Engine Misfire or Stutter?

Tiny
APAL
  • MEMBER
  • 2005 FORD FREESTYLE
  • 3.0L
  • V6
  • 2WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 200,000 MILES
When first cranking I can feel a miss and then it will go away. Put into gear and feel the stutter again. From a complete stop take off can feel stutter until 15 MPH. Cannot press throttle more than half and feel stutter again. Throttle body, battery, cop and plugs have been changed. No cel light or pending codes.
Sunday, May 25th, 2025 AT 3:32 PM

10 Replies

Tiny
KEN L
  • MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
  • 54,137 POSTS
Yep, this can happen when you have a broken valve spring. But can I ask if you changed out the ignition coils (6) as well? If not, this is what I would do, also, if you have a scanner, you can read the cylinder misfire count which will tell you which cylinder is failing. Please let me know what you find.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/engine-misfires-or-runs-rough

Please go over this guide and get back to us.

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Monday, May 26th, 2025 AT 1:02 PM
Tiny
APAL
  • MEMBER
  • 6 POSTS
Code reader shows no misfire and yes, coils were all changed along with plugs just to make sure.
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Monday, May 26th, 2025 AT 2:09 PM
Tiny
APAL
  • MEMBER
  • 6 POSTS
I have found a loom of wires that were melted on the exhaust shield. I reconnected them using butt connectors and shrink tube. Wires contained are the o2 sensor, crankshaft position sensor and some others idk. CPS wires are still wrapped in its protective heat shielding.
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Monday, May 26th, 2025 AT 2:13 PM
Tiny
KEN L
  • MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
  • 54,137 POSTS
Hmm, you would think there would have been a code for the o2 sensor or crankshaft sensor circuit? You might have a bad PCM.
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Tuesday, May 27th, 2025 AT 9:49 AM
Tiny
APAL
  • MEMBER
  • 6 POSTS
Vehicle would not start, chased it down to bad CPS again. I checked wire loom under heat shield found they were exposed as well. Fixed and vehicle now cranks with same issue. Found cat on bank 1 is clogged so I'm replacing both currently. I thought about bad PCM since wires were melted. Could have fried the board or made a small short inline. Will update after cat install. Thanks for all info so far!
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Tuesday, May 27th, 2025 AT 11:46 AM
Tiny
KEN L
  • MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
  • 54,137 POSTS
Np, good find on the wiring issue. Let me know.
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Thursday, May 29th, 2025 AT 9:56 AM
Tiny
APAL
  • MEMBER
  • 6 POSTS
Cleared cats out and install with no such luck. Have appointment with Ford so they can fix it.
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Thursday, May 29th, 2025 AT 4:24 PM
Tiny
KEN L
  • MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
  • 54,137 POSTS
If you can upload a short video of what the engine is doing I can tell you more, is it misfiring or a vibration?
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Friday, May 30th, 2025 AT 9:50 AM
Tiny
APAL
  • MEMBER
  • 6 POSTS
Feels like a misfire only when first running after crank and in any gear. No codes show misfire or any count of one. Long fuel trim shows its at 20%+ even higher with ac on. I did smoke test through vacuum lines and no splits. Fuel delivery is my next guess but imma let ford just deal with it at this point.
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Friday, May 30th, 2025 AT 11:54 AM
Tiny
KEN L
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  • 54,137 POSTS
Sounds good, please let me know what they say, I am interested.
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Friday, May 30th, 2025 AT 1:28 PM

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