Do I have a bad ignition coil?
Today I was driving on the highway at 70 mph and all of a sudden the accelerator was having no effect. I kept pushing and releasing it trying to get it to catch, but it finally died on the side of the road. I started the car right back up and it made it home fine(several miles). I have a 2000 Ford Focus and I'm hoping this is a coil going bad and not a fuel pump. First time it's happened. What do you think?
If a coil had gone bad it would have run rough and the Engine Light would flash. The PCM would then have a 300 series code stored. 301 is misfire #1 cylinder. A Fuel Pump Relay is suspect for your situation, but the Pump is suspect too if you have over 100K miles on it. Your FP Relay is under the back seat passenger side under the carpet. But those are all guesses and you need to Troubleshoot it when it's not running. Get a can of Starting Fluid and the next time it stalls Spray the Intake and see if it starts. That will confirm a Fuel problem, if it doesn't it's usually an Ignition Problem. Always check fuses and relays first. And make sure ALL Ground Wires are clean and Tight. If you have any under the Battery Tray, they are Very Suspect.
It's probably not the coil pack because all cylinders rarely go dead at once. It would have run rough missing on a cylinder or two, but it probably wouldn't have just gone dead like that. I'd suspect a fuel related issue instead. When's the last time you changed the fuel filter?
There should be OBD2 codes stored, get a code reader and see what was stored at the time of failure.
It's probably nether of those. If there's no CEL lit yet there may be a pending code. Drive it and see if it happens again or go to the dealer to have it scanned with the factory scan tool… Not just a code reader.
Oil or water intrusion in the crankshaft sensor harness can cause intermittent stalling.
Don't waste your money on coils or the fuel pump.
I actually just changed it about a month ago. I used a Motorcraft part too.
Not a coil. Coils do not go bad. They DIE(DEAD)(KAPUT) "INSTANTLY" Never to be resuscitated again. EVER. No exceptions.
. Its the fuel pump… More than likely.
. Or maybe a dirty air cleaner. They do not last for 20 years. I change mine yearly. Have you? It can be that simple.
When you pull the OBD trouble codes that will give information needed to tell what went wrong.
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