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Car Forum / Ford / Ford Cars / April 2005Okay all you Ford ignition experts, here's a challenge for ya (97 Bird 4.6)
A couple of weeks back I posted a request for Help with an ignition problem. Out of the blue, my T-Bird just started missing like crazy. One minute it was running fine, the next it was missing and popping with the service engine light blinking. I replaced one coil and that did nothing. Bought another coil and a set of plugs. Installed the plugs and viola! it ran like a top again. General consensus was it was the brand of plugs (Bosch Platinum) that caused the problem. The Bosch plugs had few miles on them and looked fine. In spite of the fact the replacing them fixed the problem I always had this funny feeling about the whole thing. Friday it started missing again. I was stumped. The only thing I could think of was to open the hood at night and check for a light show. Did that,...nothing. OK, I thought, maybe one cylinder is somehow killing a plug or something. I loosened the boot around the 5 plugs I could get at easily and started it up. One at a time, I pulled the plug wires up and away from the plug until I could hear the spark arcing and notice the miss. I did this with all 5 of the plugs. Then I shut it off and pushed the boots back down into place and...... viola! it runs perfect again. Gotta be some education here. Whats say you experts? Computer malfunction? Other coil? Frank >A couple of weeks back I posted a request for Help with an ignition >problem. Out of the blue, my T-Bird just started missing like crazy. [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > >Frank Did you apply dialectric grease to the inside of the plug boots when you popped them on? Moisture, combined with the lamp black in the rubber plug boots CAN cause the spark to jump to ground through the boot. Silicone dialectric grease virtually eliminates this failure. >>Gotta be some education here. Whats say you experts? Computer >>malfunction? Other coil? > Did you apply dialectric grease to the inside of the plug boots when > you popped them on? Moisture, combined with the lamp black in the > rubber plug boots CAN cause the spark to jump to ground through the > boot. Silicone dialectric grease virtually eliminates this failure. A good tip for future use but I don't think it explains the sudden changes. I have seen many plug boots carbon tracked.... disturbing their juxtaposition could have an effect. If these are the original wires, disturbing them could have an effect. Spark plug leads are usually some kid of fibre (cotton, aramid, similar) impregnated with carbon.... if the core is damaged, we can see a motor that runs well for some time but with each spark, some of the fiber is blown off the end of the damaged piece. The gap can grow until we have a problem. Disturbing the wire can close the gap down and have the thing run acceptably for a while until the gap again grows too large. Your eyes and your ohm-meter might be your best friends with this concern. > >>Gotta be some education here. Whats say you experts? Computer > >>malfunction? Other coil? [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > A good tip for future use but I don't think it explains the sudden changes. > I have seen many plug boots carbon tracked.... disturbing their > juxtaposition could have an effect. If these are the original wires, [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > Your eyes and your ohm-meter might be your best friends with this concern. Thanks Jim Hadn't considered the fiber angle. Did the visual in the dark bit and saw no sparks. I'll see if I can scrounge up an ohm-meter. Even if they test good with an ohm meter you can still have plug wire problems. Often they burn a hole through the side of the spark plug boot and the spark jumps directly through the boot into the head. You won't see a light show because the top of the boot is sealed to the head. You can usually see a small black spot on the side of the boot where it is burned through. This is a very common problem with the 4.6 Bob >> I have seen many plug boots carbon tracked.... disturbing their >> juxtaposition could have an effect. If these are the original wires, [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > Hadn't considered the fiber angle. Did the visual in the dark bit and saw > no sparks. I'll see if I can scrounge up an ohm-meter. >Even if they test good with an ohm meter you can still have plug wire >problems. Often they burn a hole through the side of the spark plug boot and [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > Bob >" get a windex bottle fill it full of water spray wires f.ck i thought u guys were flat rate hurc ast >>Even if they test good with an ohm meter you can still have plug wire >>problems. Often they burn a hole through the side of the spark plug boot [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > > hurc ast And yet more proof that Bozo doesn't know sh.t about Fords. Bob >>>Even if they test good with an ohm meter you can still have plug wire >>>problems. Often they burn a hole through the side of the spark plug boot [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] >And yet more proof that Bozo doesn't know sh.t about Fords. > Bob lmfao duty cycle bob did ya learn how to add yet???? lmfao U GO GIRL hurc ast >> I have seen many plug boots carbon tracked.... disturbing their >> juxtaposition could have an effect. If these are the original wires, [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] >Hadn't considered the fiber angle. Did the visual in the dark bit and >saw no sparks. I'll see if I can scrounge up an ohm-meter. Most new HT wires are using the coiled Monel wire where the conductor resistance is seldom the problem (at least all of my vehicles have them) >I have seen many plug boots carbon tracked.... disturbing their >juxtaposition could have an effect. If these are the original wires, [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > >Your eyes and your ohm-meter might be your best friends with this concern. lmfao so how is an ohmmeter goiing to find the disturbrd part that u just closed the gap on lmfao u go jim did ya tighten that oil plug ? hurc ast Silly HURT a.s... Even closed gaps increase resistance... your mommy already taught you that no means no. >Silly HURT a.s... > >Even closed gaps increase resistance... your mommy already taught you >that no means no. lmfao u are tooooo funny hurc ast > >>Gotta be some education here. Whats say you experts? Computer > >>malfunction? Other coil? [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > A good tip for future use but I don't think it explains the sudden changes. No, it IS the lack of silicone dielectric grease that caused it. When you pulled the boots until each one arced, you got rid of the trapped moisture under each boot. If you had used the grease in the first place, there would have been no moisture. >>>>Gotta be some education here. Whats say you experts? Computer >>>>malfunction? Other coil? [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > trapped moisture under each boot. If you had used the grease in the > first place, there would have been no moisture. Obviously this would be a great solution. I'll sure try it. Still seems odd how it started to begin with. And...., I had just been on the freeway thinking how strong it was running a few hours before it started missing again. >>>Gotta be some education here. Whats say you experts? Computer >>>malfunction? Other coil? [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > >A good tip for future use but I don't think it explains the sudden changes. Well, you'll find they work just fine one minute, and like crap the next. Just like someone threw a switch. Put the dialectric grease on when you install the new plugs, and no more problem (unless you insist on installing Bosch Plats) From: connectu2@verizon.net (F.H.) A couple of weeks back I posted a request for Help with an ignition problem. Out of the blue, my T-Bird just started missing like crazy. One minute it was running fine, the next it was missing and popping with the service engine light blinking. I replaced one coil and that did nothing. Bought another coil and a set of plugs. Installed the plugs and viola! it ran like a top again. General consensus was it was the brand of plugs (Bosch Platinum) that caused the problem. The Bosch plugs had few miles on them and looked fine. In spite of the fact the replacing them fixed the problem I always had this funny feeling about the whole thing. Friday it started missing again. I was stumped. The only thing I could think of was to open the hood at night and check for a light show. Did that,...nothing. OK, I thought, maybe one cylinder is somehow killing a plug or something. I loosened the boot around the 5 plugs I could get at easily and started it up. One at a time, I pulled the plug wires up and away from the plug until I could hear the spark arcing and notice the miss. I did this with all 5 of the plugs. Then I shut it off and pushed the boots back down into place and...... viola! it runs perfect again. Gotta be some education here. Whats say you experts? Computer malfunction? Other coil? Frank ============ here's an outside chance this could be it. it's a weird one. have the 4.6 t-bird. had a miss. did everything you did. didn't go away. after pulling my hair out, finally took it to the ford garage. it was so strange that the tech ran the test twice, then called his buddy over to verify it. here's what they found. bad brain box to the #2 cylinder the triggered the fuel injector. since the engine wasn't getting any fuel, it had a miss, hence - thinking it was electrical. cost was 421 dollars, not what i wanted, but they said the program had to be downloaded from ford onto the chip. has driven great ever since. hope this helps. ~ curtis knowledge is power - growing old is mandatory - growing wise is optional "Many more men die with prostate cancer than of it. Growing old is invariably fatal. Prostate cancer is only sometimes so." http://community.webtv.net/PALMER_ENT/doc How about carbon tracks in the boots Johan > A couple of weeks back I posted a request for Help with an ignition > problem. Out of the blue, my T-Bird just started missing like crazy. [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > > Frank |
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