Ford Repair: Fire power and cylender combustion, spark plug wires, aerostar van

Question
Sir.

I need help my 1989 Aerostar van is having problems in its old age. The problem started about a week ago I notice that I had to push the gas pedal down a litte bit further than normal. I have changed the spark plug wires after finding that they were arking and also have cleaned all the carbon out in the distributor cap. The distributor caps still have cuts on each terminal from the rotor, they were cleaned. The engine still lacks the power needed. I have pulled the #2 cylinder plug and found the electrode worn and the gap exceeding point .070. It requires .044? Could this cause the cylinder to combust poorly or nothing at all. the van will exceed speeds past 60 MPH on a flat surface, but when going up a hill i have to floor it for it to go 20 MPH.

My initial impretion tells me that the engine is gone.

It only has 136,000 miles on the engine.

My frind tells me that it the spark plugs. What do you think?  

Answer
Hi,

The spark plugs are not likely the problem. even at .070, the still arc and fire the fuel.  If you do replace the plugs, try double platinum coated - they will go over 100k miles with no noticable wear.

I suspect more that your problem is engine compression. When an engine looses compression, it looses strength - meaning it can go fast on mostly level ground, but it will loose power substantially when going up hills.  It is also possible that your transmission is slipping, so get a tach and make sure the RPMS don't go way up when climbing a hill. The RPMS will be high if you are in a low gear, but if the transmission is slipping, you'll notice the engine going way up in the 4 and 5k rpms range and you may notice surging.

Either of these issues could be the wrong answer - but they are the first two things I'd look for considering the mileage on the vehicle and the symptoms you describe.

Dennis