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I was checking out my spark plug tubes today and when reinstalling the spark plug wires I accidentally reversed cylinder 1 and 2 wires in my 2000 Chrysler neon. When I started the car it idled rough so i turned it off it made a bit of a sqeel sound upon turning it off like some diesel trucks make. I than fixed the wires and now it runs fine. Could that switch up for a couple of seconds have damaged the engine in any way?
Dariusz
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It shouldn’t have if it was only for a few seconds. The only thing that it probably affected was the cat but it shouldn’t done much damage to it. Just next time be sure to match the correct wires with the correct cylinders and be sure to use the correct spark plugs as well, otherwise it will mess up the engine and your cat.
Screwing up the plug wire order would cause cylinder misfires, and the unburned fuel usually flow out to exhaust and potentially damage the O2 sensors and Cat – but should not happen with only few seconds of cranking the engine.
We mixed up the plug wires on my father in laws chevy s-10 and spent a good while experimenting and trying to get the order back in place. We even drove it around with the plugs in the wrong position. It took us a while because the schematic we found in several books was incorrect. The Wells site was incorrect, but I sent an e-mail to them and they have since corrected it. The truck is fine and runs good just as before. No problems.
Only one and i mean only one time I have seen a valve slam threw a piston but Im pretty sure (The guy fights with me over this) the car was out of time anyway. It was on a 92 Mitsubishi eclipse 2.0 turbo that had been heavily modded…. Shaved heads – cam and valve replace ments -over sized valves so on…
He had done the same as you – Was replacing spark plug wires and crossed one. As soon as the engine fired a tapping occurred and he reved the in to 1500 and boom. I confirmed a crossed wire (But never confirmed a timing issue)
Everyone – I mean every one has crossed a plug wire – Its no big deal as long as you fix it…
The above is probably one in 10million…
Autozone gives free print outs of your cars firing order….
Only one and i mean only one time I have seen a valve slam threw a piston but Im pretty sure (The guy fights with me over this) the car was out of time anyway. It was on a 92 Mitsubishi eclipse 2.0 turbo that had been heavily modded…. Shaved heads – cam and valve replace ments -over sized valves so on…
He had done the same as you – Was replacing spark plug wires and crossed one. As soon as the engine fired a tapping occurred and he reved the in to 1500 and boom. I confirmed a crossed wire (But never confirmed a timing issue)
Everyone – I mean every one has crossed a plug wire – Its no big deal as long as you fix it…
The above is probably one in 10million…
Autozone gives free print outs of your cars firing order….
[quote=”OnThe7ThDayFord” post=32616]Only one and i mean only one time I have seen a valve slam threw a piston but Im pretty sure (The guy fights with me over this) the car was out of time anyway. It was on a 92 Mitsubishi eclipse 2.0 turbo that had been heavily modded…. Shaved heads – cam and valve replace ments -over sized valves so on…
He had done the same as you – Was replacing spark plug wires and crossed one. As soon as the engine fired a tapping occurred and he reved the in to 1500 and boom. I confirmed a crossed wire (But never confirmed a timing issue)
Everyone – I mean every one has crossed a plug wire – Its no big deal as long as you fix it…
The above is probably one in 10million…
Autozone gives free print outs of your cars firing order….[/quote]
I to accidentally crossed spark plug wires when I had changed the spark plugs to an old 1978 Toyota Corolla 2 door coupe. Basic 4 cylinder and I accidentally crossed 1 and 3 wires…all that happened was a chugging sound but it wouldn’t start given 1and 3 are always right after each other on that engine. After my dad cranked the engine I realized what I did wrong via the owners manual and corrected the issue and the engine started up like it was new.
[quote=”OnThe7ThDayFord” post=32616]Only one and i mean only one time I have seen a valve slam threw a piston but Im pretty sure (The guy fights with me over this) the car was out of time anyway. It was on a 92 Mitsubishi eclipse 2.0 turbo that had been heavily modded…. Shaved heads – cam and valve replace ments -over sized valves so on…
He had done the same as you – Was replacing spark plug wires and crossed one. As soon as the engine fired a tapping occurred and he reved the in to 1500 and boom. I confirmed a crossed wire (But never confirmed a timing issue)
Everyone – I mean every one has crossed a plug wire – Its no big deal as long as you fix it…
The above is probably one in 10million…
Autozone gives free print outs of your cars firing order….[/quote]
I to accidentally crossed spark plug wires when I had changed the spark plugs to an old 1978 Toyota Corolla 2 door coupe. Basic 4 cylinder and I accidentally crossed 1 and 3 wires…all that happened was a chugging sound but it wouldn’t start given 1and 3 are always right after each other on that engine. After my dad cranked the engine I realized what I did wrong via the owners manual and corrected the issue and the engine started up like it was new.
I remember when I was just 16 years old, 40 years ago now, and I was doing some maintenance on my first car. A 1969 Plymouth Valiant with a Slant 6. My Dad was a Chrysler mechanic and he suggested I do a tune up with new plugs, points and plug wires. So I got the plug wires and then I pulled all the wires off the distributor and chucked them into the garbage. Then, of course, I had no way of figuring out how to put the wires back on. In those days they did not put the numbers on each plug wire to tell you where each wire goes like on modern wires. Luckily my Dad knew these engines inside-out and was able to place the wires were they went. His advice, and I tell all my sons this, just take one wire off at a time and replace the wire with the same length one as in the box. No way to mix them up and they will all be the proper length. Hope that piece of advice is helpful.
I remember when I was just 16 years old, 40 years ago now, and I was doing some maintenance on my first car. A 1969 Plymouth Valiant with a Slant 6. My Dad was a Chrysler mechanic and he suggested I do a tune up with new plugs, points and plug wires. So I got the plug wires and then I pulled all the wires off the distributor and chucked them into the garbage. Then, of course, I had no way of figuring out how to put the wires back on. In those days they did not put the numbers on each plug wire to tell you where each wire goes like on modern wires. Luckily my Dad knew these engines inside-out and was able to place the wires were they went. His advice, and I tell all my sons this, just take one wire off at a time and replace the wire with the same length one as in the box. No way to mix them up and they will all be the proper length. Hope that piece of advice is helpful.
next time you drive it give it a little flooring a few times and get it nice and hot so the combustion chamber and exhaust get a little clean out
next time you drive it give it a little flooring a few times and get it nice and hot so the combustion chamber and exhaust get a little clean out
i just wanted to add that i changed my distributor cap and rotor today on my 2003 dodge dakota 3.9l and when following the haynes manual “clockwise” from the front on the engine (front of truck) diagram for the plugs to cap, the truck misfired like crazy. figured out the manual actually has it backwards – no good. got it fixed kinda angry at the manual though!
i just wanted to add that i changed my distributor cap and rotor today on my 2003 dodge dakota 3.9l and when following the haynes manual “clockwise” from the front on the engine (front of truck) diagram for the plugs to cap, the truck misfired like crazy. figured out the manual actually has it backwards – no good. got it fixed kinda angry at the manual though!
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