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3.0L runs terrible, acts like plug wires out of sequence NEED HELP


Rangstang

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I had a minor miss on cylinder #6 of the truck, so I ordered some plug wires and a coil pack. Initially, I installed the new wires and Autolite copper core plugs with this wiring sequence:



After changing those parts, the truck ran like complete crap. The truck originally had double platinums, so I swapped the copper cores for Autolite doubles. The plugs I pulled from the motor with 5 minutes running time on them are below:


Notice that cylinder #6 is completely clean and the rest have a layer of carbon... after only 5 minutes.

I now believe I have 2 separate issues. One that's causing the #6 miss and plug to be clean and one that's causing the carbon (rich condition). I checked the resistance on injector #6 and #5 to see if maybe it was open, but I got 14.5 ohms on both, so the coil is obviously good. Could still be mechanically bad I guess.

I received the coil pack today, so I installed it knowing it wouldn't fix my problem, which it didn't. Anyone have any suggestions for me on this? I was already in the process of selling the truck when all of this started, so I don't really want to spend any more money guessing. Thanks in advance.
 


boozer89

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Check the easy stuff... Make sure you didn't break or crack any of the Vacume lines, they tend to get real brittle. try cleaning your Maf sensor, with the correct cleaner. (don't use anything but Maf cleaner)
 

Rearanger

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Pull the fuel pump relay/fuse from the fuse box under the hood. Idle the engine until it stalls.

Pull #6 and ground it while plug wire attached and turn the engine over with starter. Do you get spark?
 
Last edited:

det107

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My coil pack sequence is like this:

-Firewall-
5 1
6 2
4 3
-Front of Vehicle-
 

dangerranger1989

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maybe your distributor cap or maybe set up a timing light i know that i have seen those 2 things make a big difference.
 

Rangstang

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maybe your distributor cap or maybe set up a timing light i know that i have seen those 2 things make a big difference.
It's got a coil pack, but thanks for posting.
 

Rangstang

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Check the easy stuff... Make sure you didn't break or crack any of the Vacume lines, they tend to get real brittle. try cleaning your Maf sensor, with the correct cleaner. (don't use anything but Maf cleaner)
Did clean the MAF the other day and I had the correct cleaner. Checked vacuum lines really close, but as you know, they're wrapped in the wire loom, so it's really hard to know if it broke somewhere inside.
 

Rangstang

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If it ain't broke, I can't fix it.
My coil pack sequence is like this:

-Firewall-
5 1
6 2
4 3
-Front of Vehicle-
One thing I know for sure is that the plug wires for the LH side were on the LH side of the coil pack and RH to RH, so there's no way my was originally set up with that sequence. Does your power connector plug in horizontally or vertically?
 

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