%$@#&*$#@ I can't win!

[Jim Cook]

I just got the rear axle rebuilt on my Trac yesterday and I enjoyed less than a day of peace with it! I spent today replacing my brakes...rotors and pads all the way around. Then I decided to change out my plugs and wires for the first time ever. I have 94,000 miles on the Trac and never had a problem with the way my engine ran...just wanted to change the plugs since I had the tires off and the truck on stands. I wish I would've left those plugs in for a million miles!!!! I changed the plugs and wires out one at a time. Most of the old wires had to be destroyed to remove them and I was careful putting the new ones on. Why does my truck run like $%#@?...And why did my check engine light come on?! I don't get it! It idles like crap and bogs down when you push the throttle. It belches and bogs and then takes off like a rocket! It runs fine at highway speeds but bucks and shutters when I slow down to stop. I have already unhooked the battery in the hopes that evryone could just get along under the hood...not working! Anybody got any ideas????????????????????:banghead:

 

[Steve Krusich]

Pull off one wire at a time and see if there is a difference in the way it runs. Maybe your problem is that one of your new plugs or wires is bad.

 

[Rodger Tellefson]

My guess is that the new plug wires are in the wrong order.

 

[EddieS'04]

Might be a cracked plug. Easy to do, even when your careful

 

[Jim Cook]

I was a little upset (and exhausted) last night when I posted...feel better now. I had a good night of sleep and I'm ready to tackle this thing. Thanks for the advice. Can anyone show me what wire goes where? The fact is I actually had help doing the wires while I was doin the plugs. I thought that there was no way to screw that up..maybe I was mistaken. Thanks again for the feedback guys!

 

[Steve McKellop]

[Broken External Image]:

 

[Jim Cook]

Thanks Steve.

 

[Jerry Gerner 2]

One helpful key when replacing wires is to put a small piece of masking tape on each wire labeling it's position, that and only doing one wire at a time is the easiest way for a fail proof swap.:supercool::banana:

 

[Kevin Palmer]

I agree with wrong order or cracked plugs especially since you had no issues before the swap...

 

[Kevin Lang]

Your problem sounds just like what I had going wrong after I changed my plugs, and I had cracked the #4 plug



So +1 to cracked plug.

 

[Jim Cook]

Not a switched wire or a cracked plug. Bad wire connections on #2 and #5...and I had the wrong plugs all together. Had autolites and swapped them for Motorcraft Platinum thin wire plugs. The wires I found were the victim of some piss poor manufacturing. I had to trim down the boots on the two cyliders I mentioned just to get the connectors to click onto the plugs. In addition to buying cheap crap I was in too much of a hurry too...how embarassing. : ( By the way the truck runs better now than I ever remember it running since 2003!

 

[Kevin Palmer]

Glad you got it solved,,,

This kind of thing can cause you much frustration...