hey everyone so i've been having issues with my mustang recently and have done some trouble shooting and part replacing, but still having issues.
all stock except it has (last 6 months) ford racing plug wires, iridium xp plugs, and msd coil pack, ebay cold air intake.
now, this car has an alarm system (code alarm?) but im not sure if its dealer installed or not. it's a mirage 4500 from what i can tell, and i really can't find much if any info on it at all. now this has always been a little picky sometimes i have to push the unlock button to start the carand sometimes i don't. the lights have flashed maybe twice but the red light on the dash does all sorts of stuff. there is no siren as far as i can see, there is a black and red wire spliced together near the brake booster, assuming its for that but not sure.
checked the fuses all looked good
all wire connectors under the hood looked good
checked for vacuum leaks when it was running
so about a week ago it just cranked and cranked and would not start. my buddy came by and after checking a few things we tried seeing if it had fuel pressure by pushing the nipple on the Schrader valve and at first no fuel came out. after a few key on key off's and it squirted some fuel out. tried cranking it several times by doing full key cycles, off on start at least 10 times. it finally fired up. ran great. next day, same thing, crank no start and it eventually started after trying it several times.
fast forward a few days it kept having intermittent crank no start issues. then about 2 days ago it started doing a crank-no-start but as soon as i let off the key it would fire up and run great.. it worked that way up until yesterday when it again crank no start. fuel pressure regulator vacuum hose had a crack but not sure if i caused that or not but replaced it with another piece of hose. i replaced the cap and rotor. put battery charger on 100amp engine start because the battery seemed like it needed it. crank no start. then i replaced the ignition lock cylinder as well. finally after that it fired up after a few tries. ran great, no more popping (it had been "lean" popping for a little while, i assumed it was because the hose had a crack in it but idk if it cracked before or after i removed it when checking the regulator. but it had been lean popping for a good while before all that
so today again crank no start
checked injector power, coil power, both good.
checked coil pulse on yellow power-ground side of coil connector, no pulse (home made light, light bulb with wires soldered on and one side connected to ground and one to the yellow wire.)
dimmed and flashed once but no pulse.
replaced tfi module
again no pulse
hooked a random spark plug up to one of the wires, no spark
put old coil back on
still, crank no start.
replaced ignition switch
after messing with it for a while it did finally start but we had to jiggle and wiggle and slightly turn or let off of the key and it would fire up. it did this several times, every time only starting when the key was let off a tiny bit or played with in a certain way
eventually it stopped starting again.
messed with the lock cylinder, after a while got it to start again.
again after a while crank no start.
the lock cylinder does seem like its funny going in because once you start it in it won't go all the way unless you turn it clockwise a tad bit. then it goes in. but not sure if pin is dropping all the way down, but it does lock in there.
i took the ignition switch off and tried starting it by manually moving the switch. crank no start.
we started looking at the alarm system because it had been doing things it has never done before
the lights started flashing, and the car was doing weird things. the fuel pump would run again after having it in the start crank position and then somethings where clicking and making noise under the hood... one time after cranking it and letting off it bumped itself like we tried cranking it for a split second again.car kept doing strange things like clicking and the alarm system was flashing and the red light flashing all sorts of different ways but the battery may of been drained. put charger on. still having issues. tried different battery, cleaned ground cable, (the battery cables look pretty coroded inside but get good power)..volt metered all fuses under the hood, everything ok.
still crank no start
replaced a toggle switch connected to the alarm system as i messed up the toggle part of it and it wouldn't do move anymore.
i've always had to push the unlock button on the remote as the red light on dash would flash and click and the start position of key did nothing until you unlocked it with the fob. sometimes it would start without pushing unlock and it wouldn't flash/click. and the front and rear lights as well as illumination of dash/radio/clock where flashing everytime opened the door or tried to start the car. they NEVER flashed before today.
manually moving the ign switch gives same results
not sure if i messed up the alarm system some how by pushing the button or the toggle switch connected to it or not but it's doing things it never did before
a new distributor will be available at oreillys tomorrow because i thought the pip was causing the issue until it would start when messing with how far the key was rotated/gently let off of
can't find any info on the alarm system
the black box (constant control relay box?) on the overflow bracket and other things under the hood where clicking and making strange noises but i think the battery kept draining down too much
again it has no pulse on the yellow wire on coil but does pulse once. but if key is let off a second after cranking it was starting and running great. but then again crank no start
would appreciate if anyone can point me in the right direction need to get it fixed soon as possible so i can commute to work
sorry for such a long thread, but details are definitely needed here as i have read it could be anything and everything electronics related
not sure what to do at this point
Thanks so much
all stock except it has (last 6 months) ford racing plug wires, iridium xp plugs, and msd coil pack, ebay cold air intake.
now, this car has an alarm system (code alarm?) but im not sure if its dealer installed or not. it's a mirage 4500 from what i can tell, and i really can't find much if any info on it at all. now this has always been a little picky sometimes i have to push the unlock button to start the carand sometimes i don't. the lights have flashed maybe twice but the red light on the dash does all sorts of stuff. there is no siren as far as i can see, there is a black and red wire spliced together near the brake booster, assuming its for that but not sure.
checked the fuses all looked good
all wire connectors under the hood looked good
checked for vacuum leaks when it was running
so about a week ago it just cranked and cranked and would not start. my buddy came by and after checking a few things we tried seeing if it had fuel pressure by pushing the nipple on the Schrader valve and at first no fuel came out. after a few key on key off's and it squirted some fuel out. tried cranking it several times by doing full key cycles, off on start at least 10 times. it finally fired up. ran great. next day, same thing, crank no start and it eventually started after trying it several times.
fast forward a few days it kept having intermittent crank no start issues. then about 2 days ago it started doing a crank-no-start but as soon as i let off the key it would fire up and run great.. it worked that way up until yesterday when it again crank no start. fuel pressure regulator vacuum hose had a crack but not sure if i caused that or not but replaced it with another piece of hose. i replaced the cap and rotor. put battery charger on 100amp engine start because the battery seemed like it needed it. crank no start. then i replaced the ignition lock cylinder as well. finally after that it fired up after a few tries. ran great, no more popping (it had been "lean" popping for a little while, i assumed it was because the hose had a crack in it but idk if it cracked before or after i removed it when checking the regulator. but it had been lean popping for a good while before all that
so today again crank no start
checked injector power, coil power, both good.
checked coil pulse on yellow power-ground side of coil connector, no pulse (home made light, light bulb with wires soldered on and one side connected to ground and one to the yellow wire.)
dimmed and flashed once but no pulse.
replaced tfi module
again no pulse
hooked a random spark plug up to one of the wires, no spark
put old coil back on
still, crank no start.
replaced ignition switch
after messing with it for a while it did finally start but we had to jiggle and wiggle and slightly turn or let off of the key and it would fire up. it did this several times, every time only starting when the key was let off a tiny bit or played with in a certain way
eventually it stopped starting again.
messed with the lock cylinder, after a while got it to start again.
again after a while crank no start.
the lock cylinder does seem like its funny going in because once you start it in it won't go all the way unless you turn it clockwise a tad bit. then it goes in. but not sure if pin is dropping all the way down, but it does lock in there.
i took the ignition switch off and tried starting it by manually moving the switch. crank no start.
we started looking at the alarm system because it had been doing things it has never done before
the lights started flashing, and the car was doing weird things. the fuel pump would run again after having it in the start crank position and then somethings where clicking and making noise under the hood... one time after cranking it and letting off it bumped itself like we tried cranking it for a split second again.car kept doing strange things like clicking and the alarm system was flashing and the red light flashing all sorts of different ways but the battery may of been drained. put charger on. still having issues. tried different battery, cleaned ground cable, (the battery cables look pretty coroded inside but get good power)..volt metered all fuses under the hood, everything ok.
still crank no start
replaced a toggle switch connected to the alarm system as i messed up the toggle part of it and it wouldn't do move anymore.
i've always had to push the unlock button on the remote as the red light on dash would flash and click and the start position of key did nothing until you unlocked it with the fob. sometimes it would start without pushing unlock and it wouldn't flash/click. and the front and rear lights as well as illumination of dash/radio/clock where flashing everytime opened the door or tried to start the car. they NEVER flashed before today.
manually moving the ign switch gives same results
not sure if i messed up the alarm system some how by pushing the button or the toggle switch connected to it or not but it's doing things it never did before
a new distributor will be available at oreillys tomorrow because i thought the pip was causing the issue until it would start when messing with how far the key was rotated/gently let off of
can't find any info on the alarm system
the black box (constant control relay box?) on the overflow bracket and other things under the hood where clicking and making strange noises but i think the battery kept draining down too much
again it has no pulse on the yellow wire on coil but does pulse once. but if key is let off a second after cranking it was starting and running great. but then again crank no start
would appreciate if anyone can point me in the right direction need to get it fixed soon as possible so i can commute to work
sorry for such a long thread, but details are definitely needed here as i have read it could be anything and everything electronics related
not sure what to do at this point
Thanks so much
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