98 taurus sho starting and missing issues

just recently bought a 98 taurus sho with 99000 miles. To start it, i have to spray a touch of starting fluid in it and then it seems to miss until over 1000 rpm. the miss isnt as bad after 1000. just time for a tune-up?

You probably have a bad coil pack. Your '98 will have Coil on Plug (CoP) ignition. If you have access to a scan tool that will let you get into the component parameters or CIDs, you can check for misfire counts on the individual cylinders, even if they counts are not yet high enough to trigger a CEL.

If you determine a coil pack is the issue and you have a fair amount of skills when it comes to tearing into an auto project, don't let the appearance of the SHO engine scare you. When I still had my '98, I could replace a rear (bank 1) coil in 45 minutes from hood up to hood down, and with no parts left over. ;) After the first time, the engine assembly makes a lot of good sense.

-Rod

will do i have access to an ids and pds scanner ill check into it asap! thanks for the help! I bought the car today for 1200$ the car is otherwise flawless with a rebuilt trans less than 1000miles ago and have yet to get it home.

So you're going to have to update your signature file now. ;)

-Rod

So i had the car trailered home today, and took it for atest drive... Very hard to keep it running, cant seem to get it to go any faster than 40, has no power, seems to backfire (probably too much gas trying to keep it running)...... AND HERES THE KICKER... No power brakes and theres fluid in the resivoir so im thinking vaccum lines??? But i cant seem to find one out of place. The car also leaks antifreeze like a mother...

I just also wanted to add that in the 20 minutes i was driving the car... no codes came up at all, and i seem to be able to JUST get it to start by punching the throttle until it stumbles just enough to let off the gas to about 1/3 throttle to keep it running.

So heres what happened:

Ran a vacuum test, <5psi at 2000 rpm
Pulled all front coils car still ran just as before
Compression test: First two cylinders on front bank 0 compression therefore:
Pulled the valve cover and cranked the motor and.....
The press on intake sprocket spun with the exhaust cam but the intake cam would not spin, therefore, time for an intake cam... ***STUPID press on design*** (thas Ford for ya!)

ANY IDEA WHERE I CAN FIND ONE? Ford discontinued this part on '04 and i cant find one at a salvage yard anywhere.

Also are these interference motors? the cam is sitting just in the right position where i dont THINK i would have a bent valve but...

Yeah, sounds like you are the unfortunate owner of a V8 SHO without welded cams. You should probably visit www.V8SHO.com, there is a long list of articles and victims of the spun cam issue.

-Rod