1988 Ranger won't start, no spark

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Jul 4, 2011 | 05:18 PM

Mattd1979

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1988 Ranger won't start, no spark

Anybody here know if there is a way to tell if the ECU is faulty? I hooked my analyzer up to my friends 1988 Ford ranger 2.3L and it wouldn't even detect that the ignition switch was on. He was driving it the other day and is shut off on him while he was making a turn and it wouldn't start back up. We have rebuilt the distributor by replacing the pick-up, rotor button and cap, and we had the ignition module tested and found it was good. We have also replaced the coil. When the ignition is turned to the on position, the fuel pump comes on and never cycles off.

Jul 4, 2011 | 06:22 PM

mebe2k

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From: Ford, WA

Sounds like the EEC could be bad.. or the EEC relay might be bad

Jul 4, 2011 | 08:17 PM

Mattd1979

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Is there a way to determine if the ecu is truly bad before spending the money on another just to find out that didn't fix it? Where is the eec relay? He has a shop manual but can't find it.

Jul 5, 2011 | 12:02 AM

ford2go

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From: Frequently frozen MN

If the fuel pump keeps running, it probably is the computer. It's supposed to switch it off after 2 seconds and switch it back on when it gets a signal that the engine is running.

IDK where the EEC relay is on Rangers, but it essentially powers the computer and the injectors. If the computer was dead, you'd get no fuel pump action AND no spark (on an 88, it will load down the ignition module ).

You might be able to pick up computer at a decent junkyard for a decent price. Hard to say. A junkyard around here has ( or at least had) computers. When I asked them how they tested them, they said "it came from an engine that ran"

Good Luck,

hj

Jul 5, 2011 | 04:54 AM

03 Maz B23

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Did you remove timing belt cover to check if timing belt snapped?

Jul 6, 2011 | 11:46 AM

Mattd1979

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To 03 Maz B23....No I didn't but, the engine turns over well and sounds like it has good compression and also the distributor is turning so I figure that the timing belt must still be attached.

To Ford2go....All of the symptoms that you described are what we are having with the Ranger except that the fuel mump stays on the entire time the ignition is on. My analyzer doesn't recognize when the key is on either when we turn it on.

Mar 17, 2012 | 07:51 PM

Mattd1979

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I know this is an old thread but we have begun to start back to work on the Ranger again which has sat since I last posted on this forum back on 7/6/11. He has bought a replacement ECU from NAPA and I'm going to install it in hopes that this will take care of the problem. As I mentioned in my last post, the fuel pump runs continually and the diagnostic computer is unable to receive any data from the diagnostic port. Could a faulty EEC relay cause this? He was driving the truck when it shut off so if the relay was at fault then wouldn't it most likely have failed when starting it rather than while it was already running?