What happens when...????

[salanw1]

Okay, so I bought a '96 B2300 w/2.3L 5spd 8 plug set up from a guy who is a heavy truck mechanic at a big Ford dealer ship.
I got it at a good price so wasn't concerned with a few 'performance' issues. But, they have increased to the point that I was getting various codes along with idling issues. It died on my last night and I was able to get a friend to help push so I could bump start it and get it home because the starter bendix went out. It went out because when cranking the engine it would act like it was way out of time, but after it started it would run down the road okay, but with mid RPM range doggedness and idle issues. So my question is, what would one expect the performance and starting to be like if the exhaust bank coil pack wires were routed correctly but the intake bank wires were backwards?

I have a feeling that is my problem but I am going to have to replace the starter now before I can find out for sure. One would have thought a regular Ford mechanic would have known better and he did say he replaced the coil packs and wires.
Anybody have any experience on this type of situation?

 

[adsm08]

Define backwards.

 

[salanw1]

Define backwards.

The coil packs on the 2.3L sit back to back with the wiring harness facing forward on the front coil pack and the wiring harness facing rearward on the rear coil pack. He duplicated the spark plug wire progression from the rear coil pack onto the front coil pack whereas it should have been 180 degrees, thus being backwards.

Another way of saying it is, the spark plug wire rotation/progression is the same on both coil packs, but because the packs are mounted back to back the wiring progression of the front pack should be 180 degrees from the rear coil pack. He made them both the same thus the front coil pack(or intake side bank) was not igniting the intake bank plugs in proper sequence.

Hope that all makes sense.

All in all, I did get the wires re-routed and replaced the starter. The bendix was indeed broken. Once I got all finished the thing popped right off and now runs great.

 

[Rogue_Wulff]

About 1/2 way down this page: http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/4cylinders.html shows how the wires should be configured.
If you set it up that way, and it now starts/runs much better, then you have your answer.

 

[salanw1]

I already got it thanks. I had seen that the other day, thus my previous post from earlier today.

 

[Harris]

I swapped spark plug wires and added a new coil pack to a 2004 Ranger and went by the book. When I started the motor it was obvious the wires were mixed up. That being said, I had found a misprint in the Haynes manual. Your Ford mechanic may have changed those coil packs by the book himself and not duplicated the conditions that made the symptoms come out.