I am new to the forum but I've been a Ford owner for a few years now (89 F150 4x4 and 2000 Windstar - for the wife and kids of course!). And this is the first time I've had a major problem: me truck no start! which really sucks since I love my 4x4 in the northern canadian snow.

History of problem: came home from work one cold night (-20C or about 0 F for those south of me) with the truck running fine. Went to start it the next morning (same temp outside) and she cranked but no spark.

Waited for warmer weather to start investigating and everything seems fine but I can't get a spark.
I have checked the following:
-Starter solenoid connections (of course it does crank but...)
-Coil resistances (primary and secondary)
-Coil Input voltage
-Coil lead continuity
-TFI connector voltages (in Off/Run/Start)
-TFI Resistances
-Fuel shut off switch (fuel pumps run - pressure in rail)
As well I hooked up an inductive timing light to various sparkplug wires and the coil wire too showing no spark. Also hooked up a spark tester (old spark plug modified) directly to coil lead with no spark.

So I replaced all the guts in the distributor, replaced the coil, cleaned all connections with electronic contact cleaner (NOT wd40), and still have no spark!

Are there any relays, fuses, fusible links, etc... in there somewhere that I might have missed? My car has Bosch electronics and there are at least 4 different relays involved with the ignition system. My other thought is that maybe the EEC-IV unit is shot...

Any thoughts are greatly appreciated

Thanks

Frankvan
89 F150 4x4
91 AR 164S
00 Windstar

 

My giuess would be the ingntion modula. It is ether on the side of dit or on the driver side fender under the hood hinge.

You can test it, but it is a pain. They are like 50-60 bucks to buy.

clipper

 

I just changed the wires, plugs , rotor, cap and I did not get a spark after that. What it ended up being is a bad connection on the connector going to the ECM. Try checking/cleaning that.

 

Im probably thinking it is the TFI ignition module on the distributor. Mine went out on me a few weeks ago...except while driving on the highway, which sucked. Couldnt start it, no spark. Thats really the only thing i could think it would be, not 100% sure though.

 

My first thought too was the ignition module (aka TFI module) on the side of the distributor, but I ran it through a complete resistance check and it is in perfect running order. What I haven't tried is replacing the module. Maybe it is bad even though it checks out OK. I'll also check the connections to the EEC-IV.

FWIW, the engine is a 90 Mustang 5.0 HO (for HP) with the truck manifold and truck cam (for torque) transplanted by the previous owner (after he wrote off his Mustang....). I am not sure which EEC-IV is used (I would suspect the truck module).

frankvan
89 F150 4x4
91 AR 164S
00 Windstar