Dielectric grease in plug boot - no start

[DiscoJen]

Howdy there! I just changed my plug wires and was informed to use dielectric grease. So like a good lil girl, I squeezed a good amount in the boot and attached them. Now my Disco spins and spins and spins but refuses to start. Is this grease the culprit and should I clean the boots out? I put the grease on all my electrical connections under the hood too.

Any help is appreciated as I had to the drive the ole stinky Wrangler today and was not a happy camper! I am truly spoiled!

Jen

 

[Tom in MD]

May have over done it

This stuff is great on connectors, etc., so long as the metal to metal contact is still made. I think the intent was to enable connectors to go together better without shorting out the adjacent contact pins. May want to get back in there and clean up a little.

In case there's confusion, this grease will NOT conduct electricty.

 

[Sergei]

Jen, its 97, right?

Do you hear fuel pump running as you turning key?
yes - there is no spark. Check connections again. Check ignition connections. They should be tight
no - check fuse for fuel pump (underhood box).

Is fuse blown?
yes - replace fuse
no - push inertia switch.

Turn key - listen to pump. Is it running?

yes - is it starting? If not - is battery up to task? Is pushing gas pedal helps it to crank up?
no - time to take carpet up and start checking if there is any electricity sent to plug. Can be infamous alarm issue or pump just snuffed it.

 

[Robbie]

did you change each wire separately, or all at once? first time i did it, ripped em all out and put the new one's back in. i was off by one in terms of plug to (in my case) distributor cap. had to go back, figure where I went wrong and line up the numbers correctly.

 

[u352]

I learned too that dieelctric grease is not intended to increase the conductivity but it is designed to prevent conductivity from decreaseing due to environmental factors. I use the stuff in my series truck everywhere. Shit if I could I would use it as an oil replcament.

 

[DiscoJen]

Thanks guyz!

Looks like I will be cleaning my boots tonight! Thanks so much for helping me narrow it down before I scraped anymore of my knuckle off.

Jen

 

[Sergei]

Dont scrape it out. Contacts there are metal to metal. Grease or not they should contact if they are good.

 

[DiscoJen]

Cleaned grease off boots and still no start

Cleaned all the grease out of the boots. Plugs are on correctly as I took them off one at a time when replacing them. Still won't strart.

I can hear my fuel pump buzzing in the back when I turn the key over. Does not help when pushing gas pedal. Brand new battery. All connections seem tight. Checked fuses under hood and all ok.

Any other ideas?

Thanks!
Jen

 

[Sergei]

So there is no spark then.
Can you verify that ground for ignition is ok, and that all wires that going to coilpack (and from it) are tight and connected?

Sometime one of incoming connections may become loose b/c of all the wire messing.

 

[DiscoJen]

OMG I am such a dork!

After re-reading Sergei's post, I went back through the checklist. Loaded my RAVE CD and found the intertia switch. Reset it. Remembered that was one of the first connections that I disconnected to put on the dielectric grease. So I went back through by memory and checked each connection in order of how I disconnected them. Finished 'em all and still no luck.

Darn thing just sounded like it wasn't getting any fuel. So per Sergei I rechecked my fuel system. By pure accident as I was checking the throttle area for correct operation, a mass of wires got tangled in my hand under the throttle body. I pulled it up for inspection and found an open connection with fresh grease on it that had never been plugged back in!!! It was completely out of sight and I forgot that it was even under there!

Special thanks to Sergei for forcing me to go back through and re-check what I thought I had checked 15 times already. See ya on both my favorite forums man!

A very happy Jen

 

[Steve Rupp]

Keep doing that dance for the Lucas gods

 

[RangeRoverHP]

Keep doing that dance for the Lucas gods

LOL
That's a good one.