No... truck won't start.
Yes, I have spark at all 8 towers... but it's weak, yellow and ,almost no noise (doesn't 'snap' when arcing... low amps)

Yes, I changed to the correct Mototcraft Platinums, from the crap Autolites.

No, it was not running.

The deal is: The truck was running badly, and I was trying to troubleshoot it, when the fuel pump went out (no fuel at the rail etc...). Replaced fuel pump and filter, flushed rail and tank etc... wouldn't start.
Starter had failed. Pulled it, changed it, cranked over like a beast, had plenty of fuel (plugs wet), but a crappy yellow spark.

Yesterday, I pulled my PCM plug... blew it out with warm air, made sure it was dry and put it back together.
Then I tried going around and cleaning, reattaching grounds where I could find them.

Today, I'm going to run down the two signal wires (grounds) coming from each coil to see if there is a bad ground like someone suggested.


I am getting 12.1 volts to both coils.

 

Well, I brought the older coil pack inside with me tonight... along with a fully charged battery reading 12.58 volts, and manually tried to fire the coils in the pack one at a time... no go. Same result.
Barely lit the LED in the spark tester, no spark at all to plug installed after tester.

Primaries ohm at .6, within spec of .3 - 1.0 ohm.
Secondaries ohm at 13,400 and 13,600... above spec of 6500 - 11,500 ohms.

I think this pack is bad.

It's certainly getting 12 volts... and it's certainly got a good ground, but no blue spark... in fact hardly any spark at all from the secondaries.

 

I have not experienced this, but I've seen a few people say that even on the coil packs you should only use OEM. Just an FYI. The Motorcraft DG530 is 38 bones on Amazon.

 

^^^^^ Linky to the coil:

https://www.amazon.com/Motorcraft-DG.../dp/B002QEFKN0

 

Well apparently, there's something besides a poor PCM ground, bad crank sensor, coil packs, broken wire, harness too close to the accumulator and dirty pin connections that can cause a 4.6 with coil packs to have a weak spark....


Because it is NONE of the above.

I did find a guy in another forum though... same year truck, same engine, exact same problem... after more than 80 posts, he put it on Craigslist as-is.

I'm about 95% of the way to never owning a Ford truck again. Two weeks I've spent chasing gremlins all over this engine, and nothing has helped one single bit.
The truck is as dead as it was two weeks ago when I joined this forum.

Gotta hand it to Ford...they put a f*cking computer in it to make it run better.... and it makes it not run at all. Brilliant!
I have this beautiful V8 engine sitting out there and I can't use it... because the computer won't give me a spark.

I'm so disgusted with this I can't see straight. No progress... zero.

 

Change your coil packs-

 

Well, a 19 yr run isnt bad.....
And ford is no different from any other vehicle today, better than many imo.

I remember the days of cleaning and adjusting carburetors, replacing distributor caps and rotors and wires and plugs every 10000 miles. It sucked.

Today (circa 2000 and up) all you really have to do is change oil , and replace plugs every 100,000 . Pretty incredible really by comparison to when I was a kid

Im ashamed to admit it....my wifes 2005 Honda Pilot has 255,000 miles. Plugs have never been changed. Runs like new. Iridium works. I will change them when I get chance though. Wont talk about wheel bearings going out however. Every vehicle has its weak points