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1999 Cougar Blinking CEL and Bucking


DragonLord3688
04-12-2011, 09:52 PM
So my 1999 V6 Cougar is at it again with a now BLINKING check engine light which started about 4 miles down the road from my house, now granted the weather is very rainy and I was on the interstate when this started, but it started blinking, I noticed an abnormality in the acceleration even while under cruise control, it seemed to be, bucking or hesitating ESPECIALLY when going up any kind of incline. Down Route 33 of Afton Mountain in Virginia is about 4 miles of pure downhill, I'm talking leave it in neutral and you'll go over 80 easy. And even then it kept blinking. There were periods of it going away and I swear at some points I smelt a funny exhaust like smell, almost like a richness but not completely.

By the time I got to my destination about 35 mile trip and pulled up in to the parking spot, it felt VERY rough like it was going to stall, blinking CEL repeatedly, and if I tapped the gas it seemed to stop hesitating but then nearly stalled on the downspin.

As some of you readers may know I am confident I have a faulted HO2S in Bank 2 which the code keeps coming and going the more I push the motor it seems. Could this faulty sensor cause the aforementioned symptoms?

I have JUST replaced the Spark Plugs with NGK Lase Iridium IX's the wires with NGK "Like-OEM" replacements and the Ignition Coil was replaced with about a 170 dollar Accel HEI Coil so I don't know why this would be misfiring if it indeed is.

Also could it be the heavy rain that came in today and was leaving a LOT of puddles and what not? Or the O2 Sensor?

Also note that I did pull off to the emergency shoulder of the interstate and tried to listen for any sounds of concern under the hood and heard none to my knowledge. I then took off like I was running someone at a light and everything FELT fine. Fuel economy seems too soon to tell, I'm getting about 300 miles to the tank give or take 12.

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