coils were, I spent the money on Motorcraft because the increased risk of roadside failure just isn't worth the cost savings, even with a lifetime warranty. I saved the 7 remaining good coils as spares and will replace 1 at a time as needed in the future.... I guess I ought to keep one or two in the van with a 7mm wrench then huh?

torboschen · 06-07-2019, 04:15 PM

Thats all great info, I had two error codes last time and of course didn't write them down but I didn't get an obvious cylinder # when I googled the codes...
I will be more diligent next time

No I haven't lost any of the new replacement coils yet. From other ford forums, this vintage of the Triton motor seems to have an appetite for the ones that are hottest in the doghouse... I believe I have lost 4,8,6 and 3, so mostly near the back of the engine. Overall its been a great engine as long as I'm not in a big hurry.

Oddly I've had several Toyotas go well past 170K and have never had a coil fail.

Thanks again for all the great info!
PS: I reached out to customer service at Linear Logic the makers of Scan Gauge II and they assure me that getting the cylinder # is proprietary to Ford, and that their code reader can't do it...

arctictraveller · 06-07-2019, 09:25 PM

[QUOTE=PS: I reached out to customer service at Linear Logic the makers of Scan Gauge II and they assure me that getting the cylinder # is proprietary to Ford, and that their code reader can't do it...

[/QUOTE]

That's really odd, since I would have had no other way of knowing which cylinder I should replace the coil on. I wonder if reading that code is a feature they dropped in later versions than the one I have. I've had mine about four or five years. Or perhaps Ford changed some of the codes after my year (2001)

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/8...hrow-code.html

BrianW · 06-08-2019, 03:29 AM

I’ve been back and forth on whether to proactively replace my coil packs. All original COPs on my 98 5.4 with 116,000 miles, although the plugs have all been replaced around 100k. At the very least I guess i should carry a few with me in the van and learn how to replace them myself.

carringb · 06-08-2019, 10:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by torboschen

PS: I reached out to customer service at Linear Logic the makers of Scan Gauge II and they assure me that getting the cylinder # is proprietary to Ford, and that their code reader can't do it...

This is not correct. All OBD-2 compliant motors have cylinder monitoring, and will throw a P03XX code where XX is the cylinder number experience a regular misfire. If all you were getting is a P0300 code, that is for multiple random misfires, which means either the misfire isn't regular enough to narrow down the cylinder at fault, or it's a bad coil.

If you didn't have the P03XX code initially, how did you determine you had bad coils?