Engine Another bad distributor?

Andresquintana.mma · May 28, 2020

My car was idling bad and I was attempting to fix it when my car backfired and didnt start back up, long story short it was a bad distributor which was fairly new about 8 months. Got a new one after I went thru the cranks but doesnt start check list. Today I put the interior back together and and ran my new spark plug wires all neat put the CAI back on and test drove it because I figured the timing was off and it was didnt have much power. I take a break before I time it and get some food hangout for a bit I go back out to time it attempt to start it and cranks but no start again. Tested for spark and no spark at the plug or the coil just like last time. Did my distributor go bad again and if it keeps going out do I have a wiring problem somewhere? Pretty bummed out because I thought I had it going. Let me know what else I need to test or what I should do.Its an 88 MAF conversion with gt40 heads and cobra intake.

txstang84 · May 28, 2020

It's conceivable for a reman to be bad or have crib death, but have you rerun through the cranks but doesn't start checklist? checked the wires back to the ECU? 30 year old wiring is more suspect every day...especially at the salt and pepper shakers, but run the checklist.

Andresquintana.mma · May 28, 2020

txstang84 said:
It's conceivable for a reman to be bad or have crib death, but have you rerun through the cranks but doesn't start checklist? checked the wires back to the ECU? 30 year old wiring is more suspect every day...especially at the salt and pepper shakers, but run the checklist.

I did coil, ignition switch, fuel injectors all had like 11.5 volts or so Ill double check salt and pepper shakers. Im just thinking about dishing out for an MSD distributor if thats the problem I have one on my 89 and always starts up on first try.

txstang84 · May 29, 2020

I hate swapping parts (which equates to wasting money) that don't need to be, so what I'm about to tell you assumes you've eliminated all other possibilities.

If I had two similar units take a dump on me within a year, I'd be looking for a different vendor, OR scouring the junkyards for an 86-91 Crown Vic/Marquis/Town Car or a 92-96 F150. MSD distributors are definitely nice to look at, but I recall hearing a lot of noise about MSD distributors in the past-have they got their act together now?

txstang84 · May 29, 2020

I guess I should've clarified-the salt and pepper shakers don't have anything to do with the distributor-it was a general statement they get corroded over time and lose continuity. The TFI wiring doesn't run through them, and that's what I should've asked. Those wires coming off the TFI are where you should probably look for a failed signal assuming you have 12V at the coil at the red/green wire, but no spark

EDIT: What would be even better is for you to copy/past the checklist in a response and put your results in a different color text after each step...for an internet full of people, that makes it easier to assist you

mikestang63 · May 29, 2020

Have you run the codes

Andresquintana.mma · May 29, 2020

txstang84 said:
I guess I should've clarified-the salt and pepper shakers don't have anything to do with the distributor-it was a general statement they get corroded over time and lose continuity. The TFI wiring doesn't run through them, and that's what I should've asked. Those wires coming off the TFI are where you should probably look for a failed signal assuming you have 12V at the coil at the red/green wire, but no spark

EDIT: What would be even better is for you to copy/past the checklist in a response and put your results in a different color text after each step...for an internet full of people, that makes it easier to assist you

I know I hate swapping parts also , I ran thru the check list and a bad pip or tfi module was the only thing I could get it down to. I was getting 12 volts everywhere unless it’s a bad ignition switch. I’m getting 12 volts at the base of it to the wire but maybe the switch is bad itself? Yeah i got this distributor from autozone and thankfully I have lifetime warranty on it so I actually haven’t had to actually buy the part multiple times. I’ve ran the same mad distributor in my drag car for about 10 years and no problems with the spark at all. It’s ran fine for a long time.
But I’ll get back on the check list just in case and post all my findings.

Andresquintana.mma · May 29, 2020

mikestang63 said:
Have you run the codes

I tried to run the codes and it won’t pull them for some reason checked the wiring and the sti wire ohms are off the charts I’m not sure if I’d have to replace the wire itself or if I’m getting bad signal from the computer. I do have another computer from my drag car to swap into it. I’m just not sure if the computer itself would match up since it’s an 88 converted to MAF. And my 89 is just a regular MAF car.

txstang84 · May 29, 2020

He posted another article a few days ago-looks like he has issues retrieving codes...which leads me to believe he has wiring issues or possibly something wrong with the PCM

Andresquintana.mma · May 29, 2020

txstang84 said:
He posted another article a few days ago-looks like he has issues retrieving codes...which leads me to believe he has wiring issues or possibly something wrong with the PCM

Do you think I should try swapping my computer

txstang84 · May 29, 2020

Andresquintana.mma said:
I tried to run the codes and it won’t pull them for some reason checked the wiring and the sti wire ohms are off the charts I’m not sure if I’d have to replace the wire itself or if I’m getting bad signal from the computer. I do have another computer from my drag car to swap into it. I’m just not sure if the computer itself would match up since it’s an 88 converted to MAF. And my 89 is just a regular MAF car.

As long as it's the same kind of computer (auto for auto, man for man) you'll be good...don't put a manual computer in place of an auto, the O2 harnesses are different and it'll feed 12v to a circuit that only takes 5v.

txstang84 · May 29, 2020

What computers do you have installed in your vehicles?

Andresquintana.mma · May 29, 2020

txstang84 said:
What computers do you have installed in your vehicles?

Race car is a a9s and the daily is d3d1 both standard cars.

txstang84 · May 29, 2020

then they should interchange

Andresquintana.mma · May 29, 2020

txstang84 said:
then they should interchange

Ok ill check it out right now

txstang84 · May 29, 2020

I would caution that you might have a wiring issue...might be better to check the harness before putting in another computer

Blown88GT · May 29, 2020

If you get an MSD, it needs to be the Pro-Billet with the steel gear.
They are expensive because the Ford units are no longer available.

txstang84 · May 29, 2020

You said you checked continuity on the STI and the ohms were high. Was that with the computer connected or disconnected? IF it's high with the computer connected, you're trying to shoot continuity through the ECU...if it's high with the computer disconnected, and the wire isn't shorted to anything already, you have a high resistance short. If it's disco'd, it should be open/infinite resistance

Andresquintana.mma · May 29, 2020

txstang84 said:
I would caution that you might have a wiring issue...might be better to check the harness before putting in another computer

Ok what wiring should I check? I’m not all that great with electrical. Would bad wiring cause the distributor to fail?

Andresquintana.mma · May 29, 2020

Blown88GT said:
If you get an MSD, it needs to be the Pro-Billet with the steel gear.
They are expensive because the Ford units are no longer available.

Yes sir that’s the one I’m running in my other car.

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