Why does my car miss and hesitate during cold weather. 2001 Mercury Grand Marquis. Feels like spark plug and bad wire reaction, but only happens during cold weather.

Asked by mzpeggyb May 07, 2010 at 03:42 PM about the 2001 Mercury Grand Marquis

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

7 Answers

16,160

What do your plugs look like? They may need cleaned, re-gapped, or replaced.

5,305

If your spark plugs were bad, than it would be an all the time issue. And never clean or regap spark plugs. They have a particular shelf life for a reason. If they are fouled, or the gap is too large by age, THEN replace them. People overly change perfectly good parts all the time while misdiagnosing problems. How many miles? 4.6L? Any recent services done? Is it constant when its cold or does it improve when the vehicle warms up?

1 people found this helpful.
16,160

There is no need to waste money on a new plugs if the old one are just gapped incorrectly. Obviously if they are very old it would be better to replace them rather than clean them. If there was an ignition issue, like a weak spark, it could be less noticeable as cylinder temperature increase making it easier to burn the fuel.

5,305

Regardless of cylinder temperatures when the vehicle has warmed up, a weak spark would cause a rich condition to occur causing an SES illumination for a multiple DTC fault even if the cylinder temps were over 1500 deg. The only way a weak spark would be negated byincreasing cylinder temperature is if it were hot enough to 'diesel' the engine and then 'a weak spark' would have no bearing. Im also curious as to how all of the spark plugs would magically ungap themselves, mileage ner the matter, and this being the case wouldnt it run like crap regarless of ambient temperature? Also, plugs never get dirty for fun. If the plug has some form of medium needing to be cleaned from it than there is a more serious underlying issue that needs to be addressed such as a fluid leak, rich/lean fuel mixture, igntion fault, etc. Furthermore, if i were to take my vehicle to the shop and id already paid for the labor to remove the plugs to check for a concern, it would be more beneficial to replace them when, a non platinum/iridium plug only runs about two bucks a plug.

16,160

I never said the plugs would un-gap themselves but rather that they could have been install without the proper gaps being set. A too large gap combined with deposit build up could be causing a weaker spark making the engine more prone to missing. A lot of people just install plugs straight from the box assuming the gaps are pre-set.

1 people found this helpful.

Can cold weather prevent a Mercury grand Marquis from starting or prevent fuel getting through to engine? It does not start when the weather is cold, when the weather warms up it start. Any ideas?

Cold weather shows up all sorts of problems which is why you tune it up and get a new battery (if needed) before winter.

Your Answer:

Grand Marquis

Looking for a Used Grand Marquis in your area?

CarGurus has 296 nationwide Grand Marquis listings starting at $1,399.

ZIP:

Own this car?

Share your experience with others.

2001 Mercury Grand Marquis

Review another car

CarGurus Experts

  • #1
    Tracy Hooks
    Reputation
    9,700
  • #2
    Trippmeister
    Reputation
    5,060
  • #3
    Bob Beaman
    Reputation
    3,780
View All

Know more, shop wisely

Search

Related Models For Sale

Used Lincoln Town Car
16 Great Deals out of 384 listings starting at $490
Used Ford Crown Victoria
11 Great Deals out of 152 listings starting at $2,500
Used Ford Mustang
901 Great Deals out of 22,516 listings starting at $1,000
Used Buick LeSabre
5 Great Deals out of 181 listings starting at $1,895
Used Ford F-150
6,177 Great Deals out of 133,339 listings starting at $900
Used Chevrolet Impala
267 Great Deals out of 4,031 listings starting at $500
Used Chevrolet Silverado 1500
4,181 Great Deals out of 130,736 listings starting at $1,000
Used Toyota Camry
2,009 Great Deals out of 34,539 listings starting at $875
Used Honda Accord
1,522 Great Deals out of 29,660 listings starting at $450
Used Chevrolet Corvette
735 Great Deals out of 12,414 listings starting at $3,200
Used Lexus LS
122 Great Deals out of 1,744 listings starting at $2,500

Used Cars for Sale

2011 Mercury Grand Marquis For Sale
6 listings starting at $6,280
2010 Mercury Grand Marquis For Sale
21 listings starting at $4,825
2009 Mercury Grand Marquis For Sale
17 listings starting at $3,999
2008 Mercury Grand Marquis For Sale
33 listings starting at $4,595
2007 Mercury Grand Marquis For Sale
23 listings starting at $3,999

Content submitted by Users is not endorsed by CarGurus, does not express the opinions of CarGurus, and should not be considered reviewed, screened, or approved by CarGurus. Please refer to CarGurus Terms of Use. Content will be removed if CarGurus becomes aware that it violates our policies.