Bunch of tiny issues at once! Mostly misfiring but also one about coolant

Hello! First I apologize for the long post!

My engine has been slightly almost unnoticeably misfiring while idling at lights and in traffic, I had to get out of my car to get something off the trunk while still running to hear it from the exhaust. The timing is good, while driving it feels like running on all 6 all smoothly so I don't know, I don't think the car has an electronic ignition (not even sure how to tell for sure), would one fix this? What else could I check knowing my spark plugs and spark cables are regularly changed?

Now new issue somewhat related, before my last road trip I changed my plugs and cables and didn't tighten a couple of them good enough. Back from it I wondered why my car was REALLY misfiring, I looked it up and I saw 2 spark plugs really loose, taking them out I saw oil all burnt up on their ends (yes, I also need to change my valve cover gasket, it's been ordered) making them unable to spark. So I changed them again for clean ones, being sure to tighten them better with anti lock on the threads of course. Should I clean the firing chambers too? Is there a way to just spray something to do so through the spark plug hole (like I would do in a carb)?

Third issue, that way heavier misfiring as 2 spark plugs have not been firing at all for a little bit has allowed some unburnt gas to make its way further down the line. And right before I changed those bad spark plugs, when I was cutting off the ignition the engine would still turn a couple of times, said gas combusting making the all engine shake like crazy. Could that have damaged anything I should check out to be safe?

And last one, about 6 months ago I changed my thermostat and the little gasket around its housing, today I noticed lots of deposit around it and a small leak of coolant from it dripping a bit on the parts below and a tiny bit on the header, should I just change the gasket again or would it be a sign of something else I wouldn't know about?

Thanks a lot for any answers about any of that!!!

Cheers (at least it steers fair and straight now hahaha)

 

how many miles on the engine?

 

Have you tried tightening the thermostat housing bolts? If you had two plugs loose perhaps your thermostat housing bolts suffer from the same installation issue.

 

almost 160 000 miles!

 

Why do I never think of the simple solutions first

Thanks will try

 

Every Ford from '75 up has electronic ign...

 

good to know! Well then could it be faulty? Or any other reasons for small misfires?

 

I'd recommend removing the distributor cap and checking underneath. If there are any deposits on the contacts, replace the cap.

MD

 

Also, check the firing order on your spark plug wires. If they have been changed maybe someone accidentally switched two around.

 

I have had that happen at idle when the mixture was too lean.

 

I will look that and see if it is, as for the firing order, to avoid mistakes I only ever change a cable at a time, then move to a 2nd one and so on, but still worth a check though!

Thanks

 

Will see if I can play with the carb a bit, thanks for the tip

 

What's best as a valve cover gasket? Cork or full rubber? Most of the part shops seam to only have cork

 

Each to his own, but Felpro Permadry Plus seems to get good reviews. Not all rubber gaskets are equal.

 

So after checking for my vacuum leak (find one and changed the line, hopefully it was the only one), then re adjusting the carb it seams to go way better but I still looked at the distributor cap, the rotor part seams clean, the distributor though most contacts have surface wear / rust (not sure as it's black, maybe more deposit from electric contact), I've used cleaner it's still there, should I grind it clean or just get a new cap or simple blackish deposit not an issue?

Thanks