2004 Ford Escape. Misfire in cylinder 5 and 6.

jch2122

Thanks for any assistance. My 2004 Escape has a couple of issues. I'm not sure if they're related, so i'll mention both. I've noticed that when it rains a lot the night before, when I crank it the next morning it runs very rough. The CEL comes on, and the engine jumps and spurts. Eventually it starts to run good after being cranked for awhile. I got the code checked and it says I'm getting a misfire in cylinder 5 and 6. I've read in other forums that this could be something getting wet when it rains causing it to act like this, but then not doing it after drying up. I'm not sure exactly what, though. I've heard it could be the ignition coils, but that's expensive without knowing for sure.
The other issue seems to be unrelated, but I'm not sure. About two months ago my oil light started flickering, when coming to a stop or idling. The car was running fine while doing this, though. The previous issue predates the oil issue by a year, but hadn't acted up in that year. The only thing that makes me think they could be related was when I was in the car today I noticed that at times when he car would stumble it would be in unison with the oil light flickering. I would love to know where to start on this. I'm short on money and knowledge, but have some limited ability and would like to fix it myself.

rhinestonefuse

The oil light comes on when your oil pressure is low. Low oil pressure can be a result of

A) less oil in the engine than there should be (very easy fix, just check the dip stick
very, very very low idle (like when it stumbles, or comes close to stallng). So if you are experiencing misfiring, the oil pressure will drop when stumbling at idle.

I believe you have a problem with your spark plug wires or coil related to cyl 5 and 6 when it gets wet. You can spary it with a hose while its running to verify this.

I would make sure the wires to those cylinders are tight. How many miles On this bad boy, have you ever replaced the plug wires? Easy fix you can do that yourself. Otherise, you will need a new coil or two for cyl 5 and 6.

Not that expensive a fix, relatively speaking.

hollywood_823

My 2004 escape had a misfire issue on 3/4 when it would sit during a few rainy days, most likely needs coil packs as there isn't any plug wires on the V6 3.0LL, each coil sits on top of each spark plug. I purchased all 6 coil packs from eBay seller(cheaper than 2 at auto parts store) and replaced them and I haven't had any misfire issue in 2 years. Might as well replace spark plugs when you replace coils and the rear 3 coil packs are under the intake so you will have to remove the intake manifold and should buy new rubber intake gaskets. 
Not quite sure about your oil light issue other than oil level or maybe a bad sensor.