Ok people ive just about had it, this van is driving me crazy for sure!
ive been posting on this vehicle about 4 weeks now and i am just about out of answers.
vehicle..88 ford e-350 w/460 automatic
things done.
A. new distributor and module, cap, rotor, wires, plugs
B. new foward frame pump, carring 35lbs fuel pressure
C. new computer today
D. new relays brown and green ones

problem? wont start! timing is dead on. will start with a shot of fuel down the throttle body briefly.
Noid will not light/flash while cranking
has power to both sides of injector wires red and green
this one has me baffled to no end. biggest problem is i only have weekends to work at it. and its 75 miles one way to it.
Towing will cost me 90.00 an hour im figuring at least 4 hours to tow.
Now to be fair before i left there today i noticed a short black/green stripe heavy wire with a round connector close to the battery( the only wires on my battery are hot and ground) i looked all over and cannont find the other end to hook this one up. upon driving home i was thinking maybe this wire went to the ground side of the battery. so maybe my injection is not grounding properly? waddya think folks? did i miss this stupid wire. any and all input is greatly appreciated i am thinking of running up there AGAIN tomorrow to wire this guy into the battery. thanks all

 

When I get home tonight I'll pull up my mitchell program and get a wiring diagram. I can e-mail it to you if I can get your e-mail address as it will be a pretty good sized pdf file.

So you get fuel pressure when you turn the key on? I think I read that right. Did you replace the fuel filter? Could be the filter is restricting the flow while the key is turning. Either way I'll check on that wire and send you a wiring diagram for your injectors.

 

Noid will not light/flash while cranking and i noticed a short black/green stripe heavy wire

Granted I don't have a van wiring diagram but that should be a Electric control assy (computer) ground on your 88, without it connected to the bat ground I doubt the computer can fire the injectors.

 

danr1 !! you made my heart skip a beat just then!!! i just got off the phone with my pap and he has an 87 150 with fuel injection and he tells me he actually has 2 seperate ground wires in addition to the main ground with the funny one line spout connectors. I will just be darned if that turns out to be my problem. see i just bought this van and it the owner told me it always ran fine till the battery drained down this summer and he put a new one in then she wouldnt run. I wonder if when he was changing out the battery he lost the other end to the connector..Hmmm

and thanks too to the other fella that wants to email the wiring diagram. im feeling a whole happier now than i was 10 minutes ago. thanks guys Really
rshelley@centurylink.net

 

Do a search on my name larrylass and look for the longest post. in there are a bunch of wiring diagrams that subford sent me. That black wire with the green stripe is your ecm ground!! Do you have spark ? now to fuel pressure problems just read my posts and youll figure it out. Good luck and Let us know how it turns out for you . It took me 3 months to get mine right. Check for spark and fuel pressure and let us know what you find. These DAMN ford 1988`s are a pain in the you know what. Goodluck

Big Lar

 

just another note. When you lose spark on these 1988`s it shuts off the fuel pressure. Its a safety feature. Make sure to ground that black/green stripe wire to the neg side of your battery

bigLar

 

Thanks Biglar! yes i should have my a@@ kicked. me and my pap actually had that female end of the Black/green stripe wire in our hands and tried to figure out where the devil it went. all signs were telling me that it was in such close proximity of the negative post that it should go there but i wasnt sure. do you think that is the only extra negative wire to go on the ground side from the computer?
yeah lar we got great spark and fuel we had her running by shooting raw fuel into the throttle body, she will fire on half turn. just wont stay running. Im feeling confident now i go up there tomorrow and wire that black green strip sucker to the battery ground i will be bringing her home.
looks like this is another case of dont spend big money on the expensive stuff first. I think i bought all new everything thus far. well thats ok then she will last another 10 years!

 

I believe there are 2 wires from the ecm that are grounds and both hook up to the neg side of the battery. Both wires are black with a green stripe coming off pin #s 40 and 60 to the ecm. Just look thru those posts there are a ton of wiring diagrams from subford in there and it definetly shows this. if that ground isnt hooked up that definetly is one of your problems. The ECM constantly looks for ground and if its not present the ecm shuts off your fuel pressure. This is why the noid light isnt flashing

BigLar

 

I will keep you all posted. thanks again all

 

Sounds like a ground issue to me too. BTW...the first clue was when you said you had power on both sides of the injectors. Injectors ground through the harness, not the fuel rail.

 

yeah fairlane that puzzled me too, about having power on both wires. I think on that 88 460 one is red and one is green. Im thinking the red should be hot side. im hoping for a running 460 tomorrow!

 

Ok! She runs!!!!!
went up this morning to the van and put that black wire/green stripe on the negative terminal and it did not fire....hmmm
put on the noid light... no pulse... hmmmm
changed out the brown relay of which i have several and BAMM the noid light strobed like crazy!! and the truck dang near started.
took off noid and rehooked injector and the truck wanted to start but wouldnt quit get going.
dont forget i did replace foward pump.
i went to the rear tank and didnt hear the lift pump running.
so i changed that out for a new one which i had along with me.
turned the key and she roared to life! drove her home 75 miles to my house never missed a beat!
Everything works perfectly now.
the pumps cycle as they should, i got check engine light when turned to the on position which i didnt have before.
im one happy camper! thanks to all of you that helped me out and i hope somebody else gets some use outa this thread someday.

 

You better be handing out reps to everybody in this thread.

 

Great to see you got it running. Sorry I didn't get the wiring diagram to you, I got caught up and plain forgot until just now. Looks like there was one available here anyway so that helped out too!

So seems like there was a couple different problems on the darn thing. That can make it fun to diagnose sometimes!!

 

Yes the whole process was very tedious at times. a couple times i really just wanted to throw in the towel. I been working on fords since i was a kid. and i never gave up on one yet....this was came close....lol
Just a brief update...
after getting this van home last night i loaded her up with my equipment. this morning my pap came over to drive her down to the job site. she started right up. 5 miles down the road pappy pulled into a sheetz store and when he came back she wouldnt start!! he called my cell and turned around to go get him. first thing i checked was foward pump it wasnt running at all. fortunately i left the old wires down there that the other owner had run hot to the pump so i just clipped them back on. she fired right up. soon as we got to the job i picked up a new fuel pump relay and eec relay. pumps work perfect now .......I hope.....
yes thanks to all that contributed to my sucess with this fix.
I have come to rely greatly on the grass roots/ shade tree mechanic expertise that comes from this forum. Its the kind of knowledge that comes from first hand experience.
thanks all