replaced spark plugs and wires in 2002 ford explorer and now it won't idle

Asked by GuruK6G23 Dec 17, 2019 at 08:44 AM about the 2002 Ford Explorer XLT 4WD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

2 Answers

Assigning more details. The timing chain had been rattling for a while and I knew I had to change the pressure bolts but I'm currently undergoing cancer treatment and just didn't have the energy or time. I'm a single mom and it just gets tough. So the car is running just horribly, making a noise like someone is popping popcorn in my engine. The rattling was bad. Then this week it rained for 2 whole days and my truck started to stall every couple minutes. I finally bit the bullet got everything together from the store and changed the spark plugs and wires. As I mentioned I'm undergoing treatment so by the time I hit the 3 sparks and wires on the drivers side, I lost my focus and it looked like rain so I hurried up and did not put the lines in the correct sequence. I started the car and the car misfired. It was shaking and rattling and I turned it off and started swapping out what I thought was the right combo. As I did that I also noticed a tiny hole in the intake manifold which wasn't there before. I but a napkin in there to absorb the oil that was dripping down and I drove down the road to test drive the car and it stalled and then wouldn't turn back on. I then finally found watched a youtube video that showed the right combo and fixed the plugs and wires so now the car starts but as soon as I let my foot off the accelerator it dies. Please help I don't have a lot of funds and I need my car to go to treatment. I also had been told this summer to maybe just swap out the engine so I don't have to spend lots of money on guessing what else is broke in the engine. I'm so stressed. Even when it was stalling I could drive it with my foot on the accelerator and brake now it just kills

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Since you were stressed when finishing the spark plug work, maybe you knocked off a vacuum line. That would cause rough idling and acceleration and would be easy to find and fix. Open the hood and look for a rubber hose that is not connected to anything around where you were working. It would probably be about 3/8ths of an inch in diameter and the open end will just push onto a fitting on the engine.

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