99 Explorer Sport Rough Starting

[1NYCGUY]

I have a 1999 2d 2wd Sport that has about 82000 miles on it's 4.0L 6 cylinder engine. Lately it seems that in the morning regardless of the weather conditions but mainly when it is damp out. the car doesn't want to start. It usually takes 10 or more minutes to get it to turn over.

Before I embark on a full fledged tune up I was hoping to get some advice from the forum folks.

Please advise,
Thank

[bustedratchet]

Go for the tune up.If you take it somewhere and they recommend a throttle body cleaning do that too.

[ralphrides]

I have had many vehicles and there are usually two issues to check.

Check for bad spark plug wires. Do ohm test on them and all should be close to same pending on length. Cracks in wires will short on damp days. Try drenching wires with WD40 spary oil. If starts ok wires are bad. Other is coil. if coil is shorting internally problem will be worse on humid rainy days due to weak spark. Clean the top of coil with WD40 spray too. Real dirty coil tops and old wires can short around coil towers. If coil is shorting inside, a typical other problem is high speed bogging and power loss. Need best spark on high speed high load.

Check some plugs for excessive buildup of deposits, could also make it harder to start on wet days, but do wire and coil checks first since poor spark can clog plugs as well.