so, i've been having a missing issue now and then, after new plug wires and finally chased it down to the improper plug terminal touching the exhaust. this was on the number 4 cylinder.
replaced the boot temporarily w a shield and boom, ran like a top.

fast forward to today, went to swap out all plug wires , some amazon jd speed chinese things.

got the firing order correct and it started right up but sounded like a horrible miss. removing one plug from dist at a time it proved the number 1 cylinder is dead. got sparked pulling the wire off the dist. replaced w old plug wire and no change. swapped plug, no difference. it literally ran fine when parked before i effed w the dist and plugs. could i have a stuck valve happen like that?

 

You can do a compression check and find out if it's a valve. I do know these sparkplug wires are delicate and easy to break. You can take a ohmmeter and check them from one end to the other while you are wiggling the wire around. You can also pull the boot back and sometimes repair them if that is the problem area. When you do that you will see what I mean about being delicate.

 

What brand and type plugs did you install?
I hope good old copper plugs that our trucks came with as some have had issues with the new fancy plugs that last forever.
Dave ----

 

Have you confirmed that you have SPARK, before chasing your tail ?

 

i'll do that spark thing tomorrow. i know that i was getting spark at the rotor. the eve plugs were auto lite , i did not pull a plug and put the wire on it to see if either plug was firing. i get the valve thing is possible, but it ran fine literally yesterday

 

Big clue #1: JD Speed? Is that a subsidiary of Fling Dung or Wok Hoam? We know the parts must be a quality brand if they go to the effort to ship them all the way from China.

[/sarcasm mode off]

My first thought here is your old plug wire broke during removal and is now adversely skewing your troubleshooting results. Measure both new and old plug wires end to end for continuity. Or try an old plug wire from another cylinder. Hopefully they didn't all break.

When feeling sick, which of the following actions do you take? Do you report your symptoms and then follow advice from:

1) Your doctor or other trusted medical professional?

2) AmIGoingToDie.com?

​​​​​​​On a related note, the odds are infinitesimal for a compression problem to suddenly appear out of the blue while messing with the spark plug wires, Chinese ones at that.

 

when i get sick i deny i am sick and avoid drs at all cost. therefore i am never sick.

ready for more truth.
i havbt messed w carbed gas motors since highschool ibto freshman year of college 2001-2002ishhhhh. after being asked so nicely from the college to not return, i found a job and have driven computer controlled diesels since.

my truck , the f150 we are speaking of was free. it didn't run. paperwork showed sometime in the 90s the owner removed the I6 and had a shop build a 302 with mild cam and roller lifters. it was worth a shot for me.

after a new ignition module, coil, plug wires, plugs, full distributor and carb rebuild it started and drive just great. never didn't start, trying to install the new distributor i had my roomate (old shift partners son goin through academy now) who is a great mechanic help me. things went south when the old school neighbor wanted to get out of the house to hide from grandkids.

now today i was merely just swapping plug wires, one for one. he got in there and before i know it, all plug wires were swapped and yadda yadda, i went to try and re time it but used the wrong firing order, 5.0HO apparently and then went to the correct standard, i got it running but num1 dead. i was gonna pull eveythjbt again friday, tdc on compression and reset distributor. he swears i dropped a valve, im thinking i parked it driving fine yesterday, it had to be sometbjbt we did.

 

Doesn't sound like a valve issue to me either but speaking of valves one neat way to check them is if you can find a hose to thread into the plug hole use compressed air and apply it to the cylinder you will hear air coming either from the intake or the exhaust on the compression stroke top dead Center if a valve is leaking and if one is sticking and you have the valve covers off you can slightly tap on the top of the stem or rocker and it'll either change the rate of air leak or stop it if you have all the plugs out you apply enough pressure on top dead center it'll sometimes rotate the engine slightly so watch your fingers doing that test

 

if the people care, i can update with info on friday. i already got a new tank and sending unit going in then all gauges will work.

 

Agreed. The new problem is almost certainly sometbjbt you guys did.

 

also, sorry for the typos. i don't own a computer and i do all my responding from a smal cell phone.

 

I do the same thing at times when on my phone

A trick to see if you are or the right hold not firing is to take water and wet the exh manifolds near the heads on a cold motor.
Start the motor and watch the manifolds, any of the holes firing the water will dry up.
Should not take long if you do have a miss to show a wet manifold.
Then you can look at plug or wire for that hole.
Dave ----

 

Oh we care. See, people come in here thinking we are trying to help them. But really it's just a competition to see who guesses correctly what the problem is. That is not all the reason why we are here, but it does make a fun game. Hopefully you guys get some benefit at the same time.

I hate the aw shucks moment when no one gets it right.

 

alll rain today ima give her a go fri or sat

 

How true! And for Dave's sake, sometimes I'll deliberately post something that is less correct than usual. It's well worth it, as it gives him an immense feeling of satisfaction in his otherwise dull and meaningless existence.

Always looking out for ya, buddy!