[veggie]

So i was trying to locate a rough idle problem and had read that you can take out the spark plugs and look inside for a loose valve seat or something, so i took out a couple of spark plugs, put them back, not my engine is 'jumping'. only when i'm accelerating.

I did a quick search and think it might be that i've not put one of the plug wires on correctly, one other thing is that i added some fuel injector cleaner to my gas tank.

Its too late to do anything tonight, but do you think if i replace the wires from the distributor to the plugs it might solve my problem?

one other thing that i should add is that when i had one of the spark plugs removes i crancked the engine, i guess this might have messed up the timing?

 

[denisond3]

Having cranked the engine when the plugs were out would not have any effect on timing at all.
If the spark plug wires are more than half a dozen years old, replacing them might be a good idea.
Adding fuel injector cleaner to the gas tank wont hurt anything. Unfortunately I dont think it likely to help much of anything either - but thats just my opinion.
If it continues to misfire and run rough, a next step might be to check the color of the spark plugs. They should be an even light brown to beige color. If one or two are different from the rest, like a medium to dark brown, it would indicate some further problem. After that, a compression check might be a good idea.

 

[EscorGo]

There's no way you can inspect the valve seats from the spark plug hole. And cranking the engine with the plugs out won't effect timing. You probably hooked the wires back up wrong. Find a diagram and reconnect them and you should be okay.
A rough idle may be a vacuum leak, a need for a tuneup, dirty or defective sensors, emission controls, etc. If you don't hear a noise I doubt it's a loose valve seat causing your vibration.

 

[celery952]

There's no way you can inspect the valve seats from the spark plug hole.

yes, you can, with a boroscope

 

[veggie]

I only took out 2 of the spark plugs, both of which looked ok with the Slight brown color.

Couple of thing i should probably mention is that one of the spark plug wires broke off at the end, only about 1cm of the rubber, the connector part was fine and when i put them back on i definatly heard that pop sound when they attached to the plug.

Another thing which may be the most probably cause of the problem is that i removed the throttle body, with the idea of maybe replaceing it with a 3.8 throttle body. i put every thing back together (the origional one) but if i didnt plug one of the sensors back in then that might be the problem?

 

[EscorGo]

There's no way you can inspect the valve seats from the spark plug hole.

yes, you can, with a boroscope

We're talking about the average escort owner I'm assuming

 

[veggie]

After a little more investigating i think the problem may be due to the spark plug wires, one in fact. i was watching it idle and can see it sparking from one of the plugs to the engine itself, this may explain why its skipping because if its sparking there its not sparking in the right place.\

The parts place wanted $40 for a new set of plug, so i'm going to try and get some used ones from the pick-n-pull tomorrow ($8).

 

[celery952]

There's no way you can inspect the valve seats from the spark plug hole.

yes, you can, with a boroscope

We're talking about the average escort owner I'm assuming

im sure you could rent one from a parts store or schmooze someone at a local dealership

 

[ValleyScort96]

what kind of wires were you getting quoted for? at autozone the cheaper ones were at 19.99 and the bosch at 29.99.

on my car the previous owners installed 7mm for a dohc engine and they were just coming apart by themselves. my car would stutter and there was a bit of arcing going on too. replaced them with the 19.99 ones which were 8mm and it made a world of a difference. now i have to get the plugs again.

 

[veggie]

So i went to the local pick-n-pull, picked up a set of 4 new looking wires ($4). I changed the two wires that had come apart and that solved the problem.

Thanks

 

[madmatt2024]

That's almost as bad as when ryan got that oil filter from the junkyard.