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No spark on a Ford Taurus
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kingjim9
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Oct 21, 2013, 10:32 AM
Post #1 of 17
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No spark on a Ford Taurus
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Hey everyone, I'm working on a '94 Ford Taurus v6 3.8L and have all crank & no start.
The fuel pressure checked fine at 40psi, so I checked for spark on #4, #5, & $6 Cylinders and found none at the plug.
From there I'm thinking that it's the Ignition Control Module. How can I check to verify that that is the reason I'm not getting any spark before I just go out and buy new parts?
Thanks,
-Jim
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Hammer Time
Ultimate Carjunky
/ Moderator
Oct 21, 2013, 4:30 PM
Post #2 of 17
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Re: No spark on a Ford Taurus
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Check to see if you have injector pulse using a noid light.
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We offer help in answering questions, clarifying things or giving advice but we are not a substitute for an on-site inspection by a professional.
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kingjim9
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Oct 21, 2013, 6:21 PM
Post #3 of 17
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Re: No spark on a Ford Taurus
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Ok so I went out and bought a noid light test kit, unplugged all the injectors and put the light in to the wiring connector. The bulb flashed on and off on all of them.
I plugged all the wires back into the injectors and to my surprise the car started. It is running a little rough though and has a check engine light on. Unfortunately I do not have an OBD-1 scan tool. Is there a way to jump the connector to get the check engine light to flash?
Also just to mention that I did not try to start the vehicle prior to testing for injector pulse.
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Hammer Time
Ultimate Carjunky
/ Moderator
Oct 21, 2013, 6:31 PM
Post #4 of 17
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Re: No spark on a Ford Taurus
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Watch this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBqJfjDTlFk
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We offer help in answering questions, clarifying things or giving advice but we are not a substitute for an on-site inspection by a professional.
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kingjim9
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Oct 22, 2013, 3:03 PM
Post #5 of 17
(4549 views)
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Re: No spark on a Ford Taurus
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Thanks for the video...Unfortunately I wasn't able to get any codes...the light never flashed on and off like it was in test mode. It's possible that this might have been due to corrosion on the test port terminal for that gray plug. I'm going to try cleaning that up and trying again.
Also the vehicle wouldn't start again. Is there any tests I can do on the distributor or the ignition control module to see how their performing?
I'll give a little back story too in case it helps: It was driving down the road and began loosing power (It would take a while to accelerate and the throttle seemed un-responsive or had limited response) She parked the car and went to work and afterwards it had the all crank no start condition.
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Hammer Time
Ultimate Carjunky
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Oct 22, 2013, 3:19 PM
Post #6 of 17
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Re: No spark on a Ford Taurus
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They may vary by year. try this one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p04NPv_gXsI
You know, if you have injector pulse, there is a high likelyhood the ignition Module is bad. They had a lot of problems with those EEC4 modules.
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We offer help in answering questions, clarifying things or giving advice but we are not a substitute for an on-site inspection by a professional.
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kingjim9
User
Oct 22, 2013, 7:28 PM
Post #7 of 17
(4541 views)
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Re: No spark on a Ford Taurus
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Yeah I'll watch a few of those on youtube to try to pin point the procedure for this one.
I'm glad you think it could be the ignition module too. I was reading elsewhere online about it being a common failure.
Is that normal for it to be an on again, off again issue when the ignition module is going bad, being how I randomly had two good starts in a row last night?
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Hammer Time
Ultimate Carjunky
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Oct 23, 2013, 2:08 AM
Post #8 of 17
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Re: No spark on a Ford Taurus
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Yes, that's possible with any electronic component.
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We offer help in answering questions, clarifying things or giving advice but we are not a substitute for an on-site inspection by a professional.
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kingjim9
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Oct 26, 2013, 10:45 AM
Post #9 of 17
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Re: No spark on a Ford Taurus
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alright so we had some rain the last couple days but I was finally able to make it outside today to change the ignition module.
I put the new one in and it fired right up, even faster than before! I still have a Check Engine light on, but I'm going to try each of those procedures you sent me on youtube to try to figure out what code is on for. I did have the battery disconnected when I switched out the ICM so I'd imagine that would have cleared any existing codes.
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Hammer Time
Ultimate Carjunky
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Oct 26, 2013, 12:01 PM
Post #10 of 17
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Re: No spark on a Ford Taurus
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Yes it would have cleared them so this must be a hard code.
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We offer help in answering questions, clarifying things or giving advice but we are not a substitute for an on-site inspection by a professional.
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kingjim9
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Oct 26, 2013, 4:58 PM
Post #11 of 17
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Re: No spark on a Ford Taurus
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Yeah, all the videos I saw on youtube used 1 of 2 methods. One was jumping that gray plug to the battery, and one was jumping that gray plug to a terminal on the black plug. Neither of these methods worked to cause the check engine light to go into diagnostic mode...it just stayed on with the key in the run position.
When its running the idle sounds smooth and doesn't seem to fluctuate much, however the exhaust smells very rich. Do you think from when the ignition module went bad there could have been too much gas not getting ignited and somehow ruining a spark plug or 2?
I'm going to keep searching to see if there are any other methods to try to flash the codes, otherwise I'll see if I can get my hands on an OBD-1 scan too to try to plug it in to see what code the car's throwing.
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Hammer Time
Ultimate Carjunky
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Oct 26, 2013, 5:01 PM
Post #12 of 17
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Re: No spark on a Ford Taurus
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You need to get your hands on a scan tool. You're flying blind.
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We offer help in answering questions, clarifying things or giving advice but we are not a substitute for an on-site inspection by a professional.
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kingjim9
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Oct 31, 2013, 5:51 PM
Post #13 of 17
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Re: No spark on a Ford Taurus
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I ended up buying a scan tool, I plugged it in and still got no response. When you first turn on the scanner it just displays 000, it has you press the 'test' button to initiate the self test procedure on the EEC-IV and display any stored codes, however it never turns off of 000.
The scan tool is specifically made for Ford's with EEC-IV computer also. Do you have any ideas as to what could be up?
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Hammer Time
Ultimate Carjunky
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Oct 31, 2013, 5:54 PM
Post #14 of 17
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Re: No spark on a Ford Taurus
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Those cheap code readers are just unreliable.
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We offer help in answering questions, clarifying things or giving advice but we are not a substitute for an on-site inspection by a professional.
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kingjim9
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Oct 31, 2013, 7:31 PM
Post #15 of 17
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Re: No spark on a Ford Taurus
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Do you think it could be a problem with the PCM? I'm just wondering why it wouldn't flash codes, and now the reader seems to operate but won't link with the computer.
I'll definitely have to check to make sure the circuit is in tact from the EEC Test connector to the PCM but other than that it just seems odd it won't give codes at all.
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Hammer Time
Ultimate Carjunky
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Nov 1, 2013, 2:33 AM
Post #16 of 17
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Re: No spark on a Ford Taurus
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Anything is possible but i wouldn't jump to any conclusions until someone has tried a real professional scan tool on it and i don't mean the code readers you buy at the parts stores. I'm talking about a tool that costs over $5000.
Here's the wiring diagram
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We offer help in answering questions, clarifying things or giving advice but we are not a substitute for an on-site inspection by a professional.
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kingjim9
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Nov 1, 2013, 6:02 PM
Post #17 of 17
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Re: No spark on a Ford Taurus
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Alright, thanks for your help. I'm check the circuit from the STI and Data Link Connectors to the PCM just to verify the wire didn't get broken somewhere along the way. And if that checks out, I'll probably just get it towed somewhere to at least pay them to diagnose the problem...then decide if it's worth fixing based on the estimate.
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