Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Changed Plugs and now car wont start

Hi all

I have a 98 (11/97) Contour 2.5l SE ATX with 128000 kms. Today, I decided to do a little maintenance, changing the PCV, plugs and wires.

Not too much success with the PCV- it snapped in the hose. Fortunately, got the pieces out, and replaced the PCV, and reattached everything.

Next, changed the plugs and wires (Motorcraft, both). I needed to take the coil pack off to access the rear plugs. Also had to move aside a box covering the front plugs. (What is this?)

Reassembled everything, remembering the two extra connections on the coil pack, turned it over, and -nothing.

It will turn over like it's gonna start, but it wont catch. I made sure I primed the fuel 3-4 times, the battery is good, and the connections are solid.

Basic test - there is a little fuel on the sparks when I remove them, so it's getting fuel. I think its sparking, but it was difficult to see. I KNOW the wires are in the right configuration (flipping 6 & 5 on the pack).

So what happened? It started yesterday, though ran very sluggish. When I was moving stuff, the wiring sounded like dried leaves, very crackly. Could I have fubar'd something?

Any ideas/suggestions greatly appreciated. (I MUST fix this tomorrow)

Cheers,
Tim

The box you had to move is the IMRC (Intake Manifold Runner Control) it opens up the secondaries.

As for your plugs/wires, are you absolutely sure that all the wires go to the proper cylinders and locations on the coil pack?

It is possible that you got a bad plug or wire. Did you gap all of the plugs? (I think it is .054) Have you tried measuring the resistance of the wires with a multimeter??

Yup.

Followed the Haynes diagram to a tee. The coil pack is original, and has the numbers for me (321 465). The old wires had no big issue, but they were the original. I had to pull pretty hard to get them off, so I replaced them anyway, otherwise they looked in okay condition. (They all check through for continuous circuit, but I didn't test resistance or anything).

I gapped each plug to 0.054 (they were correct out of the box). The old ones were worn away to almost double that on 6 and 3, and about .070 on the others, but the condition was good, other than being worn (no oil, no white stuff, etc, but a nice even tan colour).

I used a smear of dielectric grease on both ends of the new wires, the plug threads weren't crossed, nor overtightened.

Frankly, I'm baffled.

go back in the morning when the engine is cold and you have a clear head.. start from scratch and look at the wires again... you probably have them on the wrong set up... ... to make sure you are getting fire to the wires i take a timing light and attache it with the clip on(over the wire part to each wire plug and make sure the light flashes when cranking(its not gonna fire with the light flashing very fast when the engine is not running but you will see if the wires are getting fire from the coil pack)... if you not getting fire to the wires then the problem is in the coil pack or the ground wire that is attached to the coil pack...

Appreciate the advice, guys, I know I'm a newbie, but I'm not totally dumb!

Seriously, the wires I took off had the actual numbers on them (along with the year and model. I believe they were the originals). The coil has the actual numbers on it. The wires had been there so long they still made the shape of the layout even off the car!

I'm confident the wires are right, the sparks are okay. Interesting comment re the ground though. I know that it is on at the coil pack end. What I'm wondering is about the other end. Could I maybe have dislodged something at the other end?

Referring to my earlier post, could I have effed something when I did the PCV which would cause the car not to start? (I replaced all the connections, but I'm not sure if maybe I dislodged something.)

The advice to sleep on it and start again tomorrow is good. That's certainly what I'll do, but this is frustrating the hell out of me!

Thanks so far, though guys. Appreciate any advice,

Cheers,
T

You may just have seperated the 7+ year old wires.

As for cylinder numbering

Firewall
123
456
Radiator

Pretty straight forward.


I am "assuming" you properly gapped the plugs with a feeler gauge.

Yep, not to belabor the point, but yes, that's the cylinder order I used, and I made sure the wires went to the numbered coil locations.

I did indeed use my feeler gauge (blade type, not wire type) to check the gap on the plugs.

I know the wires are in the correct location. I know the plugs are properly gapped and correctly inserted.

Does anyone have any other suggestions?

Still baffled...

make sure the coil is getting power and that the 3 signal wires are each getting an intermittant ground signal when cranking.

Test for spark. If no spark, check fuse F4 in the Battery Junction Box (BJB). It supplies power to the coil via the VT/BK wire. You can test for spark by unplugging one of the wires, inserting a screwdriver into the wire boot making connection, placing the screwdriver blade next to a ground, then watching for spark as the engine is cranked.

If power on that line is good AND there is still no spark, you are left with the crank sensor and the PCM as suspects.

If spark is present, try cracking the throttle 1/4 - 1/2 way and see if that helps. If it does, your IAC is not opening at startup, pussibly unplugged.

Steve