Lissgrl119
New Member
- Joined
- March 3, 2010
- Messages
- 4
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- Mission Viejo, CA
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- '04 Ford Explorer XLS
Thanks in advance for anyone responding, I appreciate any input! So. I have a 2004 Ford Explorer 4.0 V6 (Stock). I'm at 118,000 miles, and with help just replaced all spark plugs and wires. Running into a few issues..
Replaced all plugs and wires without any real problems, other than a little elbow grease. One of the plugs (#5) did crack while removing, but there was no visible residue in or around upon pulling it out. Car started up fine, but idles very rough and low, very unsteady. I let it idle about 10 minutes before trying to drive it, with no change. Drove it a few miles, about 10 minutes, and drives beautifully. No apparent misfires, transitions smoothly, nothin. UNTIL I come to a stop. As soon as I'm stopped and idling it's again very unsteady. Happened every time I came to a light. However, as soon as I accelerate again it drives nice and smooth, much better than before I changed the plugs and wires.
After driving in and going to pull into my parking spot, I let off the accelerator as I was pulling in and the car stalled. No lights came on, the RPMs just dropped and it died. I restarted it in neutral and it started without a problem, just again, very unsteady idle.
I checked to make sure all wires and plugs were in place properly, and they seem to be. I'm not getting any CEL or codes, so that's no help. I'm not very experienced, so any insight is welcomed! I also mistakenly threw out my old wires and plugs so I no longer have a comparison (oops!). So I have a few questions..
1. How would I know if any of the new spark plugs or wires I got were possibly faulty, without any visible misfires?
2. At idle, it transitions between 500 and 550 every few seconds. Pretty low for my car. Seems pretty low, right??
3. When I purchased the new Motorcraft wires, they were the "approximate same length" and the original wires. The original wires were numbered, the new ones were not so I matched them to the most similar. Could this cause a problem if I mixed up the actual wires, or is it okay as long as they are connected properly (1 to 1, 2 to 2, etc)?
4. The spec gap is 0.052-0.056. I gapped them accordingly, I used one of the disc gappers which I've since read can be wildly inaccurate. The old plugs were gapped much much wider, about 0.08, which I assumed was just since they were original and so old. Would this cause these symptoms? Should I attempt to gap them differently?
Please help! Honestly, any insight is welcomed, as I'm lost. Thank you!!
Replaced all plugs and wires without any real problems, other than a little elbow grease. One of the plugs (#5) did crack while removing, but there was no visible residue in or around upon pulling it out. Car started up fine, but idles very rough and low, very unsteady. I let it idle about 10 minutes before trying to drive it, with no change. Drove it a few miles, about 10 minutes, and drives beautifully. No apparent misfires, transitions smoothly, nothin. UNTIL I come to a stop. As soon as I'm stopped and idling it's again very unsteady. Happened every time I came to a light. However, as soon as I accelerate again it drives nice and smooth, much better than before I changed the plugs and wires.
After driving in and going to pull into my parking spot, I let off the accelerator as I was pulling in and the car stalled. No lights came on, the RPMs just dropped and it died. I restarted it in neutral and it started without a problem, just again, very unsteady idle.
I checked to make sure all wires and plugs were in place properly, and they seem to be. I'm not getting any CEL or codes, so that's no help. I'm not very experienced, so any insight is welcomed! I also mistakenly threw out my old wires and plugs so I no longer have a comparison (oops!). So I have a few questions..
1. How would I know if any of the new spark plugs or wires I got were possibly faulty, without any visible misfires?
2. At idle, it transitions between 500 and 550 every few seconds. Pretty low for my car. Seems pretty low, right??
3. When I purchased the new Motorcraft wires, they were the "approximate same length" and the original wires. The original wires were numbered, the new ones were not so I matched them to the most similar. Could this cause a problem if I mixed up the actual wires, or is it okay as long as they are connected properly (1 to 1, 2 to 2, etc)?
4. The spec gap is 0.052-0.056. I gapped them accordingly, I used one of the disc gappers which I've since read can be wildly inaccurate. The old plugs were gapped much much wider, about 0.08, which I assumed was just since they were original and so old. Would this cause these symptoms? Should I attempt to gap them differently?
Please help! Honestly, any insight is welcomed, as I'm lost. Thank you!!
