Hello all. New member here. I have a '01 Lincoln LS, 3.9L-V8, 70K miles, and am in the process of dropping the 3rd of 8 COP ignition coils in the last 5k miles. It is my understanding that this is common with this engine at this age. I don't want to drop another $400 at the dealer, especially if this is going to happen, presumably, 5 more times. I have a good OBD-II scanner, but presently am not getting the expected p03XX trouble code, so that I can ID the bad cylinder number. I understand that there is a threshold value in the misfire counter before it triggers a DTC, so I am waiting to accumulate the necessary misfires. Is there another way? Is there a way to access the raw misfire count prior to a DTC?

A related question: I understand that the cylinder number arrangement changed in 2002. I would like to confirm the pre-2002 arrangement. I have it #1 thru #4 front-to-rear on the passenger side, and #5 thru #8 front-to-rear on the driver's side. Can anyone confirm? Thanks!

 

You can monitor mode 6 data with a high end scantool to see marginal misfires. The cylinder numbering has'nt changed you are correct with the numbering

 

Coil failure can be caused by water intrusion into the spark plug well, causing a secondary short to ground. When replacing coils put dielectric grease on spark plug boot. Also craked or dry rotted coil boots can cause misfires under heavy loads.

 

Thanks for the good info... My scanner is plain text type, but not "high end", but I can get use of a better one. Have dielectric grease and spare coil on hand... Thanks again!