3.8 miss-firing underload

[jamesfromtx]

I have a 2000 3.8 with 24,000 miles (just out of warranty). It is missing under load and seems to be worse when cold. While it is intermittent, I can cause it to miss by putting it in Reverse, placing my foot on the break and giving is gas. I have replaced the spark plugs, wires and coil. While it runs better, I can still cause it to miss.

- The old plugs looked normal.
- The wire had signs of arcing (burn marks) where they crossed the top of the engine.
- No Service Engine light or codes.
- Tail pipe is a little blacker than normal.

What should I do next?

[jamesfromtx]

Does anybody read these things.

Will, never mind. This was an interesting problem. What was confussing to the people I talked to was the fact that by place the van in reverse with your foot on the brake, you could get it to miss (like it was running on only 4 cylinders) and no codes were ever thrown.

I finally broke down and took it into the Ford Dealer. It ended up being a bad #2 fuel injector. Of couse replacing a fuel injector on these things is a pretty major job. The upper and middle intake manifold has to come off. $330 later, it now runs fine. Oh, by the way, they also updated the computer. This part was free. Seems to be a TSB/Recall on this.

Hopefully with the updated computer, if a fuel injector goes bad in the future, it will throw a code .

James