2.5L ('98-'01) backfire damaging starter

[dain.miller]

1998 2.5 runs fine once it starts, but backfires badly when trying to start cold. I think the backfire is making the engine turn backwards and breaking teeth off the starter gear (I'm now on starter number 3!)
Any ideas on how to find the cause of backfiring?

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Only does it cold?

 

[dain.miller]

Yes. No backfire when starting warm.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Backfire on startup is usually timing related, I would make sure all of the plug wires are on the coils in the correct order, I don't remember off the top of my head what is what but one side is for cylinders 1 and 4 and the other for 2 and 3, front or back doesn't matter but side to side does. And I'm talking on the coils themselves, I know there's two coil packs and one is in front of the other... My guess is one coil has two cylinders mixed up...

 

[dain.miller]

Thanks so much--that was the problem. Secondary spark plug wires for cylinders 1 and 2 were interchanged. I guess the secondary spark plugs don't do much when engine is warm since it ran smoothly even before correcting this problem.

 

[scotts90ranger]

A cold start has more fuel involved which exaggerates the issue... that was the second thought but spark was more likely

Glad it was easy and fixed!