Please help. I'm about to push this thing into the street so a truck can hit it. Why push? Because it won't run. I have been struggling with a crank / no start problem for three weeks. I have gone through jrichter's Cranks OK, but No Start Checklist for Fuel Injected Mustangs several times, IN ORDER, as well as several other troubleshooting attempts.
What I did to the car:
1) Removed a phenolic spacer that was between the upper and lower intakes and installed a new gasket, removed Aeromotive adjustable FPR and installed a Delphi FR10038 from Rockauto (the Aeromotive would not fit without the phenolic spacer), removed BBK cold air intake and installed LMR's stock style air box; installed a new PMAS HPX-E MAF element in their 85mm tube.
2) Removed the Microsquirt EEC, AEM wideband, and A pillar gauges, and installed an A9L computer that had been repaired, and installed a Quarterhorse.
3) Removed the single 15" Black Magic radiator fan and the wiring that caught fire because the install job of the wiring sucked and removed the 3G alternator wiring that was not to my standard, along with other wiring that was burned up. Installed LMR'S Contour fan kit, ran proper 3G alternator power wiring, installed the Ron Francis FH-084 headlight / 3G alternator harness (that I repinned and added the proper voltage sensing wire to), installed an FH-033 A/C compressor harness, installed an FH-026 oxygen sensor harness, and installed two NTK oxygen sensors.
4) Removed the stock gauge cluster, speedo cable, and VSS. Installed Dakota Digital RTX gauges, a home made DIM-1 pot, a GPS speed box with remote antenna, and a Bluetooth fan controller that came with the LMR Contour. Replaced the headlight switch, the hazard switch, the dimmer switch, and put in all new pigtails for these.
5) Removed all of the ghetto wiring behind the dash and in the engine bay and replaced it with proper automotive wiring with uninsulated crimps and glue heatshrink, put together with real crimpers and a good heat gun. All wiring is run through fuses, uses properly sized wiring, and properly sized connectors.
Current status:
Car started fine before all of this work. The car has been down for ~6 months. I hear the fuel pump prime for about 1 second. Previous owner has documentation that shows the pump is a 190 lph unit.
1) Car cranks but does not start.
2) I put a wet paper towel in the #1 spark plug hole and bumped the starter until the paper towel popped out. The balancer stopped right at the 10 deg before TDC line. I rotated the balancer another 10 degrees with a 15/16" socket and stabbed the distributor to align the rotor to the #1 spark plug wire. I cranked the car with a remote starter switch and set the timing to 10 deg before TDC. I am very certain that the timing is correct.
3) The car did not have spark from the coil with a Lisle 20610 Inline Spark Tester so I installed a grey NOS Ford E6SF-12A297-A1A TFI that tested good with a Kastar 271a tester. Car now has spark from the coil.
4) Car has spark at the #5 plug with the Lisle spark tester.
5) Coil ground flashes a test light when the car cranks.
6) Fuel injectors did not light up a Lisle noid light, so I thought I had a PIP failure. I removed the MSD distributor that came on the car and I installed a new POS (I said it before anyone else can) Autozone Duralast distributor with a new PIP sensor. Fuel injectors now light up a noid light.
7) Car does not start with starting fluid that has 50% ether.
8) I have 39 psi of fuel pressure when the pump primes. The fuel pressure goes to 40 psi when I jumper the pump on the test connector. The fuel pressure bleeds down to 10 psi in about 5-10 seconds after the pump is shut off. The fuel pressure goes to 38 psi when cranking but bleeds down to 20 psi after 7-8 seconds. The exhaust stinks of fuel. The fuel pressure regulator does not have fuel in the vacuum tube.
9) I wondered if the old MSD coil was not putting out enough juice so I installed a new Motorcraft DG470 coil from Rockauto. No change.
10) Post 36 has a testing process for the computer. Per this test my computer was bad. So I replaced it with a fresh out of the box EEC Exchange computer without a Quarterhorse. No change.
What size injectors and are you sure you have the tuning for the quarter horse correct for you combo?
I’d say that if you had a stock MAF and 19 lb/hr injectors I would pull the Quarter Horse until you got it running like that. Waaaaay too many variables here.
What size injectors and are you sure you have the tuning for the quarter horse correct for you combo?
I’d say that if you had a stock MAF and 19 lb/hr injectors I would pull the Quarter Horse until you got it running like that. Waaaaay too many variables here.
I’m a clown. In my rush to button everything up before I pick up pizza for dinner… I left the coil wire off. It runs now so time to put the quarter horse back in and tune it. One dead PIP and one weak coil did me in.
Walking away for three hours gave me good perspective lol. I'm going to install the previous EEC and QH and put this new EEC back in the box. If no other gremlins show up I'll be driving it tomorrow and finally tuning!!