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Strange thing happened on the way to the cable TV office

948 views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  white lincoln 
#1 ·
I had to return an ISP router to the cable company and the office is about 30 minutes away. As I am driving, the car starts acting like it is missing. I could really tell it was acting up when I had to go up hills.

I made it back, though the car was running really rough by the time I made it home and put it in the garage. The next day I ran codes on the car and got the usual 111, no codes.

"Dang", I said to myself, "this is going to be fun..."

I did some research on "an engine acting like its mis-firing but no codes" and came up with the usual "check vacuum lines, spark plugs and coil". I also thought it could be the fuel injectors are plugged, bad fuel filter, pump... on and on.

The next day I lifted the hood and started looking for lose vacuum lines, connectors undone, etc. Then I went to the spark plug wire / spark plugs to check them. Visually they looked fine and all in, but the passenger side is hard to see clearly. I removed the air cleaner housing to the throttle body. I started with #6, it felt a little lose and I pushed it tight, though I found out later that it was just the top part of the connector is somewhat rubbery and feel loose. I went to #5 and could not find the wire.... "WTF!" it was totally disconnected and hanging down by the exhaust manifold. I plugged it back in, pushed it tight and proceeded to check the rest of them.

Seriously... that is just weird. All I can think of that happened is when I replaced all the wires, plugs and distributor (the OEM dist shaft wobbled) I did not push it in tight enough and it effectually just fell off. Or maybe some gremlin was messing with me... easier to think it was NOT my fault! Car is running great again, for a V6.

Strange.
 
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#2 ·
At least it wasn't as weird as my strange misfire issue with my old 94 Cougar.

 
#3 ·
LMAO! Dang, that was 10 years ago! Yeah, that is MUCH worse than my issue. But after everything I have been through with this car, I was expecting something just as bad.
 
#4 ·
I always make sure I try to feel or hear the click when pushing the boot onto the plug. I don't know how many times I bashed up my knuckles pulling them off because I didn't think they were on right! :mad:

Good to hear that you figured it out!

Joe
 
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#6 ·
I wondered the same thing and why I searched for "94 Ford 3.8l misfire - no codes" and found the article about checking wires, plugs and coil. OBD1 is not that smart. But my 88 Mark VII code reader could run and check cylinder health, but not for this 94.
 
#7 ·
Update:
Well, smack me silly and call me Sally.... So it happened again, car running like crap when warm, missing around turns and getting worse. So I ran codes first, nothing. Checked plug wires again, HOLY CRAP BATMAN! Several where wobbly and not connected at the tip of the spark plug. I luckily bought a bunch of close out items from RockAuto and one of them were a set of plug wires from NAPA. For $2, They were mismatched in color and one had a completely different rubber connector, but what the heck, I was desperate. HOLY CRAP BATMAN! Car runs great now! And the plug wires are on snug now! Plus, after driving the car for a while, the poor pickup after the engine is more than warm, seems to have disappeared.

All I can figure is the last Autolite set I bought were returns from someone that tried to shove them onto spark plugs with a larger spark cap than the Autolite's I use. and had and stretched the crap out of them. I could not squeeze them back to size either. Some other day when I am board I will try to re-shape them.

Hope this helps someone down the road.

Weird crap.
 
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