fixable or not?

I

ISUrb33

New Member

Jul 15, 2006

30

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Longview TX

Jan 8, 2009

#1

• Jan 8, 2009

• #1

Im having a problem with a factory 95 GT. The car has been taken to the local firestone and ford dealership to be checked out and put on their diagnostic machine. They both couldnt find anything wrong with the car. The problem im having is the car will randomly crank. When it does decide to crank it will run for about 2 minutes and then die and will not crank again. If I let it sit for a few days and it might crank again and it might not, its random. I have replaced the battery, fuel Pump, and the FS SF module and I am still having this probelm. They said the distributor and starter are fine. I was thinking maybe its a short but I dont know how to find it and both companies couldnt find a short. The Ford dealership called their main headquarters so they said and they didnt know what to do. Has anyone heard of this happening? Im open to all options but im to the point where im fed up and almost ready to get rid of the car. What good is spending money on a car that wont stay cranked. I hope someone can help, thanks.

 

HISSIN50

"How long does it take to get help in here?

15 Year Member

Nov 29, 1999

31,179

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Jan 8, 2009

#2

• Jan 8, 2009

• #2

When you say crank, do you mean crank over or catch? Cranking is "whir whir whir" and catching is "whir whir whir varoom" and then the engine idles.

Intermittant cranking is likely a bad Clutch safety switch or possibly a bad connection at the solenoid.

Cranking but no-catching can be a TON of things. More info will tell us which diagnostic pathway to suggest.

BTW, you have some nice parts in that thing.

 

94-302-vert

Active Member

Aug 16, 2004

1,947

2

36

NE CT

Jan 8, 2009

#3

• Jan 8, 2009

• #3

Is the coil still good? How have you tested it?

 

Zero_chance

Founding Member

May 29, 2001

1,244

7

59

Maricopa, AZ

Jan 8, 2009

#4

• Jan 8, 2009

• #4

Need a better explanation like Hissin is saying. Is the car not running or not trying to crank over?

 

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ISUrb33

New Member

Jul 15, 2006

30

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0

Longview TX

Jan 8, 2009

#5

• Jan 8, 2009

• #5

When I say crank i mean the car turns on and is running, but its random. Some times it will turn on but most of the time it will just turn over but never start. They have not mentioned the coil but I will ask when they call me with news about the car. Ill post any other news as i get it.

Also, keep in mind the car is completely stock, its my daily driver, not the car in my weekend toy.

 

Car Nut

Founding Member

Jul 6, 2000

1,176

1

37

Snellville, Georgia (Atlanta area)

Jan 8, 2009

#6

• Jan 8, 2009

• #6

A couple years or more ago, I had starting issues and thought it might the the alternator, battery, and/or starter. I cleaned up the battery-to-block ground at the block and all the starting problems went away. I then later swapped the frame-to-block ground with a large negative battery cable (foot long maybe) and all electrical gremlins went away and made an overall positive difference.

Check, clean, and/or replace the basic grounds (they are simply too weak on our cars, even for stock). I added an additional ground from the battery to the radiator support as well.

This may not solve your problems, but I'd not go further without doing this at a cost of roughly $10 and 30 minutes. Since you seem to have not yet purchased this car. ask them to clean the grounds and fire it up. Simple step to do, but again it might not be the main issue.

Good luck!

 

B

br95gt

New Member

Jul 2, 2007

8

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1

Jan 9, 2009

#7

• Jan 9, 2009

• #7

I had a similar problem with my 1987 Bronco a few years ago. It also has a 5.0 motor in it. The dealership finally found that it was a faulty Throttle Position Sensor. The part was cheap, but the 7 hours labor to find the problem was not. Not sure if this will help, but figured I'd throw the idea out to you.

 

desertcox05

New Member

Oct 3, 2007

379

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0

south atlanta

Jan 9, 2009

#8

• Jan 9, 2009

• #8

a bad distributor will also cause an intermitant no start. it's also common for em to go bad in the 5.0's

 

I

ISUrb33

New Member

Jul 15, 2006

30

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0

Longview TX

Jan 9, 2009

#9

• Jan 9, 2009

• #9

They said the coil is fine and at one point they said the problem was the throttle position sensor and claimed to have fixed it. I brought the car back home drove it for about a week then it starting haveing the same problem again. Here is everything that has been replaced or checked on the car within the month and its still acting up. It has a new battery, new alternator, new fuel pump, the coil, distributor and throttle position sensor have been checked, the stater, SF anf FS moudule have been replaced as well. If this car wasnt my daily driver I would care as much.

I will check the grounds myself if it ever gets out of the shop. Another reason I think it may be a short is sometimes while driving if i hit a bump hard enough in the road the car would turn off. The ford mechanics and the mechanics at firestone claimed they checked and didnt find any shorts so I dont know.

 

I

ISUrb33

New Member

Jul 15, 2006

30

0

0

Longview TX

Jan 22, 2009

#10

• Jan 22, 2009

• #10

The car is finally out of the shop, it drove home perfectly fine. It still have the same problem so i guess ill just give up and sell it. What should I ask for? its a 95, 5.0 liter, daily driver, never been wrecked, completely stock, and has a little uner 100K miles on it.

 

Venom351R

Founding Member

Apr 27, 2002

4,548

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MAINE

Jan 23, 2009

#11

• Jan 23, 2009

• #11

I have no idea whats wrong w/ it but why do you say its stock but your sig says differently? Just curious

 

95BlueStallion

My assy trans to myself

15 Year Member

Feb 22, 2007

5,129

3,100

214

Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Jan 23, 2009

#12

• Jan 23, 2009

• #12

Try replacing the ground cable from the frame to the block. Its cheap and easy, and it may just help you out. I had a funky elec. problem when I hit my door lock button my left blinker would flash. I replaced the ground strap and the problem went away. You might just get lucky with it. I used 1/0 battery cable for it btw.

 

HISSIN50

"How long does it take to get help in here?

15 Year Member

Nov 29, 1999

31,179

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Jan 23, 2009

#13

• Jan 23, 2009

• #13

Redline_351R said:

I have no idea whats wrong w/ it but why do you say its stock but your sig says differently? Just curious

Click to expand...

ISUrb33 said:

Also, keep in mind the car is completely stock, its my daily driver, not the car in my weekend toy.

Click to expand...

I initially wondered the same thing. I didn't know it was two different cars.



To ISUrb33, have you had codes retrieved? When it would not start, I would hope that someone has checked spark, injector pulsing and fuel pressure, especially since parts have been replaced.

The tough part with projects like this is getting it to act up when it's at a shop. If you can spend the time getting it to act up in your driveway, you should find the issue. Either it will probably be a part that was already replaced or a loose wiring connection. I would start by wiggle testing wires while it idles. It does take some time though......

Good luck.

 

Venom351R

Founding Member

Apr 27, 2002

4,548

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MAINE

Jan 24, 2009

#14

• Jan 24, 2009

• #14

HISSIN50 said:

I initially wondered the same thing. I didn't know it was two different cars.
.

Click to expand...

Possible but that would mean he had a 95 daily driver and the one in the sig but I was not sure if that was it or not.


What it comes down to is that there is something wrong with it and its prob not all that serious but its just a matter of finding what it is which seems to be the problem here. Being that its your daily driver makes it more of an issue.

 

I

ISUrb33

New Member

Jul 15, 2006

30

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0

Longview TX

Jan 24, 2009

#15

• Jan 24, 2009

• #15

Redline_351, the one in my sig is my weekend toy. I like the 94/95 mustang so much I also have one as my daily driver, I kept my daily driver stock.

HISSIN50, both of the mechanics I took the car to said when the car did cause a problem for them they said the computer would fix itself before the machince could read read any codes. Im not sure if thats true or not because i dont know anything about that stuff.

 

HISSIN50

"How long does it take to get help in here?

15 Year Member

Nov 29, 1999

31,179

34

129

Jan 24, 2009

#16

• Jan 24, 2009

• #16

A code that keeps a car from running will be stored, even if the CEL is not on at the present time.

However, a situation with a hard-part failure might not set a code. Sometimes it does, or sometimes another system picks up an anomaly and logs a code to help narrow it down.

 

hotcobra03

Active Member

Nov 29, 1999

969

4

39

poteet,tx

Jan 24, 2009

#17

• Jan 24, 2009

• #17

no start

if ford and another shop has gone over things,than this could get tricky......if i has to guess i would say fuel/spark///spark plugs do foul out easy with getting flooded.which would cause hard to start...i once had a fuel pump relay stick and cause no fuel pressure...i dont suggest using starting fluid on a gas vehicle..but if its not getting fuel how else can you tell...hission50 has already told you some things to check//the only thing strang is you say it cuts off when hitting bumps//could be a short in a harness

 

drakesdad

Member

Jul 29, 2005

961

0

16

Oregon OHIO

Jan 24, 2009

#18

• Jan 24, 2009

• #18

don't sell the car...hold onto it and find it..bet it is a easy fix, but hard find...I had a vert cav years ago before getting into working on cars myself that had all of the symptoms yours does and 3 shops threw parts at it and bills at me and never corrected it...ended up going to BP pro- care of all places and it was a bad injector.......fight threw this and keep the dd...you may regret it and for sure if you sell it and lose $ and find out it was a simple fix.....it's hard I know, when you get fed up......stay focused and don't give up.

oh and and to add to what JT said....if you go to places like Autozone they have the cheaper scanners that if the problem isn't acting up they can't see it but a pro shop should use the Scanmasters that get the stored codes.......unless you want to try the manual search...

 

2

2002BLGT

Well-Known Member

Dec 18, 2003

2,945

4

59

Bedford VA

Jan 24, 2009

#19

• Jan 24, 2009

• #19

personally first thing you need to do is when the car does not crank is check fuel pressure with a manual guage , if its at 39 then you know you are getting fuel to the rail , if not then you have a bad fuel pump , FP relay or wiring problem to the pump .....

Then i would pull a plug wire off and and make sure you are getting spark , you will need to do this when its actually screwing up , if you dont have spark then I would replace all 4 of the following even if you have had them tested before , Distributor , Ignition Module , Coil , and Ignition Starter switch down on the steering column

 

KamiKaziDK

Member

May 16, 2005

555

0

17

Mesa, Az

Jan 28, 2009

#20

• Jan 28, 2009

• #20

You've got two cars........I wouldn't take the shops advice if I were you, most new mechanics are computer junkies that can't diagnose problems if their life depended on it. Start replacing one part from your good weekend toy onto the stocker at a time until the problem completely goes away, then you know what's wrong. Start with all those parts the shop said were good. And I double the "check all your grounds" comment too.