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Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 133
CEG\'er
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OP
CEG\'er
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Posts: 133 |
OK I'm on the verge of trading the Tour in, gonna put ANOTHER new set of plugs in it and trade it off for anything that's not a Contour. I love this car but this is driving me nuts. This car ran like a top for 85K. I put a set (the wrong plugs of course) of Autolite dbl platinums in it, and it ran better than it has for a long while. A month later the stumbling/missing started, so I replaced the plugs, thinking I had a bad one, but I used the same Autolites. It ran fine for 3 days that time, until it started the same *&^% all over. I finally figured out that the Zetec must have a fine wire, low resistence plug in it, so I made the change. And the car was awesome once again. But just for about a month. Now the problem is back, and way worse than ever before. It even died at a stop light which it had never done before. All the way home yesterday it ran SO bad, it missed and sputtered and stumbled like crazy. It originally just did it with the a/c on, but now, it's all the time. It's just miserable. But somewhere in the back of my mind I know that the plugs aren't getting sufficient spark, because, again, at wide open throttle it runs just fine. But it won't idle and it won't pull under part throttle. I know if I R&R the plugs, another $26, it will run like a champ again. But what the &^%$ is causing this ? There HAS to be something limiting the amount of spark to the plugs ! But WHAT !!! AAARRRGGGHHHHHHH, this is making me CRAZY !!!!!!
Ken, 99 Silver Frost SE Zetec Atx, polished alloys, Kumho's, Pioneer hi power CD/AM/FM. Factory spoiler (added) Audi side lites, Borla stainless steel muff. Stolen, recovered in pieces. Looking for another Tour, preferably V6, 5 speed.
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Joined: May 2000
Posts: 21,197
I have no life
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I have no life
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 21,197 |
Umm have you changed plug wires? I've had 3 sets go in 130k.
-'96 SE MTX 3L
-'98 SVT 1,173 of 6,535
-'05 Mazda 6s, loaded, g/f's ride
-Need a 96-00 manual on CD? PM or email me
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 463
CEG\'er
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CEG\'er
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 463 |
Donā??t quote me on this, but if I remember right two of the plugs on the ztec have a different part number then the other two. Are you installing the right plugs into the right cylinders?
Also, there is a lot more to making a car idle correctly then plugs and wires. Have you checked the following?
TPS
Coil pack
Fuel pressure
IAT sensor
Mass flow
EGR
Have you cleaned your injectors (a real cleaning not the gas tank stuff), throttle plate, IAC and EGR?
Have you checked for vacuum leaks or air bypassing the IAC?
jeff
have you fixed your ford lately?
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Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 4,168
I am Canuckian
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I am Canuckian
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 4,168 |
The 2 different plugs ia on the ZX2 for sure. It seems to me you're right thought and IIRC it has to do with the VCT on the 98's and up. 
Green 96 mystique gs 4cyl mtx
16.9 in the 1/4 mile @102500 miles
95SE in Midnight Red MTX
MSDS headers and y-pipe
SVT exhaust
SVT UIM
Optimized se TB.
Full pre 98 SVT body kit
15.741 @ 87.73mph :)
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 2,319
Hard-core CEG'er
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Hard-core CEG'er
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 2,319 |
Originally posted by mercman:
Donā??t quote me on this, but if I remember right two of the plugs on the ztec have a different part number then the other two. Are you installing the right plugs into the right cylinders?
Cylinders 1 & 2 use AZFS-22F plugs, 3 & 4 use AZFS-22FE plugs. Reference '98 owner's guide.
98 Mystique LS v6 atx 163,000km
97 Contour LX v6 atx 163,000km
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Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 133
CEG\'er
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OP
CEG\'er
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 133 |
Originally posted by horseydug:
Originally posted by mercman:
Donā??t quote me on this, but if I remember right two of the plugs on the ztec have a different part number then the other two. Are you installing the right plugs into the right cylinders?
Cylinders 1 & 2 use AZFS-22F plugs, 3 & 4 use AZFS-22FE plugs. Reference '98 owner's guide.
REALLY ? I have NEVER heard this before, I will defintely check this out. Here's 2 things I learned, which may be interesting; a Ford mechanic I talked to said he was completely befuddled after I told him my tale. His only suggestion was the coil pack, said it may be putting out just enough spark to fire the plugs when they were new, but once they got even a little bit used, there wasn't enough juice to produce the needed voltage to spark. And here's the best part, I got home and jerked the Motorcrafts out, I don't know why, since every time I've pulled them before they look absolutely perfect. They did this time also, except #3 cylinder's plug has a crack in the insulator, a big one, all the way from top to bottom. When I pulled #4 it also had a crack, although not as big. So I'm going to take them up to the Ford dealer parts counter and have him look at them.
Ken, 99 Silver Frost SE Zetec Atx, polished alloys, Kumho's, Pioneer hi power CD/AM/FM. Factory spoiler (added) Audi side lites, Borla stainless steel muff. Stolen, recovered in pieces. Looking for another Tour, preferably V6, 5 speed.
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Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 133
CEG\'er
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OP
CEG\'er
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 133 |
Originally posted by horseydug:
Originally posted by mercman:
Donā??t quote me on this, but if I remember right two of the plugs on the ztec have a different part number then the other two. Are you installing the right plugs into the right cylinders?
Cylinders 1 & 2 use AZFS-22F plugs, 3 & 4 use AZFS-22FE plugs. Reference '98 owner's guide.
I printed this post and took it to the Ford dealer, he said that there is no call for 2 different plugs in the 99 Zetec, so I asked him about the 98, since the AZFS-22FE plugs, which your owners manual says goes in #3 and #4 go in my car in all the holes not just 2 of them, and he said he had never ever heard of that. So who knows if he's talking out his rear, or is uninformed, or is right. My owners man says nothing about 2 different plugs, so I'm just going to replace my 2 broken plugs with these new ones, and see what happens. If they crack again, I'll know something is causing it.
Ken, 99 Silver Frost SE Zetec Atx, polished alloys, Kumho's, Pioneer hi power CD/AM/FM. Factory spoiler (added) Audi side lites, Borla stainless steel muff. Stolen, recovered in pieces. Looking for another Tour, preferably V6, 5 speed.
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Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 133
CEG\'er
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OP
CEG\'er
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 133 |
Originally posted by mercman:
Donā??t quote me on this, but if I remember right two of the plugs on the ztec have a different part number then the other two. Are you installing the right plugs into the right cylinders?
Also, there is a lot more to making a car idle correctly then plugs and wires. Have you checked the following?
TPS
Coil pack
Fuel pressure
IAT sensor
Mass flow
EGR
Have you cleaned your injectors (a real cleaning not the gas tank stuff), throttle plate, IAC and EGR?
Have you checked for vacuum leaks or air bypassing the IAC?
jeff
No, because the car runs great after I change plugs. And it ran perfectly before I stupidly changed the plugs. So much for preventive maintenance.
Ken, 99 Silver Frost SE Zetec Atx, polished alloys, Kumho's, Pioneer hi power CD/AM/FM. Factory spoiler (added) Audi side lites, Borla stainless steel muff. Stolen, recovered in pieces. Looking for another Tour, preferably V6, 5 speed.
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Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 2,408
Hard-core CEG'er
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Hard-core CEG'er
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 2,408 |
Originally posted by Kennard:
I printed this post and took it to the Ford dealer, he said that there is no call for 2 different plugs in the 99 Zetec, so I asked him about the 98, since the AZFS-22FE plugs, which your owners manual says goes in #3 and #4 go in my car in all the holes not just 2 of them, and he said he had never ever heard of that. So who knows if he's talking out his rear, or is uninformed, or is right
Originally, waste fire ignition engines had two different plugs.
One side of the coils had normal platinums, and the other side had "reverse" platinums.
This has been superceded by using double platinums on both sides.
This is not a mystery and is definately true.
The reason the original plugs were both normal and reversed platinums is they are cheaper.
$1 a plug, times four cylinders, times a million cars - is four million dollars saved.
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" -George Santayana
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Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 133
CEG\'er
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CEG\'er
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 133 |
Originally posted by Rogerm60:
Originally posted by Kennard:
I printed this post and took it to the Ford dealer, he said that there is no call for 2 different plugs in the 99 Zetec, so I asked him about the 98, since the AZFS-22FE plugs, which your owners manual says goes in #3 and #4 go in my car in all the holes not just 2 of them, and he said he had never ever heard of that. So who knows if he's talking out his rear, or is uninformed, or is right
Originally, waste fire ignition engines had two different plugs.
One side of the coils had normal platinums, and the other side had "reverse" platinums.
This has been superceded by using double platinums on both sides.
This is not a mystery and is definately true.
The reason the original plugs were both normal and reversed platinums is they are cheaper.
$1 a plug, times four cylinders, times a million cars - is four million dollars saved.
Sorry, I didn't get what you were saying, you sound like you have some knowledge of this so I'd like to comprehend what you're talking about. What is a 'waste fire ignition' ? Are you talking about a head that runs 2 plugs per cylinder ? My parts guy did say that sometimes the dual plug heads would run different plugs. But the previous poster said the #1 and #2 plugs were different from the #3 and #4 plugs. The numbers were identical with the exception of an E at the very end of the ID number.
Ken, 99 Silver Frost SE Zetec Atx, polished alloys, Kumho's, Pioneer hi power CD/AM/FM. Factory spoiler (added) Audi side lites, Borla stainless steel muff. Stolen, recovered in pieces. Looking for another Tour, preferably V6, 5 speed.
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