This is a bit long, bear with me. Car has 117,000 miles. I bought it 8 months ago and have put 7,000 miles on it. Ran great till now.
Noticed car taking a little longer to start about 3 weeks ago.
Then it would just crank with no start. Would repeat 2,3,4,5 or 6 times and it would fire and start fine rest of day, but show up again in morning. It didn't happen every day though. It gradually worsened to where it would reoccur after sitting only an hour or two, and today I am stuck. Checked fuel pressure, 38 lbs. Pulled wires off both coils and cranked, but didn't see any sparks jump. Wires look pretty new. Car ran great on the road yesterday with exception of a slight miss under load at 1200 to 1400 rpm that has been there for a while but has also been worsening. Also, when this first started, the car fired one day but wanted to stall and had to foot brake it for a mile or so before it was o.k. That never happened again though. This car has a loose ignition,(the black piece that you turn with the key, not the inner tumbler part. I can turn that black piece without the key in. Could this be affecting the ignition circuit? It also has an aftermarket remote start. Would appreciate any help with how to trouble shoot. Sorry for such a long message.

 

This post isn't that long, you should see some of mine. First of all, I doubt that black piece on the ignition has anything to do with your problem. My '94 does the same thing where I can turn it and the car will chime when the door's open as if the key were in the ignition. No big deal to me so long as the car can't be started that way without the key, otherwise that'd be a big problem. In any case though, to be on the safe side, the black piece should be lined up with the actual key hole. Your problem definately sounds related to the starter though with your inability to get the engine going except after several tries. Is it possible that it has gone bad altogether or the people who installed the aftermarket remote screwed up on something during the installation? Also, are you sure that your battery is in good condition?

 

94bird,
the starter spins great, and i think the battery is good with all the cranking i did this morning. The remote always worked well.

 

Sounds like a sticking IAC valve to me. That would make it not idle and act funny. It wouldn't cause no spark though. Possibly a bad crank or cam sensor?

 

I disconnected the battery while cleaning the terminals, would this make the stored codes disappear, making a code scanner useless. Is it a lot harder to figure out what's wrong on these obdII 4.6 cars than the 5.0's? Should I just resign myself to bringing this thing to a shop and shelling out the cash, or is there a low priced scanner that has a chance of working?

 

the obd2 scanner is under 100 bucks and it plugs in under the glove box on that year tbird.

I would get the alternator/battery tested. Its 4 bolts on that tbird, just pull of the belt and take it to napa to get tested.

If its throwing a code, then pull the code, you can rent a scanner at autozone for free.

 

lx man you got it!. Crankshaft sensor. Just needed to wiggle the plug and it started up. If anyone has this problem just push the plug around a bit or take it off and clean the connector a little before you replace the sensor. Maybe you'll get lucky. Many thanks to you for the help.

 

Being mounted on the front of the engine like they are, they are likely to collect road grime and dirt. Even though the connectors are pretty well sealed, they still can get grime in there after awhile.

Glad to help