1988 Ford Tempo starting

What kind of fuel injection do you have? TB or multiport?On TB you can take off the bonnet and watch fuel spray. You can also disconnect injector plug to elimnate flooding. Have you checked spark at plugs? These cars are notorious for bad/iffy coil wires. You should also pull your plugs and sand blast/clean or replace if they are dark. What makes plugs short out is when the porcelain below the firing tip is coated with black carbon residue. Wet fuel then provides conductor for short. I've cured a lot of no stat almost starts on tempos with new plugs!