Engine barely starts, bogs, and dies. HELP

daddystang

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Aug 13, 2006
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Got a big big problem. Went for a ride today, and everything was fine, got home to back up in the driveway, and the motor just died. When I try to restart it, it takes a while like it either starved for fuel, or flooded. It just pops and sputters similar to backfire. If I keep pumping the gas pedal I can get it to start reving up, but as soon as I let off the clutch to move it starts sputtering and dies. While I try to get it to rev up, my son said a few white puffs of smoke came out the tail pipes, but I don't think it's a blown head gasket, because he said when I was reving it, the smoke went away. I got the key on engine off codes, and got a 41-lean condition, 91-lean condition, and a 96 which had a few things in the book that it could be, one of which is a fuel pump circuit failure. I checked for any wires that might be burnt, vacuum hoses that might be cracked. I'm baffled, it ran good just a few minutes before it died, even got a pretty good burn out. thank god it died in the driveway. It's got a three month old 255lph BBK fuel pump. Is there a relay or something some where. I can hear the fuel pump come on when I turn the key. You all were a big help with my over heating problem, so please any help on this problem would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.....
 
Code 96 – KOEO- Fuel pump monitor circuit shows no power - Fuel pump relay or battery power feed was open - Power / Fuel Pump Circuits. The fuel pump circuit lost power at one time or another.

Look for a failing fuel pump relay, bad connections or broken wiring. The fuel pump relay is located under the Mass Air Meter on Fox bodied stangs built after 91. On earlier model cars is under the passenger seat. On Mass Air Conversions, the signal lead that tells the computer that the fuel pump has power may not have been wired correctly. See http://www.stangnet.com/tech/maf/massairconversion.html

To help troubleshoot the 96 code for 91-93 models see http://www.autozone.com/images/cds/gif/large/0900823d80195960.gif

Look for power at the fuel pump - the fuel pump has a connector at the rear of the car with a pink/black wire and a black wire that goes to the fuel pump. The pink/black wire should be hot when the test connector is jumpered to the test position. To trick the fuel pump into running, find the ECC test connector and jump the connector in the lower RH corner to ground. http://www.mustangworks.com/articles/electronics/eec-iv_codes.html for a description of the test connector. it. No voltage when jumpered, check the fuel pump relay and fuse links.

Power feed: Look for 12 volts at the pink/black wire (power source for fuel pump relay). No voltage or low voltage, bad fuse link, bad wiring, or connections. Remember that on 92 or later models the fuel pump relay is located under the Mass Air meter. Watch out for the WOT A/C control relay on these cars, as it is located in the same place and can easily be mistaken for the fuel pump relay.

Relay: Turn on the key and jumper the ECC test connector as previously described. Look for 12 volts at the dark green\yellow wire (relay controlled power for the fuel pump). No voltage there means that the relay has failed, or there is a broken wire in the relay control circuit.


Fuel Pump Troubleshooting for 91-93 Mustangs

Clue – listen for the fuel pump to prime when you first turn the ignition switch on.
It should run for 5-20 seconds and shut off. To trick the fuel pump into running,
find the ECC test connector and jump the connector in the lower RH corner to
ground.
attachment.php

If the fuse links are OK, you will have power to the pump. Check fuel pressure –
remove the cap from the Schrader valve behind the alternator and depress the
core. Fuel should squirt out, catch it in a rag. A tire pressure gauge can also be
used if you have one - look for 37-40 PSI. Beware of fire hazard when you do this.


No fuel pressure, possible failed items in order of their probability:
A.) Tripped inertia switch – press reset button on the inertia switch. The hatch
cars hide it under the plastic trim covering the driver's side taillight. Use the
voltmeter or test light to make sure you have power to both sides of the switch

B.) Fuel pump Relay: On 92 and later model cars it is located below the Mass Air Flow meter.

C.) Clogged fuel filter
D.) Failed fuel pump
E.) Blown fuse link in wiring harness.
F.) Fuel pressure regulator failed. Remove vacuum line from regulator and inspect
for fuel escaping while pump is running.

The electrical circuit for the fuel pump has two paths, a control path and a power
path.

The control path consists of the computer, and the fuel pump relay coil. It turns
the fuel pump relay on or off under computer control. The switched power (red
wire) from the ECC relay goes to the relay coil and then from the relay coil to the
computer (light blue\orange wire). The computer provides the ground path to
complete the circuit. This ground causes the relay coil to energize and close the
contacts for the power path. Keep in mind that you can have voltage to all the
right places, but the computer must provide a ground. If there is no ground, the
relay will not close the power contacts.

The power path picks up from a fuse link near the starter relay. Fuse links are like
fuses, except they are pieces of wire and are made right into the wiring harness.
The feed wire from the fuse link (pink/black wire) goes to the fuel pump relay
contacts. When the contacts close because the relay energizes, the power flows
through the pink/black wire to the contacts and through the dark green\yellow
wire to the inertia switch. The other side of the inertia switch with the
brown\pink wire joins the pink/black wire that connects to the fuel pump. The fuel
pump has a black wire that supplies the ground to complete the circuit.

Remember that the computer does not source any power to actuators, relays
or injectors, but provides the ground necessary to complete the circuit. That
means one side of the circuit will always be hot, and the other side will go to
ground or below 1 volt as the computer switches on that circuit.


0900823d80195960.gif

diagram of the wiring for 91-93 cars.

Power circuits:
Power feed: Look for 12 volts at the pink/black wire (power source for fuel pump relay).
No voltage or low voltage, bad fuse link, bad wiring, or connections. Remember that on 92
or later models the fuel pump relay is located under the Mass Air meter. Watch out for the
WOT A/C control relay on these cars, as it is located in the same place and can easily be
mistaken for the fuel pump relay.

Relay: Turn on the key and jumper the ECC test connector as previously described. Look
for 12 volts at the dark green\yellow wire (relay controlled power for the fuel pump). No
voltage there means that the relay has failed, or there is a broken wire in the relay control circuit.

Inertia switch: Check the brown/pink wire, it should have 12 volts. No 12 volts there, either
the inertia switch is open or has no power to it. Check both sides of the inertia switch: there
should be power on the dark green\yellow (inertia switch input) and brown/pink wire
(inertia switch output). Power on the dark green\yellow wire and not on the brown/pink wire
means the inertia switch is open. Press on the red plunger to reset it to the closed position.
Sometimes the inertia switch will be intermittent or will not pass full power. Be sure that
there is 12 volts on both sides of the switch with the pump running and that the voltage drop
measured across the switch is less than .75 volts.

Control circuits:

Relay: The red wire for the fuel pump relay coil gets its power feed from the ECC relay.
No 12 volts here, and the ECC relay has failed or there is bad wiring or bad connections
coming from it. The ECC relay is located on top of the computer, which is under the passenger’s
side kick panel. It is not easy to get to, you must have small hands or pull the passenger side
dash speaker out to access it.

Relay: The light blue/orange wire provides a ground path for the relay power. With the test
connector jumpered according to the previous instructions, there should be less than .75 volts.
Use a test lamp with one side connected to battery power and the other side to the light blue/orange
wire on the fuel pump relay. The test light should glow brightly. No glow and you have a broken
wire or bad connection between the test connector and the relay. To test the wiring from the
computer, remove the passenger side kick panel and disconnect the computer connector.
It has a 10 MM bolt that holds it in place. Remove the test jumper from the ECC test connector.
With the test lamp connected to power, jumper pin 22 to ground and the test lamp should glow.
No glow and the wiring between the computer and the fuel pump relay is bad.

Computer: If you got this far and everything else checked out good, the computer is suspect .
Remove the test jumper from the ECC test connector located under the hood . Remove the
plastic cover over the computer wiring, but leave the computer wiring connector plugged
into the computer. With the ignition switch in the run position, connect a test lamp to the
battery and back probe pin 22, the light blue/orange wire with it. The lamp should glow
brightly. No glow and the computer has died a sad death. :( If you used a voltmeter instead
of a test lamp, you should see battery voltage, whatever that may be…

See the following website for some help from Tmoss (diagram designer) & Stang&2Birds (website host) for help on 88-95 wiring http://www.veryuseful.com/mustang/tech/engine/

Fuel pump runs continuously: The light blue/orange wire has shorted to ground. Disconnect
the computer and use an ohmmeter to check out the resistance between the light blue/orange
wire and ground. You should see more than 10 K Ohms (10,000 ohms) or an infinite open
circuit. Be sure that the test connector isn’t jumpered to ground.
 
daddystang said:
Got a big big problem. Went for a ride today, and everything was fine, got home to back up in the driveway, and the motor just died. When I try to restart it, it takes a while like it either starved for fuel, or flooded. It just pops and sputters similar to backfire. If I keep pumping the gas pedal I can get it to start reving up, but as soon as I let off the clutch to move it starts sputtering and dies. While I try to get it to rev up, my son said a few white puffs of smoke came out the tail pipes, but I don't think it's a blown head gasket, because he said when I was reving it, the smoke went away. I got the key on engine off codes, and got a 41-lean condition, 91-lean condition, and a 96 which had a few things in the book that it could be, one of which is a fuel pump circuit failure. I checked for any wires that might be burnt, vacuum hoses that might be cracked. I'm baffled, it ran good just a few minutes before it died, even got a pretty good burn out. thank god it died in the driveway. It's got a three month old 255lph BBK fuel pump. Is there a relay or something some where. I can hear the fuel pump come on when I turn the key. You all were a big help with my over heating problem, so please any help on this problem would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.....Come on someone has to know something....
 
daddystang said:
Someone has to know something, any help will be great appriciated
If you are looking for someone to tell you go and replace this part and your troubles will be over, it isn't going to happen.

You got a fuel pump circuit failure code that could trigger the 41/91 lean codes. Fix the fuel pump circuit and then chase other rabbits after that.
 
jrichker, thanks for the very in depth reply and diagrams. I'm going to check things out tonight, and I'll let you know what I find. Thanks again..... By the way, someone else in my house entered the previous statement. He just thought someone might have had the same exeact problem with a quick fix. We know theres rarely ever a quick fix. Thanks again jrichker.
 
Hey guys, I checked for voltage at the relay, fuel pump, and the inertia switch, and everything looks good. The fuel pump comes on good, but if I just turn the key to on, I hear the pump prime, but when I look at the fuel pressure guage it reads 0lbs. Is this right, will it only read pressure when the engine is running. I took off the intake to remove a valve cover to adjust a loose rocker, and found the upper to lower intake gasket was wet with fuel on the back 4 runners only. The front half of the gasket is dry. I smelled the gasket, and it smelled like fuel, but when the car was running you don't smell excess gas. My air/fuel guage has been in the high rich area for the past few weeks. It goes down to the middle after driving for a while, but does go all the way back up occasionally. I'm thinking this wet gasket can't be good. Anyone seen that before. I have brand new 24lb flow balanced injectors if that matters, I'm not sure. Flow balanced sounded good when I bought them. I'm thinking that this and the not starting are tide together. Anymore assistance would be great. Thank you.....
 
You will have fuel pressure anytime the pump is running. Zero PSI with the switch on and no pressure means pump problems of one flavor or another.