Rough idle and acceleration, rusted spark plugs.

[nitrofarm]

I'm not refering to the actual Cap. But yes that trick works-

[Spike]

I'll take a look tonight and see if I can find any damage. Going to grab another c&r on the off chance the new one is bad. Will also try the WD40 trick. Really not wanting to shell out for a dist. Thank you.

[nitrofarm]

Im talking the plastic ring under the cap. BTW

[Spike]

I know the ring, I just wiped it off the other day. That's not a replaceable part, is it?

[Spike]

Woo-hoo, found my problem. I separated the distributor (disty still mounted in place) and looked over the ring and internals. Ring had no damage, though internals had a few spots of dust or something along those lines, cleaned that up and as I'm putting the disty cap on, I realize something...

One of the intake tubes was hanging loose! It had a large crack down the underside of the hose, stretching about 2 inches. It seems when I put on a new cap and rotor, I must have bumped the hose and made the crack worse. In the process of cleaning everything up, I must have bumped it again. Looks like it cracked at some point long ago, as it had knife marks at the end of the hose.

Replaced the hose with some flexible 5/8" heater hose and it runs fantastic! Thank you for your advice, everyone. Sorry for all the trouble!

Joe

[nitrofarm]

Woo-hoo, found my problem. I separated the distributor (disty still mounted in place) and looked over the ring and internals. Ring had no damage, though internals had a few spots of dust or something along those lines, cleaned that up and as I'm putting the disty cap on, I realize something...

One of the intake tubes was hanging loose! It had a large crack down the underside of the hose, stretching about 2 inches. It seems when I put on a new cap and rotor, I must have bumped the hose and made the crack worse. In the process of cleaning everything up, I must have bumped it again. Looks like it cracked at some point long ago, as it had knife marks at the end of the hose.

Replaced the hose with some flexible 5/8" heater hose and it runs fantastic! Thank you for your advice, everyone. Sorry for all the trouble!

Joe

Awesome glad you found it!

[Spike]

So, back to those spark plugs. I've sprayed PB on these since the day I realized they were seized; they wouldn't even consider budging, and the car just kept running worse. My MPG dropped to that of a Ford Escape Hybrid - 28 city/22 highway, something is obviously wrong.

Brought the car up to Dennis to see if he could get them out. Ended up being the original (most likely) Motorcraft spark plugs from 22 years ago - 100% completely seized to the head. The threads were okay, it was the knubby part of the plug that holds the bolt head. Between running around to get Helicoils (kit and threads), finding the right drill bit, and the hardest part - drilling out every hole (though #4 did come out after a lot of air chiseling), it took Dennis the entire day. You should've seen the pile of ceramic and metal under the car (he took pictures). According to him, he'd never seen plugs this bad before. I've also realized I'm good at bringing him worst case scenarios!

It was long past nightfall when he was done, we put in the fresh plugs that came with the car.. and it wouldn't start. Pull plugs, clean, put back in. Nope. Do it again, nope. Take plugs from another Festiva that's down for a carb - fires right up! Runs fantastic!

Moral of the story - CHANGE THE PLUGS WHEN YOU GET THE CAR. Also, don't park car for 8 years. Lube dem plugs up before putting them in! Annnd don't let the guy at the parts store sell you anything but copper plugs.

Thanks again, man. I was about to give up on this one.

Joe