Poor MPG and more after spark plug and wire change

[CTroxtell]

I replaced my wires and plugs the other day, I got some Autolight wires and Bosch Super Plus plugs and gapped them at .054 as the Haynes book states. Well I went from 18mpg to 12mpg, the vehicle runs fine sometimes then other times it won't even hardly stay running. The only engine code it throws out now is 332 which I believe is EGR valve opening not detected. It does not like to get up to speed, it has a hard time going over 55mph unless you stomp the gas or you are going down hill. I want to say the engine is missing it seems. Any advice would be greatly appreciated

 

[Turdle]

Double check the firing ( spark plug wire) order on the driver side. It is common to get these confused.

Edit
Also, check the vaccum lines. Especially the little octupus looking thing on the rear of the intake manifold.Make sure all the tubes are either used by a hose, or plugged with a cap.

 

[CTroxtell]

I double checked it earlier, and all ports have a vacuum line on them except for one and its got a cap. Its really confusing because it seemed to run fine for a little bit after the wire and plug change. I'm really confused as to what has happened, I am about to call my fiancee's dad as he works on Fords to see if he can help or has any ideas.

 

[huntman58]

Should have used Motorcraft plugs and wires!

I have had a miss when I did not use Motorcraft or Auto light plug almost every time no matter who plugs I have used some times right off the bat and some times a few miles later to a 1,000 mile later or more but almost every time it was the plugs or the wires and some times both. now this is not saying that is what’s up with yours but if it ran good before and now after it dose not then it always pays to start were you made a change and work from there so that you find it or element the work you just did last.

 

[Joe Dirt]

Seriously- get the Bosch plugs out. Explorers do not like Bosch plugs.

At all.

Ever.


I do agree with checking the firing order.

 

[CTroxtell]

Just talked to a mechanic and explained what was going on. He said it sounded like it might be the EGR valve as a malfunctioning valve could make it run like it is. As a side note that's the error code that the system is giving me when I pull the code from it. I pulled the little vacuum line off of the EGR but could not feel it pulling a vacuum on the port of the EGR. Is that how you check it? Not sure if maybe it just died or what.

 

[little x]

If you didn't use dielectric grease on both ends of the wires then I could see it running fine for a bit and then start missing on one or more cylinders.

 

[CTroxtell]

If you didn't use dielectric grease on both ends of the wires then I could see it running fine for a bit and then start missing on one or more cylinders.

Didn't use any dielectric grease...thought the spark plug wires had some on them out of the package it looked like.

 

[huntman58]

I have found that new wires never have any to much in them so I always add some and then make sure it is spread around the whole boot area with a small flat head screw driver or a Q tip. Once I started to do that I have not had the problems of the wires sticking to the plugs as badly as before. Now even doing this the Accel wires I had (8.8 even) they would stick like they were glued on. Every time I removed them the darn things would tear off from a boot and I would have to fix them. Well I fixed them really good this last time I got new wires and threw away the Accel ones! The accels were less then a year old. I have used Accels for many years but they will never touch this explorer again fact is if it dose not say Motorcraft or Autolight for plugs they will not get near my ex same with wires but the jury is still out on the Borg Warner wires so far so good but besides the name you can not tell them from the Motorcraft ones even down to the little details.

the reason I said all of the above is most explorers do not like any thing but Motorcraft first then Autolights second no matter what just the nature of the beast and most ruff idling and or bad things from a plug wire change can be traced right back to what you just put into it as many of us have learned the hard way both in money spent and time lost!

 

[xSnoWx]

I replaced my wires and plugs the other day, I got some Autolight wires and Bosch Super Plus plugs and gapped them at .054 as the Haynes book states. Well I went from 18mpg to 12mpg, the vehicle runs fine sometimes then other times it won't even hardly stay running. The only engine code it throws out now is 332 which I believe is EGR valve opening not detected. It does not like to get up to speed, it has a hard time going over 55mph unless you stomp the gas or you are going down hill. I want to say the engine is missing it seems. Any advice would be greatly appreciated

332 is for EGR not opening, they say clean it with a wire brush but no solvents/cleaners, just a brush... haven't done it yet on my sisters 94, but thats same code that she get now and then..

 

[CTroxtell]

Well I went and bought some Motorcraft Platinum plugs and I believe I found my problem. The middle plug on the driver side was trashed...the electrode and gapped piece of metal was melted. This being part my fault I believe for not tightening it down enough..I was headed back from work the other day and the car just died going down the highway, it had blown the overfill radiator hose off and drowned the whole driver side with antifreeze after it filled the overfill tank up. So I'm guessing it got antifreeze on the plug, made a hot spot and melted it *shrugs*. Then on the passenger side the very front plug had oil on it, I believe the ignition coil is dying. Now it has gotten to where it barely will stay idling..its idling at about 350 to 400 in gear. When I pulled the codes off of it the other day it was telling me "42 - heated oxygen sensor, system running rich right side" which I can see as that coil not firing that plug, and "24 - Intake Air Temperature sensor out of range. So I'm guessing that's my idle problem..it used to run fine sometimes but now its constantly barely idling.

 

[huntman58]

When the hose blew off did you happen to over heat the motor at all?

melted plug one side oil foiled other side and many codes plus not running well at all with a very low idle almost sounds like an over heated motor left over problems but that melted plug and oil foiled on has me wondering.

 

[CTroxtell]

I don't think it over heated too bad, the top hose swole up pretty good. Had to replace the thermostat after this as it was getting hot and cold over and over again. The guage was going from cold to past normal until I replaced the thermostat.

 

[CTroxtell]

What would be causing a 411 error code? When I run the KOER the computer does not increase the timing and speed the rpm up anymore. The engine barely stays running at about 350 to 400 rpm. I don't know whats going on anymore.

 

[huntman58]

not sure on the 411 code being I get that same one but so far it has not efected how the motor runs or in it passing smog.

 

[CTroxtell]

Well something is preventing my explorer fromrunning right. I can start the truck and unplug the iac and tps and it does nothing to the idle. The computer does not seem to be able to advance the timing on the KOER test..what could cause this? A few days ago it idled fine sometimes and sometimes it would idle like crap like its doing now but now its constatntly idling like crap.

 

[huntman58]

I was just rereading every thing here and I was wondering did you ever get your EGR problem fixed? If not head back to that area not sure how to check it out but if it’s not moving at all that could be a part of your problem. there is also a sensor for it that when it go's out will keep a motor from running or running well and that plug that was melted is right in the area were the EGR tube would be making the cylinder very lean if its not working right and being very lean would make it very very hot and that could melt a plug so do a search here for EGR problem and see what you come up with or lets hope some one more versed in them can jump in. Sorry not much more help for ya but being I have never had to mess with one I would rather not miss guide you.

 

[CTroxtell]

Well it appears that the IAC is bad. Its getting voltage but not moving, I used part of a zip tie to keep it open enough so it would idle correctly. Something else is going on though because I went from 330 miles to a tank to 230 or so. The transmission randomly jumps around like crazy...jumps 500rpm while holding the gas steady at times. Any ideas what would cause this?

 

[huntman58]

Sounds like you have some real problems along with possible vacuum leaks. I would try and pull the codes again both KORO and KOER. I would also do one fix at a time and reset the computer each time to see if that code comes back. Not resetting the code will keep it in memory and tell the computer its still there.