Several Problems, my fault anyway.

[Wild Cat]

Hi folks,
Don’t post too much, but I read every day.

Last Sunday I change sparks in my X-ST, but I drop one of them and looks like loose the gap position, I have a calibrator but the blade is to wide for this sparks, I am using BOSH 4+, so the only thing that I think was try to fix it trusting in my eyes,

Now my Question is,
If was not gapped properly could I harm in anyway my engine?

For the next Monday I drove really great but at night I haul a friends car and then one of the hoses for the cooling system, went out of position (I forget to secure it after change my sparks), and I lost all my PRESTONE, at that moment we couldn’t find any store to refill with PRESTONE again so, we just fill it with water.

Anyone could explain what to do not just to flush the radiator but all the cooling system in order to fill with pure PRESTONE again?

Thanks

 

[Alec]

1) As I understand it, the +4s don't really have a plug gap per-se because of their design but
2) Explorer motors tend not to like those too much, I'd have put normal double plats in.

About the coolant, personally I don't think there's a need to flush the whole system since you want a 50/50 mix of water and coolant anyway.

 

[Wild Cat]

Thanks for your really fast answer Alec,

So it was not a good Idea to get those BOSH 4+?
Do you recommend go back to double platinum?

About the antifreeze,
In the manual says must be filled only with PRESTONE coolant,
Do you mean it’s ok if I have 50/50 PRESTONE and Water?

Thanks a lot.

 

[Alec]

Most vehicles call for a 50/50 mix unless you use a premix.

 

[jfsledge]

Wild Cat,

How long did your car run without coolant? What was the highest temperature you saw on the gauge? When you lose the coolant while the engine is running, you run a great risk at overheating the engine and causing damage to its internal components such as the gaskets and seals. You should have these checked out if you suspect the engine temp. got really hot.

 

[Wild Cat]

John,

I don’t know for sure, but was just a few moments, I clearly saw when the temp went from the middle (Normal) almost to the top, didn’t touch the red mark, then I turn it off.
I will take it to check this weekend.
So far after we fix my stupidity and we fill with water, everything seems to be normal. No strange sounds, no leaks, this kind of experiences left you most of the time very alert.
A little rough problem, but is always been like that, all the dealers said its normal in the Sport Trac to shake like that, was another reason to change my sparks, I was hopping to get rid of the rough idle problem, once and for all.

Thanks