[themerchguy]

ok im a new guy here. here is my question. i own a 1989 lx 2.3l recently i decided to give it a tune up. i replaced the distributor cap, rotor,spark plugs, and wires. now the thing doesent want to run. it was running before i did this. ive checked everything that i can think of. made sure the firing order was correct. bumped the car over and put the piston and tdc to make sure the rotor was pointing in the right direction etc. it turns over and when you stop turning the key it trys to start for a second. im a whits end on this. a simple tune up gone wrong. any help would be greatly appreciated.
thanks,
john

[dreamer1uk]

Hi,

Did you gap the plugs correctly?

If you did, it sounds like a high resistance issue somewhere in the ignition system. Did you touch any other ignition components?

[themerchguy]

yes i sure did 44 thousands as specified by oreilly's. this thing sure has me baffled. thanks for your reply though

[Rustang]

Something you installed could be faulty. If the old stuff worked, try swapping it back in and see if your rotor/cap assembly is faulty (does the rotor assembly mate up with the cap inside?). Check for power by grounding your spark plug wires (use the old plug to save time) to the block to check your wires. Make sure the wire to the coil is secure. Past that nothing much makes sense.

[themerchguy]

thanks ive already tried installing the old stuff back. it doesent make much sense. i bought house brand parts the cheapest motorcraft plugs etc. going to try better stuff and see if that corrects the problem. if not its going to the certified mechanic. it just upsets me that a simple tune up is going to cost me this much money.

[themerchguy]

well i got it figured out. man i feel like a idiot! the firing order is 1,3,4,2 and thats what the chilton book said. but it didnt say were to start on the cap. i assumed it was the first post directly in front of me. the new cap didnt have a number one marked on it either. so i looked at the old cap and it did. then i put them on in clockwise rotation and it fired up first turn. why couldnt they tell you were the first plug wires goes on that cap in the manual i will never now? best procedure i supposed would take them off one at a time placing them on the the new cap. ive learned my lesson for sure. thanks to all who replied.