Starting issues. Just an FYI...

[trbig]

My Explorer is down, so I've been riding the last couple weeks to work. It's gotten down in the teens and the bike just didn't want to start. New gel battery. It would crank and crank without even trying to hit.. but if I ever hooked up some extra juice from either some jumper cables or a boost from my battery charger, it would finally start. After it fired up and was warm, no problems until I let it sit a couple hours again. Then crank, crank, crank again.

This morning, I took the plugs out and they looked really good still.. nice tan.. but they have been in there for quite a few miles. Threw a new set of plugs in and now, no matter how cold, just bump the starter and it starts.

I know a couple people that have had this problem.. crank a lot to get it started when cold, but after warm, starts right up. I thought carbs for sure or at least the enrichener circuit. New plugs fixed me right up.

Anyway, just thought I'd share.

[cajun31]

thanks for

the heads up. One question... what condition / age are your spark plug wires caps in? JAT maybe you knocked something loose or made a better connection when plugging everything back up with the new plugs. Watch out for that black ice out there.

[trbig]

Wires and caps are original, though I have added a few layers of heat shrink to the wires for insulation to help prevent arcing in the rain and misfire.

Your assessment is possible, so yeah, first thing (Cheapest) would be to pull the caps and shove back on the plug first to see if it helped. I couldn't tell you when I changed plugs last, just that they've been on there at least a couple years. That might not seem like much time, but I ride 25-30k miles a year normally, and that's a lot of sparks across the gap. That being said, I barely made 10k this year. : ( Least amount since I have owned the bike.

[Bartman]

My bike is in the warm basement and I ride mine to work most days unless low 30's. The other week it was 42 when going home and it wouldn't crank on first time. I had two things go through my head. First I only pulled choke one click and the other was I had put it on prime coming to work in the morning. (Always poor running issues when low on gas). Filled up with gas and it just so happens it was going to be 28 in the morning so I left it outside. In the morning I put the kick started on as a back up plan and pulled the choke to the second position. It was slow turning for a half second and then cranked right up. Didn't need to kick start. My brother says that he will kick start at the same time as pushing the starter button to help his HD.

[LoHo]

A couple of weeks ago I was heading to work and she cranked several seconds, then faded. I wondered why the battery was so weak, then bump started her and went to work. Coming home, she started right up, so no worries. When I opened her up to charge the battery, it was almost dry! I wondered how it even had enough to start the bike. I added distilled water, charged it up, and all is peachy now. I hadn't looked at the battery in over a year.

I mean, if it ain't broke, don't do any maintenance or render any care at all, right?

[trbig]

Yeah, I've been buying those gel cell non-maint. batteries because I'm terrible at checking the water in the battery.

[ViperRon]

were they resister type plugs or regular and what brand name are they. I ask because if they are a certain brand I can answer your question as to why.

[LoHo]

Ron, I replaced perfectly good NKG resistor caps with NKG non-resistor caps because I am running iridium spark plugs, which, I'm told, have built in resistors. What issue are you referencing?

[madmax-im]

Yeah, I've been buying those gel cell non-maint. batteries because I'm terrible at checking the water in the battery.

I'm in the same category so a gel cell maint. free is the only way to fly...

[BA80]

We had that issue with Doc's bike too Tod. It would crank and crank and then start hitting on 2 then after it got a little warmer it would hit on all 4. If it was warm (above 40º or so, no problem)

Turned out to be some issue with the pick up coils. Swapped them out with another set and it's worked great since.

The ones that WERE in there were from an 81 special and read less resistance than spec. Both of them.

FYI

[ViperRon]

LoHo
The issue I had was many years ago but has not been resolved by the vendor. The difference in plugs and their construction can become an issue. Resister plugs tend not to be a problem because they require a good solid connection to deliver the consistent resistance level. Non resister plugs have different construction. At one time I had a car that I could only get non resister plugs from the Navy Exchange where the price was half. The choice vendor then was Champion. I proved the inferior quality of the champion plugs construction and champion was removed as choice vendor. The non resistor plugs champion made had a firmly attached cap and spark point solid within the ceramic plug with a rod of copper floating inside the ceramic connecting them. As copper prices went up the copper rod was cut short and after a short time would easily slide back and forth in the ceramic. You the could actually shake most plugs and hear the rattle of the rod. Electrically when new the plug would present a good fire pattern with 10K volts applied. After it had been run and the rod had time to swell and loosen for a few days many times it would take more than 60K volts to present a good fire pattern. Since my coil in the car would provide only 35K volts in a short time the car would not start. In cold weather plugs would actually develop moisture inside and would not fire at all till warm. Once the plug was heated the copper would swell moisture evaporate and the distance the spark had to jump inside the plug was reduced and you would get spark. After it cooled it would oxidize and the spark could not clear the almost 1/8 gap in the plug. This was because of a cost cutting measure put in place by champion corporation. NKG, Autolite, Bosch, and AC do not have this issue and never did.

[motoman]

LoHo
The issue I had was many years ago but has not been resolved by the vendor. The difference in plugs and their construction can become an issue. Resister plugs tend not to be a problem because they require a good solid connection to deliver the consistent resistance level. Non resister plugs have different construction. At one time I had a car that I could only get non resister plugs from the Navy Exchange where the price was half. The choice vendor then was Champion. I proved the inferior quality of the champion plugs construction and champion was removed as choice vendor. The non resistor plugs champion made had a firmly attached cap and spark point solid within the ceramic plug with a rod of copper floating inside the ceramic connecting them. As copper prices went up the copper rod was cut short and after a short time would easily slide back and forth in the ceramic. You the could actually shake most plugs and hear the rattle of the rod. Electrically when new the plug would present a good fire pattern with 10K volts applied. After it had been run and the rod had time to swell and loosen for a few days many times it would take more than 60K volts to present a good fire pattern. Since my coil in the car would provide only 35K volts in a short time the car would not start. In cold weather plugs would actually develop moisture inside and would not fire at all till warm. Once the plug was heated the copper would swell moisture evaporate and the distance the spark had to jump inside the plug was reduced and you would get spark. After it cooled it would oxidize and the spark could not clear the almost 1/8 gap in the plug. This was because of a cost cutting measure put in place by champion corporation. NKG, Autolite, Bosch, and AC do not have this issue and never did.

All possible........had a similar issue yrs. back associate4d with a CJ-5 inline 6cyl. Kept 'dropping' a cyl. for unknown reason. Finially upon a plug removal, one plug revealed its demise. It strangely had a 'variable' gap electrode. Hadn't ever seen this scenario prior and was curious to say the least.

[motoman]

Trbig, not sure of the age of the Explorer, but not using Motocraft plugs specificly from dealer, for that application CAN and will damage the individual coil pacs. JAT, but I'm sure your already arware of that.

[trbig]

The plugs I took out were resistor plugs.. been in there many many miles, and the ones I put in were non-resistor. Couldn't tell you if the caps are or not. Both the old and new plugs are NGK.

I had a problem with the bike on the way home from Key West. It ran terrible during the middle of the day when it was hot, but did fine in the cool. Wondering if the plugs were an issue with that as well. It'll be several months before I can take along ride in the heat again to find out. lol.

[motoman]

The plugs I took out were resistor plugs.. been in there many many miles, and the ones I put in were non-resistor. Couldn't tell you if the caps are or not. Both the old and new plugs are NGK.

I had a problem with the bike on the way home from Key West. It ran terrible during the middle of the day when it was hot, but did fine in the cool. Wondering if the plugs were an issue with that as well. It'll be several months before I can take along ride in the heat again to find out. lol.

Hopefully that didn't damage the coils, depending on how late a model it is.