No It seems like at some point all the cylinders are missing and by that time the Coil Is heating up..

 

Guys - the EEC-IV is a complicated bugger but it does tell you some stuff when it thinks the rest of the kids are not playing nice in the sand pit.

Where are the freaking are the computer codes in this thread?

We need some data to help you.

Even if you have a freak grouned wire or something, the computer codes will help us point you to the right direction.

 

Ok well I don't know how to check to see If any codes are stored.. I can not find the plug under the dash to check for any codes.. My Check Engine light has never came on..
How do I check for stored Codes??

 

Most Autozone stores will pull the codes for you for free. Get the codes and post them on this forum. There can be codes thrown even though the CEL did not come on.

 

First off thank you for getting back to me. Second the truck will not make It to Autozone.
Is there not a way to check for codes without a scanner??? I know GM cars you just find the plug under the dash and you can make It flash the codes, can I not do that on my Ford? And where Is the Plug??? It Is not under the dash board that I can see..

 

Here is a link on how to pull the codes.
http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/OBD_I.html

You can use the voltmeter (or test light) and paperclip method.
The test connectors are located to the rear of the fuse distribution box on the right fender. Usually, the connectors are housed in a retainer on the backmost end of the box.

Here is another link that shows the connectors and how to hook them up.
http://www.corral.net/tech/maintenance/eecivtest.html

Dialtone

 

I don't know how many times I could say thank you for all of your help. I am going to try to get any codes that might be stored now. I Will get back later..

 

If you plan on keeping the rig for any length of tiume, purchasing a scanner will likely be your best investment in the truck. You can get one for ~$50 at an auto store or even less on ebay. Mine is an Autoxray that I just had updated to read OBDII. Now it does my 93 Explorer and 2002 Duarango. Pretty sweet.

As complicated as these controls systems are, with out the right tools you're really in the dark.

My soon to be brother in law just picked up a 93 Bronco Eddie Bauer for $500. It's running like ****. We hooked up the scanner and found 3 stored codes - O2 sensor high, EGR valve not opening and auto trans 3rd band slippage. Ran it in dynamic, real time mode and saw the O2 sensor at .85V and not switching at all. EGR vaccum was at zero. So we could verify the codes with how the engine was running right then and there. It's a no brainer now. oh, it was also running in open loop which verified a bad O2 sensor. (It might be something else keeping it in open loop but O2 sensor is the likely culprit right now.) I cleared the codes and he'll change out the O2 sensors, full tune up and flush the trans. We'll see if any codes come back up.

 

I use the voltmeter method on my 91. Works well. Started using it with my 84 Crown Vic and fixed what Ford could not find; bad connection in the firewall wiring loom that fed +5VDC to all the engine sensors (wiggle test).

For my OBD-II needs I bought a neat little computer interface that gives real time info. I have an old laptop I picked up for next to nothing and it runs off the serial port.
link:
http://obddiagnostics,com
$88 assembled and shipped to my door. (from their site I see they have raised the price a bit to $96 for the BR-3 model)
This unit runs GM, Ford, and ISO (foreign) protocols so it should work with almost anything you hook it to.
Already paid for itself several times over.

Dialtone

 

Ok I tried to pull up any stored code with a test lamp and my check engine does not do anything. I can not even get the light to turn on once. I checked over what I was doing and I was doing It right but I get nothing. What can I do? I don't want to have to take It to a shop to get It fixed.. What ever the problem Is It has something to do with the Coil. Now It won't even start. Yesterday It started and ran get for about a 30 mins after I put the new Coil on and reset the computer. After about 30 mins It started to miss. If I gave It gas It would run fine and then It would miss again. After a few more mins It got to the point that no matter how much gas I gave It, It would not run right and died. I checked the Coil and the wires going to It and It was very hot like the first time .. And yes I do want to keep It but I am not even sure If the computer will give me any codes. After my first try I am not even sure If my check engine light works.. Also now that I think about It my check engine light does not turn on when I turn the key on..

 

The coil is getting a wrong signal from somewhere. The coil itself is fairly simple. 2 windings. Your Explorer is a coil pack - 3 coils. 2 cylinders fire at the same time. One at TDC and the other at BDC. I guess Ford was too cheap to actually use 6 seperate coils. You realize there is no distributor, right?

So all the coil does is energize primary winding and when told, it grounds out to charge the secondary winding which goes low amp but high voltage and fires the spark plug.

So something is telling the coil to do something it is not supposed to do - like holding the primary circuit open too long so it builds up too much current to overheat and doesn't fire the secondary coil in time to get the spark to the plug at the right time - you said the cylinders were missing right?

If you have a California car, you have a camshft position sensor at the back, top of engine. It tells the PCM each revolution of the engine, where cylinder #1 is. If it's a federal car, the crankshaft position sensor (CPS) is used to ID cylinder #1. Eitherway, these CPS set the stage for ignition firing. If there is a problem with one of these, it could throw off your coil timing.

Now the signal from the cam or crank goes into a TFI unit, Thick Film Ignition, which is a little processor unit that "conditions" the CPS signal into a PIP, Profile Ignition Pick up. The PIP goes to the EEC (computer) and the EEC then sends another signal, SPOUT or spark out, back to the TIF which in turns fires the coils.

Other sensors also affect spark timing - intake air temp, engine coolant temp, throttle position - but these are really to change the advance, not control the actual firing of the coils.

I don't think your problem is the coil. Well, now it is because you fried the new one. So before you put another new coil on and fry that one too, you need to find out whats telling the coil to do something it's not supposed to be doing. It might be that a wire got crushed and is grounding out. Did you do anything, other maintenance, before this problem started where you might have accidentally broke something?

This is why it is critical to pull the codes. We're just guessing in the dark.

And the reason why the new coil worked for a while but you had to rev it up a bit is that at higher R's you can hide an ignition problem more easily. There are more coil triggers in a shorter time so if a few miss, engine miss, then you don't notice it as much. Your problem is that the coil was slowly getting fried and then it did eventually die. Now it wont start at all.

 

Oh and by the way, you don't have any plugs under the dash to check the codes. That is a newer, OBD -II featurse - Thanks California Air Research Board.

You have 2 connectors under the hood, near firewall, passenger side. You might have caps on them. I think one of the dealers left the caps off of mine. One is kind of an odd rectangle shape but with a chamfer on one edge. It has 5 or 6 blade contacts. Then there is another little, gray on my car, square connector with just one lead. my tester connector takes both these to check for codes.

And then there are 2 other leads you will find in this same general area. One has a single lead and it is for a tach for troubleshooitng. The other has 2 leads on it and a jumper cap installed. This is called the SPOUT advance jumper. When installed, it adds 4 degrees of advance to all PIP signals. I don't think this is part of you coil fry problem since if the jumper was removed, it would just retard everything 4 degrees, not throw it all off. I think Ford uses this to try and make up some of the lag time for all that CPS/TFI/PIP/coil trigger data processing.

 

thanks again for all of your guys help. I don't know what I am going to do. As I said before the check engine light does not come on at all and If I am correct the check engine light should come on as soon as you turn the key and then goes off after the engine starts. Mine does not come on at all and I need It to tell me the codes. I found the 2 connectors under the hood, near firewall and I used the links Dialtone gave me earlier and tried to get a code and I got nothing. I just had the engine replaced about 2 months ago and It seems that the person that did It for me made some mistakes so I am going to try to get him to fix It right. My check engine light use to work but since I got the truck back It has not came on once..

 

Well there ya go. Why give yourself all these headaches when something someone else did is probably at fault? Sounds like he may have forgotten to connect some things or didn't connect them properly. Getting the guy to check it out is a good plan.

Good luck

 

CEL or MIL (malfunction Indicator Light) should come on when you put the key to on. This is part of the start up test routine - same with the ABS system. But the CEL light is supposed to go on only so you know the light does work. It doesn't mean anything else so don't read into it. Now if it doesn't go on, it's likely to be a burnt bulb in the dash. You can take it apart and check the bulb, wiring... to make sure that side of the circuit is OK. Then you can also get a break out board for the PCM, computer. Check ebay for one. This is a cute little device that plugs in bewteen the PCM and the car's harness. All signals run right through it so the car never know's it is there. Then, one the attached break out board, yoiu have access to all 60 pins of the harness as electrical test ports. Pin 17 is the MIL output pin.

So that's just to fix the idiot light on the dash. As I said, that light means nothing and the PCM is still running the show and recording codes... By the way, all codes and any computer learning go away when you disconnect the battery. These parameters are stored in RAM memory pwered by battery through what is called the keep alive battery input.

So if you have not disconnected the battery since the last coil fry, you can still get the codes. Since the car is not running now, you'll have no other opportunitiy to get the codes unless you want to burn up a third coil.

Well if you just had the engine rebuilt then I'd say it's fair to think that something could have got broke in the process. Pulling a motor is fairly evasive. Easy to sling a 500 or 600 pound mass into the firewall or elsewhere where all these little control devices reside.

Get the codes so you know where to start....