Truck Keeps Running Rough After A New Fuel Filter, Spark Plugs And A Full Valve Job, Then The Mechanic Fixes It By Pushing One Loose Coil Wire Back On

Wes Cole has been working on engines for as long as he can remember, and he was the only named mechanic at his family’s shop for years. He says a woman who was friends with his dad used to tell everybody he was “the best mechanic there ever was” and that he could fix anything. Then one day she showed up with a truck that had already beaten four repair shops.

A mechanic in a work shirt beside a silver classic roadster on a mountain road.

Cole, who posts as @coles.service.center, tells the story in a TikTok “storytime” about the luckiest fix of his career. He was around 22 at the time, and he admits he had no idea what he was about to walk into.

@coles.service.center

She Hauled A Trailer To Colorado, Then Her Old Ford Truck Started Running Rough On The Way Back

The woman and her family were moving to Colorado, and they had all their belongings loaded on a trailer. They made the first trip, and since they planned more than one, she was driving back with the trailer empty to pick up another load.

That is when the old Ford truck started running rough. She pulled into a small repair place along the road, and the mechanic there said it was probably the fuel filter.

Shop One Put On A New Fuel Filter, And It Quit Again 50 Miles Down The Road

He installed the filter and cranked the truck up, and it ran fine. She paid him and left. About 50 miles later, the rough running came right back.

At the next little shop, the mechanic said it was probably the fuel filter, but she told him one had just been put on. So he suggested spark plugs instead. The truck was not running badly while it sat there, and he could not really tell what was wrong, but he put in a set of plugs anyway.

It ran good when she left. She made it about 50 miles, and it started acting up again.

“I’m Gonna Stop At A Ford Dealership” And Walk Out With A Full Valve Job

By then she had a plan. She decided she would go to a Ford dealership so she could get a warranty on the work, and any shop down the road would honor it instead of trying to sell her the same parts all over again.

Here is the maddening part, according to Cole. Every time she pulled in, the techs would go out and crank it up, and it would not run bad anymore. Somebody at the dealership finally blamed a part and put a brand new one on it. She drove off, and the problem returned a ways down the road.

Then another guy told her there was not much left it could be, since so much of the truck was new. His verdict was that something must be wrong with the heads. They talked her into a full blown valve job.

By the time she was done, everything from the heads up was brand new. Cole lists new plug wires, a new distributor cap and rotor, new spark plugs, a new carburetor and all new vacuum lines.

Two Minutes Before Closing, She Parked Out Front With The Truck Still Shaking

She was getting close to home when the truck started messing up yet again. Cole says it was about two minutes before the shop closed when she pulled into the lot and left the engine idling rough while she told him the whole saga.

Her request was simple. Everything on it was brand new, it was acting up right now, and every time she stopped somewhere and shut it off, it ran fine after restarting. So while it was running bad, she wanted him to come look, because she knew he could figure it out.

Cole says his thoughts were the opposite of confident. He figured there was no way he was that smart, and he was trying to come up with something to say that would convince her to leave the truck and let him check it the next day. Like everybody else, he was ready to go home.

He Walked Out, Popped The Hood, And Saw One Little Wire Hanging Out

Cole popped the hood and found the motor shaking. It was not a dead miss, but it was not running good at all. He revved it a couple of times and kept wondering what he could possibly tell her.

Then he looked at the coil on the front of the old four cylinder. It sat standing up straight, and the wire plugged in sideways. Every now and then, he says, those little wires back out a bit.

He has a habit here. Whenever he sees one sticking out, he can’t help himself and has to shove it back on. As long as it makes a connection it doesn’t matter, he says, but it makes him feel better when it is plugged in all the way.

So with her standing right beside him, waiting for him to snap his fingers, he pulled his little screwdriver out of his pocket, reached over and pushed that wire in. The engine smoothed right out.

“I knew you could fix it,” she said. Cole laughs that it was the luckiest thing he thinks he ever did.

What This Story Teaches About Intermittent Engine Trouble

Cole tells it as a joke on himself, but there is a real lesson in it for anybody who has paid for repairs that did not stick. A problem that comes and goes is the hardest kind to find, and that is why so many shops end up swapping parts and hoping.

Here are a few ways to protect your wallet when a car has an on and off problem:

Ask the shop to check the simple stuff first, like loose connectors, wires and hoses, before replacing expensive parts.
Tell the mechanic exactly when the problem happens, such as after the engine warms up or only at idle, since that clue can save hours.
Keep every receipt. If a repair does not fix the issue, you have a record of what has already been replaced.
Ask for the old parts back so you know the work was actually done.
If a shop suggests a big, costly job like a valve job, it is fair to ask what test pointed to it before you say yes.

In this case, the woman ended up with a truck full of new parts and a fix that cost a screwdriver and a second of effort. Her faith in her favorite mechanic was rewarded, even if he says he got there by pure luck. Next time your car acts up, remember that sometimes the answer is hanging out in plain sight.

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