'98 Crown Vic Issues

[Eli]

Friend of mine has a beautiful '98 CVPI detective's car (civi paint, cloth interior, and no holes except the trunk lid). Anyway, he's getting codes and it's running very roughly.
Codes are:
P0304 Misfire cylinder #4

P0455 Large Leak in evaporate emission control system

At idle, in gear, it spits sputters and surges

It sputters under power

He swears there's no coolant showing and needs it fixed ASAP. I'm tied up until next week at the earliest (Passover starts soon and I'm far from ready). He can wrench pretty well but he isn't used to OBD Fords. Any idea? Any mechanics in Houston NW area that are recommended?

Thanks,
Eli

[JCG1]

Did he (or you) recently wash his engine?
If he's lucky it's just water in the plug hole - better hope he hasn't busted the back manfold crossover . . . iirc #4 is right where the coolant would go.

Pull the #4 BOOT (not the plug yet) and check out the hole. Is it full of shit? If it is, he needs to clean it out with a compressed air source (never remove the plugs without cleaning all of the crap out of the hole, btw); clean the plug and boot (inspect for damage) and reinstall with dielectric grease.

He can swap cop/coilpacks (whichever, it's late) and see if the misfire moves IF the plug holes were clean and dry.

[baravelli]

The exhuast gas vent hoses and solenoid do fail. He will have to crawl under the luggage compartment/trunk and remove the charcoal cannister cover and take a sniff. Being this was a cop car, the EVAP CAN is probably smashed to hell anyway. I used to scrape mine all the time, but I am not a good driver.

[Eli]

Well, he found out the intake is cracked, so that's getting replaced this weekend. Advance has the Dorman kits for $254.44.
I'll have him check the evap can, he might've smashed it pulling in and out of my driveway.

Thanks,
Eli