popping and missing

[newexplorerguy]

Hi folks;
Man, I hope you guys can help me out here. Last weekend I noticed a problem I have never had before. I was leaving work and getting on the freeway when I noticed the ex was "popping and missing". I will tell you the symptoms and the conditions under which they occur.

The truck always starts normally, as if there was nothing wrong at all.

when cold: under load, such as picking up speed for entering freeway. I can hear it popping. It sounds like it is popping through the intake and exhaust. I can feel it hesitating as it does this. Goes away when I back off the gas.

when warm: pops less, but still does it a bit. pings under light load, ping goes away under load, but comes back as rpm's increase; such as when I kick it down a gear to go up a hill.

I made no changes under the hood just before this happened. the only thing I did to the ex at all was to install a safe in the back of the truck. I did this with self-tapping screws, run through the carpet and into the floor of the truck. If it had an older style ignition, I would think that the points were loose or the ignition timing was way off, but these new ignitions, I don't have any experiance with.
Thanks for any tips you can help me out with;
George

 

[MO_GUY]

glad i read the subject to this thread a second time.....i thought it said "pooping and missing" i was almost affraid to open it up and read it

 

[TPLYNCH]

Check and make sure your MAS is still plugged in properly and try cleaning it. So you have the SOHC engine?

 

[newexplorerguy]

oops

Oops;
Forgot about that. I have the 5.0 v-8 engine in my ex.
George

 

[TPLYNCH]

Could the sound be more like a ticking noise? Check your exhaust manifold and your EGR tube.

 

[newexplorerguy]

Man, I feel stupid; wasopping and missing

O.k; You can all laugh at me now;
Hell, why not; I'm kicking myself in the butt about every third step! Pondered over what was wrong with my ex; finally posted a message to the board called "popping and missing"; pondered some more.
Finally got tired of pondering; (hurts my tired feeble old brain). Finally drove it down to a buddy's shop and we sat there going over everything it could possiby be for about twenty minutes. Man, we talked about o2 sensors, timing chains, ignition problems, fuel delivery problems; all kinds of stuff! finally, we walked out and popped open the hood. We both took one look and started laughing. There; right in front of my nose were three arcing spark plug wires! Well neither one of us had the time to get tune-up parts and fix it the right way, so we just wrapped those wires with "mechanic on a roll"; (electrical tape) for now.
Yea, it runs a little better just from doing that, but it needs a real complete tune-up. That should fix my problem.
Just another case of not looking at the right stuff before opening my big mouth! Hmmm...... Will I ever learn?
o.k; let the "Why did'nt you look before, you big dummy" begin. hahahahahaha..........
(humble) George

 

[Joey P]

Been their, done that before!! At least it's something easy of a fix. It could be worse.

 

[metstalker]

how old are the wires? and sounds like time to replace

 

[Howard]

If it makes you feel better

Now that I've got up off the floor I have a confession to make. I did a clutch job on a small sports car. Had to take both the engine and gearbox out as a lump and then do the clutch. Got it all back in and ready to go when I notice that there is a spare part on the floor of the garage. Yup you guessed the nice new clutch centre plate still in it's box. Doh.