I have a 93 F-150 4x4 5.0. I've heard that on other vehicles with the 5.0 that the spark plug wires are supposed to be wrapped together when installed. Is this true for an F-150 also? It had something to do with resistance when I heard it before. I'm asking because my gas mileage is horrible and I'm wondering if this might solve the problem, since I've basically tuned everything up on the truck and found no vacuum leaks. There is a slight stumble at idle with no rhyme or reason, which happened before and after the tune-up. Any help/info is appreciated.

 

Howdy and welcome!

Noooooooooooooo.... You want the spark plug wires as far apart as possible actually to prevent misfire from the power jumping from one wire to another.

Don't know what your tuneup was, but I always...

New plugs (what did you gap them at?)
New motorcraft wires
New cap
New rotar
New air fliter
New fuel filter.

You do all that?

Adrianspeeder

 

Don't forget about injector rebuilding/good cleaning... these trucks had those old Bosch Design I injectors that are prone to clogging over time. Think of this as a carb rebuild...

You can buy a kit from ebay for around $20 if you want to do them yourself... have to break the manifold down, not hard just takes a bit of time. Or you could pay a shop around $100 to put them on that 3M cleaner.

 

Where ever you read that the plug wires should be wrapped together is someplace you should avoid in the future. That couldn't be farther from the truth. As far as your stumble, try running some injector cleaner through it and see if that makes any difference. If it does, rebuild them. If it doesn't, try disconnecting and plugging the vacuum hose that goes to your EGR valve, and see if that makes a difference. If it does, remove, clean, and/or replace your EGR valve.

 

I checked the plugs and they were a dark orange color and the gap was only .040". So I threw a new set of plugs in there gapped at .056" to get a more complete burn since thats what the sticker recommends. I think I have an extra set of injectors lying around somewhere I'll have to look for.

Thanks for the info on the wires though. I've always heard theyre to be separated, but I didn't know if the wrapping was something specific to a 302 or what. Thanks for the info!

 

No matter what you do you are still going to be stuck with the crappy gass milage of a 302. When I went truck shopping I turned away from any window sticker that said 460 or 302. I set out looking for a 351 and stuck to my guns. I am very happy that I did.

 

Having both, the 302 has the slight advantage milage wise.

Adrianspeeder