Misfire/oil on spark plug

[ShoNuff757]

Hi All,

I was driving down the highway this past weekend, and while attempting to pass someone, the car began to misfire badly. CEL started flashing, and I slowly limped the car home. The code scanner indicated misfire on cylinder #2. After pulling the plug on #2, there was visible oil on the plug (although it wasn't saturated in it). I've got a leakdown test kit coming so that I can check compression on the cylinder. Beyond that, does anyone have any insight, suggestions, or experience with this issue? I have a bad feeling that the engine is coming out of the car.

 

[polskifacet]

Cyl #2 seems to be a common bad one. Compression test will tell you everything.

 

[SHOdded]

Did you check the other plugs on Bank 1?  Was the plug boot/well clean?

 

[ZSHO]

polskifacet is correct! That #2 cylinder is susceptible for oil intrusion in conjunction with a leaky injector.
Any visible signs of oil around the rear valve cover?
How many miles? original plugs?
I would try swapping the coils .
Due setup in Intro by following the below link,thanks.  Z

http://www.ecoboostperformanceforum.com/index.php/board,14.0.html

 

[ShoNuff757]

Did you check the other plugs on Bank 1?  Was the plug boot/well clean?

I didn't check the other plugs, although I will this week. Thanks for that suggestion.
The plug boot was clean. The only place that oil was present was on the electrode, and a small amount on the threads.

 

[ShoNuff757]

polskifacet is correct! That #2 cylinder is susceptible for oil intrusion in conjunction with a leaky injector.
Any visible signs of oil around the rear valve cover?
How many miles? original plugs?
I would try swapping the coils .
Due setup in Intro by following the below link,thanks.  Z

http://www.ecoboostperformanceforum.com/index.php/board,14.0.html

There was no visible oil around the valve cover. The car has 52k miles on it, and as far as I can tell, the plugs are original, as they are ford motorcraft, and look "well worn", although I can't be certain, as I am not the original owner. I was actually planning to install new plugs, thermostat, and a 3-bar MAP this weekend, as I have a tune from Torrie sitting in my email inbox.
I did swap the coils, and it had no effect on the misfire.

 

[SHOdded]

Def put up a ginormous pic of the plug at fault when you can, so we can perform a visual interrogation on it and make it tell us the truth.   And if you do pull the other plugs, them also.

 

[ShoNuff757]

After going back and forth on warranty coverage, I finally got the car to a dealership this weekend. They called me a little while ago and are saying that the issue is a bad valve cover gasket, and it needs a tune up.
I told the service writer that I disagreed with the diagnosis, but since it's covered under the warranty to go right ahead and replace the gasket. If the issue persists, then we'll know we have something else going on.
What says the great minds here?

 

[ZSHO]

FWIW its a decent place to start considering there were some signs of oil inside the spark plug wells!!.
Are they also replacing the (Seals)+ oil separator/PCV under warranty per TSB ? Z

 

[pmezo33]

I'm not sure about the actual valve cover gasket being the issue since you're not seeing an external leak, but I'm sure they're doing the spark plug inner seals as well.  That's probably your culprit.

 

[SHOdded]

Yup let them do the work, make sure they replace the plug well seals as pmezo33 mentioned.  Also have them check the TSB Z refers to above.
http://www.ecoboostperformanceforum.com/index.php/topic,496.msg78981/topicseen.html#msg78981

 

[ShoNuff757]

The dealership called me Friday with an update. It would seem that I was correct, in disagreeing with their diagnosis. Now they are saying that there is no compression on cylinder #2, and they can hear something rattling in the block. They are recommending "replacement of the long block" (service advisor's words). The service advisor said they'll do the engine tear down this coming week, and let me know more when that's done.

 

[SHOdded]

Wow.  Another one bites the dust?  Good luck. Hope it is all under warranty.  They should put in a forged rotating assembly

 

[pmezo33]

Zero compression in one cylinder and the car was perfectly fine prior to that drive when it started to misfire?  And your only symptom besides the misfire was a little oil on the plug?  Something isn't adding up.

 

[ZSHO]

I'm assuming you have warranty!! I recall a while back a member with a 2010 SHO with 60k having similar issues with the Dealer ending up having a short block installed under warranty.
I hope you did not install the newly awaited Tune!! Best of luck and keep us updated. Z
http://www.ecoboostperformanceforum.com/index.php/topic,5194.0.html

http://www.ecoboostperformanceforum.com/index.php/topic,3628.0.html

 

[ShoNuff757]

Zero compression in one cylinder and the car was perfectly fine prior to that drive when it started to misfire?  And your only symptom besides the misfire was a little oil on the plug?  Something isn't adding up.

That is the gist of it. I was passing someone on the highway, at +/- two-thirds throttle when the car started to miss and the CEL started flashing. Prior to that, the car ran fine.

 

[ShoNuff757]

I'm assuming you have warranty!! I recall a while back a member with a 2010 SHO with 60k having similar issues with the Dealer ending up having a short block installed under warranty.
I hope you did not install the newly awaited Tune!! Best of luck and keep us updated. Z
http://www.ecoboostperformanceforum.com/index.php/topic,5194.0.html

http://www.ecoboostperformanceforum.com/index.php/topic,3628.0.html

I have a Ford ESP Powertrain Warranty. Ford has requested the maintenance history on the car, which I was fortunately able to get from the previous owner (I haven't owned the car long). Last word from the dealership is that they're doing the tear down on the engine (which I'm on the hook for if the warranty claim is denied), and are sending pictures to Ford. I didn't get the chance the upload the tune. This happened literally the day before I was planning to install the 3-Bar, tune, plugs, and t-stat.
The threads that you provided links to are very similar to the issue that I am having.

 

[ShoNuff757]

It's been a slow-going process, but the final word is "catastrophic failure" on cylinder #2. The service advisor said they found pieces of the piston and rod inside the oil pan, and debris damaged one of the camshafts. They didn't offer any speculation on how or why it occurred, and I'm still waiting on them to send me pictures of the internals.
Ford approved the warranty claim a couple of days ago, and the replacement long black has been ordered. Hopefully I have her back on the road within a couple of weeks.
Thanks!

 

[SHOdded]

Well some good news at last, but not very comforting overall for the Ecoboost community.

 

[ShoNuff757]

Well some good news at last, but not very comforting overall for the Ecoboost community.

It doesn't instill a lot in me either, especially considering that I owned the car for one month and 2k miles before it happened. I really like the car though, so I'm going to stick with it rather than sell it.