1992 ford taurus sho will not start

[Bryan]

Okay so my 1992 Taurus Sho will not start. Car cranks, and I can hear the wirring sound of the fuel pump. Yesterday while driving it after a LONG downtime of over six months of storage, a dead battery needing complete recharge it will not start today. Now I did notice it was idling somewhat rough, and one time it did start then idled rough and died. Started back up though. Tried multiple times getting codes from the memory and all it flashed at me is this. Code: III - III - I - III - III. This is all I get. I even pulled the battery to wipe the codes and tried again. What could I possible be looking at?

 

[luigisho]

code 33 is EGR I think. If you have egr in that car. There is also a cannister purge valve ford used to use, I remember on in a friends Ranger back in early 90's. Could be that.

 

[Bryan]

I don't think the EGR is going to cause a no start issue would it? If anything it would just make the car run rich or lean making emissions worse. That or worse fuel economy. I am leaning towards a bad ignition control module. This happened to me on a previous SHO I owned. Considering I can't really get any codes from it. I am going to see if the car is getting any spark. I know I am getting fuel and power. I believe a symptom of a bad ICM is crank and no start. I mean this could also be a crank sensor too, but don't the tend to go out over time instead of just suddenly? Also I have heard the issue with the crank sensor going bad is because of the water pump leaking on it. My water pump doesn't leak.

 

[luigisho]

That water pump thing. I guess it is possible. When I had them go out in 2 different cars there was no leaking pump. The fuel pump is priming so spark or sensor input/ module issue. Do you keep extra used parts on hand? I always used to keep extra computer, DIS, and CCRM on the shelf (and cam and crank sensor when they were easier to get) when I was more involved and used a SHO for daily driver. So many break downs I had to keep stuff on hand to make repair and diagnostics quicker.

 

[Bryan]

That water pump thing. I guess it is possible. When I had them go out in 2 different cars there was no leaking pump. The fuel pump is priming so spark or sensor input/ module issue. Do you keep extra used parts on hand? I always used to keep extra computer, DIS, and CCRM on the shelf (and cam and crank sensor when they were easier to get) when I was more involved and used a SHO for daily driver. So many break downs I had to keep stuff on hand to make repair and diagnostics quicker.

Ordered a ICM from NAPA. will come in next week. I also got one of the new production crank sensors ShoSource sells. Going to try ICM when it arrives next week. Other than that only other thing I can think of is the coil pack may be bad as well. However at this point I am going with previous experience on my older SHO when the ICM when out.

 

[zoomlater]

if your car is a 92, then you will have three digit codes. Two digit codes are for Gen 1 cars, 1989 to 1991. is your computer an X2J. Was there a long pause between the 3 and the 1, or was it the same time between them

or were the I I I actually three single lights with equal time between them. a 3 would be three quick lights. If so, then 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 means there are no codes

 

[Bryan]

Okay so car started today oddly enough. Trying to figure out what is going on here.

 

[luigisho]

Cam sensor, crank sensor, rarer dis fault or pcm fault I would guess. Should throw a code though

 

[Bryan]

Cam sensor, crank sensor, rarer dis fault or pcm fault I would guess. Should throw a code though

yeah I guess its getting time to start fixing things.

 

[luigisho]

I mean if you have the time. I've had my sho sitting for 2-3 years. Went back to school and didn't have enough time and money to do anything in that time. Needs all sorts of stuff.

 

[Bryan]

I mean if you have the time. I've had my sho sitting for 2-3 years. Went back to school and didn't have enough time and money to do anything in that time. Needs all sorts of stuff.

Yeah its a project of mine so it doesn't get driven that much. I bought it off a guy that hit a deer with it. Shame too as he just had it repainted. Car was sitting for about 6-8 months. I just didn't have the time or money to work on it. Now I do, so I guess its time to get dirty and bloody knuckles.

 

[FastCAD]

yeah while your at it get a shosource t'shirt to wear that says "I gave blood today I worked on my SHO".

All kidding aside you should run this car to produce codes. All the faults that you are assuming to buy parts for is quite a bit of money even though as spares that would not be bad. All the "assumed" parts should throw a code as luigi says.

The car has been sitting a long time and the battery went out so any old codes are long gone and the car needs to run to re-learn etc.
If the car is un-driveable run it in place as if it is under load ie; revs, brake, turns, lights, accessories etc. (equal to at least a 10 mile run) & at the same time u can see any CE lights in real time.

U get the picture.
Best to ya

 

[Bryan]

Car died and started back up today. Died again then started back up. Same codes as last time. Seems like a rough idle then dead. Starts back up the idles a bit then dead. Not sure what it is. Possible crank sensor, but with no codes coming up I am at a loss. Will try new DIS coming in this week. If that isn’t it then probably crank sensor.

 

[Bryan]

In any case I am going to tear down the front and replace stuff. Might as well since I am in there.

 

[luigisho]

Even if it stalls it should have a code. At least for fuel pump or something. No codes is not that normal. Do you have an obdI reader. The paperclip thing is fine but it is easy to misinterpret/count. Nick always posts one he uses that gives you a digital number that works very well.
I think it's this one

https://www.amazon.com/INNOVA-3145-Ford-Digital-Reader/dp/B000EW0KHW#:~:text=The%20INNOVA%20Ford%20Digital%20Code,but%20does%20not%20generate%20codes.

 

[Bryan]

Even if it stalls it should have a code. At least for fuel pump or something. No codes is not that normal. Do you have an obdI reader. The paperclip thing is fine but it is easy to misinterpret/count. Nick always posts one he uses that gives you a digital number that works very well.
I think it's this one

https://www.amazon.com/INNOVA-3145-Ford-Digital-Reader/dp/B000EW0KHW#:~:text=The%20INNOVA%20Ford%20Digital%20Code,but%20does%20not%20generate%20codes.

Yeah I have a reader, but I don’t think it works right, or it only tests KOEO or KOER. I don’t think it pulls codes from memory. I’ll give the one you listed a try. As for the paper clip method... I tried it a few times and it seems like it just gives me the same code. Or do I need to wait for longer? Will try the car tomorrow, but I can’t take it out on the road as I feel it’s going to die on me if I tried to get it to engine operating temp. Also should I try pulling the battery and wiping the codes to see if I can get new ones to come up is it does die on me again? Lastly it seems like the car is dying while I am trying to run it, sitting at an idle it seems just perfectly happy to run.

 

[Bryan]

Also as for throwing parts at it… I am stockpiling parts anyway for the long term. Might as well since these things don’t seem to be that easy to find.

 

[luigisho]

It is always good to get the key items. You can always sell them later here or ebay or whatever. I would unhook the battery for a little while and see what if anything pops up when you try to run it. I remember getting fuel pupm failure codes for stalling-usually isn't a pump issue but the car cuts off and should at least throw that one.

 

[Bryan]

Okay so got the new code reader in today and tested. Still just 111 code. It's kinda silly how the car will run perfectly fine sitting and idling or revving the engine, but once I go to move it to drive it quits. Now I did get new exhaust put on with some flowmaster super 40 mufflers, but thats not going to cause the car to quit. Very strange indeed.

 

[Bryan]

UPDATE! Okay was actually able to take the car out to drive. Upon returning home and parking it I let the car sit and idle for a bit before I got an erratic idle and then died. The code reader luigisho recommended (thanks!) finally popped up some codes. 157, 211 and 542 came up on the code reader.