engine stutters a little

my 98 escort le stutters when I let off the throttle when driving down highway. I've also noticed it stuttering or missing when idling in parking lot. Will the free test a auto zone be able to detect the cause of this? thanks wil.

How old are your spark plugs and wires? If they are getting older, you might want to get over to your local auto store and put those in there. I just got some Bosch +4 plugs and some Nascar wires for my 94 and it's running like it's brand new.

I agree. Replace the plugs and wires. But don't buy the wires at Autozone. Purchase either heavy duty wires, 9mm wires or go back to a set of OEM. I have gone through two sets of wires from Autozone. One set lasted three weeks the other 90 miles.

my 98 escort le stutters when I let off the throttle when driving down highway. I've also noticed it stuttering or missing when idling in parking lot. Will the free test a auto zone be able to detect the cause of this? thanks wil.

From what I've read on this forum Auto Zone will not perform diagnostic testing on your car unless a CEL (Check Engine Light) is on.

I agree. Replace the plugs and wires. But don't buy the wires at Autozone. Purchase either heavy duty wires, 9mm wires or go back to a set of OEM. I have gone through two sets of wires from Autozone. One set lasted three weeks the other 90 miles.

What do you mean you went through them? how did you know they were no good?

I'll try the plugs and wires. I hope its that easy. thanks all, wil

The car ran very well once I changed them for three weeks. One evening on my way home from work started doing the exact same thing as before. Car missed and stumbled very badly almost didn't make it home. I bought another set and put them on, drove it and worked well. 90 miles later the car started stumbling again. My expression of going through them means I burnt them up!
I spoke with a mechanic friend who didn't even know what kind of car I had, told him the problem and the first thing he said was, it's an Escort right. It appears that Escorts have an issue with frying plug wires. Jet-Lee has an escort that has done the same thing with wires. He told me he went through two sets of wires from Autozone too. My judgement about the wires is based on the car's performance. I put 9mm wires on and have no current issues with the car. So I really didn't test them other than to run the vehicle.

The car ran very well once I changed them for three weeks. One evening on my way home from work started doing the exact same thing as before. Car missed and stumbled very badly almost didn't make it home. I bought another set and put them on, drove it and worked well. 90 miles later the car started stumbling again. My expression of going through them means I burnt them up!
I spoke with a mechanic friend who didn't even know what kind of car I had, told him the problem and the first thing he said was, it's an Escort right. It appears that Escorts have an issue with frying plug wires. Jet-Lee has an escort that has done the same thing with wires. He told me he went through two sets of wires from Autozone too. My judgement about the wires is based on the car's performance. I put 9mm wires on and have no current issues with the car. So I really didn't test them other than to run the vehicle.

thanks for giving a reason for your views alot of time people just run thier mouths and not give specifics.

haven't bought anything yet. service engine soon light is now on.

I checked at local partsplus. They don't have 9mm wires. Should I find some or go with oem?

Have the car scanned before you do anything. It may be something other than the wires like a bad coil, CPS or bad injector. Once they scan the computer then you should have a better picture of what to do. If you need 9mm wires try wires4cars.com that is where I got mine.

Will I have to take it to a Ford garage or can the local shop do it?

Will I have to take it to a Ford garage or can the local shop do it?

you can replace plugs, wires, coil (if needed) yourself the codes can be found at autozone they will check for you.

Autozone will scan it for fee. If you take it to a local garage or a dealer they will charge you 30-50 dollars to hook it up to the computer. Make sure to get it scanned before you spend any money on it since you may not need the plugs and wires.
It is not hard to change the plugs and wires just take your time and make sure the engine is cold when you remove the plugs. Otherwise you can strip the threads holding the plugs in the head.

If it's not the plugs and wires, I'd try an oxygen sensor, may explain the check engine light too. I ended up replacing plugs, wires, and O2 sensor when I had a similar problem, and the combination fixed everything. Having Autozone scan the codes would be a good idea before you buy too much stuff. Good luck.

I say go ahead and put some OEM wires and plugs in it, clear the codes (if any), then see what happens. Have any codes read, then go to the right place to get the job done right. Don't bother paying for the better wires if it's not the problem.

I had autozone check the codes. Could be a few things so I replaced plugs and wires. No help. Replaced coil pack. Fixed the problem. That was Tuesday. Today it started again, the sputtering. Is it the coil pack again or something causing the coil pack to go bad? Will they replace it under some kinda warrenty? thanks wil.

If the coil is bad again they will replace it under the warranty. Usually when the coil goes bad it is due to a bad wire but you just changed those so I doubt that is the problem. Check your crank position sensor it may be starting to fail. Located on the front of the engine and is easy to change.

Well autozone wouldn't cover the coil pack. I bought another one for $45. Hope that fixes the problem. If it doesn't I guess I'll have to spend the big bucks and have Ford diagnos it.

What reason did they give for not covering it under warranty? I am just curious since you only had it for a couple of days and it should have a lifetime or at least a one or two year warranty.

Well autozone wouldn't cover the coil pack. I bought another one for $45. Hope that fixes the problem. If it doesn't I guess I'll have to spend the big bucks and have Ford diagnos it.

Id try again with a differnt sales clerk on. or even try another autozone. if its lifetime they should replace.

Was told electronic stuff isn't covered. They have no way of telling if I installed it correctly. Usually they ask for phone number on warrenty stuff and both time at different stores when I bought it they did not ask. My service engine soon light isn't on anymore but it still stutters not as bad. I'm going to buy some new plugs tomorrow and see if that will help. thanks, wil.

Was told electronic stuff isn't covered. They have no way of telling if I installed it correctly. Usually they ask for phone number on warrenty stuff and both time at different stores when I bought it they did not ask. My service engine soon light isn't on anymore but it still stutters not as bad. I'm going to buy some new plugs tomorrow and see if that will help. thanks, wil.

Thought of something. Have you checked for a cracked plug? I think one is cracked.

Thought of something. Have you checked for a cracked plug? I think one is cracked.
One of the plugs has black on it like it came from where the porcelain meets the threads. Its been running good but had a moment this afternoon then ran fine again. Plugs are going to get replaced for sure. I have the bosch platinum and didn't want to toss them but will anyways. I think when the coil pack went bad it carboned up the plugs and now they've cleaned up some. It was missing on 1 and 4.

Gas cap was the problem.

The idle vibration might be related to this TSB:

Engine - Vibration While Idling
Article No.
03-15-15

08/04/03

^ DRIVEABILITY - IDLE VIBRATION - VEHICLES
EQUIPPED WITH 2.0L SPI OR ZETEC ENGINE
ONLY

^ ENGINE - IDLE VIBRATION - VEHICLES EQUIPPED WITH 2.0L SPI OR ZETEC ENGINE ONLY

FORD:
1997-2002 ESCORT
1998-2003 ESCORT ZX2

MERCURY:
1997-1999 TRACER

This article supersedes TSB's 00-5-9 and 02-21-12.

ISSUE
This TSB article is being republished to assist in diagnosing idle vibration.

ACTION
Diagnose and repair idle vibration conditions by referring to the following idle vibration Service Procedures.

SERVICE PROCEDURE

NOTE THE PROCEDURE CONTAINED IN THIS TSB ARTICLE MAY NOT COMPLETELY ELIMINATE ALL VIBRATION FROM THE VEHICLE. SOME VIBRATION IS INHERENT IN 1-4 ENGINE DESIGNS, SUCH AS THE SPI AND ZETEC 2.0L.

THIS PROCEDURE IS DESIGNED TO REDUCE THE AMOUNT OF VIBRATION EXPERIENCED BY THE CUSTOMER.



This involves replacing and modifying engine mount bushings and "neutralizing the engine mounts"