92 Explorer not starting

[Josh H]

My dad has a 92 Explorer that he uses out at his deer lease. It was last started several weeks ago, and it ran just fine. He went out there today, and now it won't start. It turns over but won't fire. He verified it is getting fuel close to the engine (he loosened a braided line somewhere and it shot fuel out). He also pulled a spark plug to see if it was firing. He said it sparked, but it was a very weak looking yellow spark. Anyone have any suggestions on what he could check? Thanks in advance.

 

[boggs1227]

have you checked the coil pack or the harness that hooks into it ?

 

[Josh H]

have you checked the coil pack or the harness that hooks into it ?

What can be done to check it? Is there some procedure for testing the coil pack? My thought was it is getting weak, or it has a bad connection, either ground or power.

 

[yellowcat]

it is good that you recognized that yellow spark is bad. Possibly the coil packs. back in the day the coil was many times connected to the fuel pump. if your coil went out, then your fuel pump would not pump fuel. Not sure about the explorer.
yellow spark you say, is that from the plug or the wire? maybe you just need new plugs.

 

[Josh H]

The yellow spark is from the plug. He pulled it out and grounded it against something so he could see if it was sparking. He originally tried pulling the wire loose and letting it arc across to the plug, but he couldn't see or hear anything. He knows a lot about working on cars, but he is internet challenged so I'm trying to get information for him. If it had bad spark plugs, I think he would have noticed it, but I can't be sure since I'm 1800 miles away from the Explorer.

Is there any way to test a coil pack to see if it is bad/weak, or is there a way to test the harness going into the coil pack to make sure there isn't an issue there?