Howdy again. Boy I'm glad this site is available. Here's the scoop. I was driving the old 95 home from my buddy's house.... and noticed when I left she had a random miss to it at about half throttle under load. I was thinking maybe just a bad plug. Then about a mile up the road, it's like the fuel pump went out. It died out and I had no pedal... then it would come back to life. Needless to say it did eventually die, and will only start every now and again.

It acts like it did whenever the pickup sensor in the distributor went out in terms of whenever it sits and cranks. But on the other hand, whenever it does start, I have to hold the throttle steady (about 1/8 of the way down) to keep it from dying. If I move the throttle at all, it will die. This leads me to the TPS.

Now my question is, would a bad TPS cause it not to start at all? Whenever it's cranking over it's like the timing is moving all over the place. Like one second it will ping and not want to crank over...... and the next it's like it's retarded by about 20 or 30 degrees and will crank super fast, but the timing's not advanced far enough to start it.

So I'm down to 3 things here. If the TPS will cause it not to start, I can assume it's that, just by how it acts when it does run. Or the TPS AND the pickup sensor in the distributor went out at the same time, or the big one, the PCM. However, if it was the PCM, I would think that it would not do anything at all. It primes the fuel pump, runs the fuel pump when it's started and cranking, and the check engine light turns on when you turn the key on which means it's responsive.

Any ideas?

 

handyman, maybe the ignition actuator in the steering column is going out.

 

That could be. Would that cause it to be sensitive to throttle position to keep it running? That's what I dont understand. It's like a crap ton of things just went wrong all of a sudden. Throttle is sensitive, and the PCM is retarding and advancing the timing when cranking. I'm lost...

 

If the timing is jumping all over I would guess the pickup in the distribtor. It sounds like it has no idea when to fire. I don't think the TPS would keep it from starting. Usually a TPS will just give you rough running and a constant check engine light.

 

That was my thought too. But I don't understand why it dies whenever I move the pedal. When I get it running, I can SLIGHTLY move the pedal to get it to drop a few hundred RPM's, and it will run all the way up to 4000 if I have it free-revving. I'm going out now to test the TPS. I figure it's a start, and will also tell me if the PCM is fried. If it's sending more than 5v to the TPS, it's dead.

 

Alright here's the update.

TPS tested fine. I'm really leaning towards the distributor now. It's all making sense now...

I got it started. It didn't want to, but it finally did. I can SLOWLY push the throttle down and it will raise RPM's all the way up to 4000. If I mash it, it will cut out and die. It's almost like the vaccuum advance isn't working, if it had one haha. I'm assuming the advancement in these is does electronically in the distributor, which I'm guessing if fails, will do what it's doing now.

I bought the distributor from Auto Zone in July, and it is still under warranty. In fact it has a lifetime nationwide warranty. They've got another in stock, and I'm going to go get it now. I'll post back with results!

 

auto zone distributor!

now that sounds like a likely suspect.

 

Umm, MAP sensor? Bad vacuum sensor (MAP) would cause SPOUT to be erratic, and will certainly affect timing advance. Got a spare MAP? They're a little on the expensive side. If you've got another Ford sitting around that you can borrow from, there doesn't seem to be a lot of difference in the MAP sensors. I tried a spare I got for my truck on my 3.8L V6 in my 'Bird. Worked just fine.

 

It sounds like a fuel problem to me. Put a gauge on it and see what you have.
Do you have two fuel tanks?
If so try the other one but that may not help.

 

I'd start by changing the fuel filter and checking fuel pressure

 

Fuel filter and pressure is fine. Checked it already.

It's not a fuel problem I can promise that. If I SLOWLY depress the throttle, it will rev to 4500 or 5000 smoothly. It's only when I depress it fast is when it cuts out. And when I say cut out, I mean shuts spark off entirely.

I wondered about the MAP sensor also. Now that I get to thinking about it... it acts like my MAF Ranger did whenever you have the air tube off when the MAF wire gets hot and shuts it down. Hmmm... Would the MAP throw a light? I have no codes whatsoever.

 

If you think it is shutting off the spark entirely then pull out the SPOUT and disconnect the PCM from the Ignition system. Of course this also cuts all sensor influence on the Ignition system. At least this will divide the systems so you know more where the problem is at.

 

So if I pull the spout... that will keep the PCM from controlling spark? I will try that...

 

Yes the engine will run at base timing, 10deg BTDC.
Then the only control the PCM will have over the engine is the fuel injectors, IAC valve and EGR valve.

 

Alrighty well I pulled the spout and still no change. It was just harder to start. I then pulled the plug off the MAP sensor while it was running... and it started to miss for a second then continue to ran. Check engine light obviously came on when I unplugged it. When I plugged it back in the light went out and she continued to ran.

The only thing I can think of is that the distributor went bad. While cranking, it has no idea where the crank is at, therefor it doesnt know when to fire the injectors. It will eventually take off, but it takes a lot of cranking.

I'm going to pick up the new distributor at about 3. The one I bought whenever I fried the Hall sensor or whatever it is in the bottom of the original one has a lifetime warranty, so if it's bad, they're replacing it for free. It's worth a shot!