2.5L ('98-'01) 2.5 Lima mystery miss. Calling all Lima wizards

[ben_2_go]

sorry for going dark, but finally got back in town and had time to mess with the truck. i unplugged the intake side distributor and the truck misfired like i described before. plugged the distributor back and unplugged the exhaust side and the truck seemingly cleared it self up. thought this was interesting. maybe I have some interference between plugs wires and the distributor with a miss is interfering with the one that isn't. maybe a ground problem? are both distributors timed off the same sensor (crank or cam sensor?)

Yes they fire at the same time and are grounded behind the engine on the firewall. Maybe be a bad coil but I would try spark plug wires and spark plugs first. Look around the firewall, under the fender edges in the engine bay, and the header panel above the back of the headlights. There should be nuts and/or bolts that have a hint of green paint. Those are the grounds for the electrical system. There's also a braided ground strap. It's usually connected near the wiper motor and connects to the head under the intake.

 

[scotts90ranger]

I would verify the exhaust side plug wires are on the coil pack in the right order, it's happened to a few people lately... Most coils are marked 1/4 on two and 2/3 on the other two. You can mix up 1 and 4 or 2 and 3 but you CANNOT mix them up between those (IE if 1 and 2 are mixed up or the other two possible mixups)