out of the blue,car runs rough

tbirdtony

Registered User
maybe somebody out there can help me. i own a 93 thunder bird sc 5 speed that i have mildly modified. i have read the posts on this forum so i have already replace alot of parts that can go bad . i had just rebuilt the transmission because of a bad 2nd gear synchro and replaced the clutch. car ran fine the car was parked for several days and when i went out to start it, it started but ran rough like i needed to give it alot of throttle to get it going. idle was also ruogh like it was out of timeing and my cel came on. i have a code reader and codes 216 and 217 came up. i thought my coil had failed since it is the original coil. i went out and purchased a new coil ,wire set and new plugs just to be sure.after getting every thing in i started the car and there was no change and actually it seemed to be worse and getting worse every time i started the car with rough running and bogging down under increased throttle. after shut down i rechecked all plug wires were secure and made sure i had proper plug to coil connection according to ford service manual. when i tried to start the car again it would crank but would not turn over. any suggestions to try
 
maybe somebody out there can help me. i own a 93 thunder bird sc 5 speed that i have mildly modified. i have read the posts on this forum so i have already replace alot of parts that can go bad . i had just rebuilt the transmission because of a bad 2nd gear synchro and replaced the clutch. car ran fine the car was parked for several days and when i went out to start it, it started but ran rough like i needed to give it alot of throttle to get it going. idle was also ruogh like it was out of timeing and my cel came on. i have a code reader and codes 216 and 217 came up. i thought my coil had failed since it is the original coil. i went out and purchased a new coil ,wire set and new plugs just to be sure.after getting every thing in i started the car and there was no change and actually it seemed to be worse and getting worse every time i started the car with rough running and bogging down under increased throttle. after shut down i rechecked all plug wires were secure and made sure i had proper plug to coil connection according to ford service manual. when i tried to start the car again it would crank but would not turn over. any suggestions to try

A list of the mods, and what parts have you already replaced in addition to the coil pack, ignition wires and plugs?
 
crankk sensor was replaced 5 yaers ago as was the cam sensor. dis is original,car did sit up for almost 1 year with transmission problems but i did start it every few week and got it up to temp before shut down. car ran fine up until this current problem.
 
You got codes for coil circuit primary side failures. And two of them at the same time. That means that the old coil is probably fine, as that is the secondary part of the system. I am 99% sure that you have a bad DIS module. It's the gray box above the AC compressor. I had the same failure on each of my two SCs. I got one of the codes you got - I think it was 217.
 
out of the blue car rtuns rough

ok i had a feeling it was the dis module so i went out and bought the bwd unit from advance and put it in using dielectric grease between the bracket and the unit. again i checked that i had the connection right between the plugs and the coil and the car still will not fire up and i mean not even a sputter. its like there is absolutely no fire or fuel or both. i need help.
 
ok i had a feeling it was the dis module so i went out and bought the bwd unit from advance and put it in using dielectric grease between the bracket and the unit. again i checked that i had the connection right between the plugs and the coil and the car still will not fire up and i mean not even a sputter. its like there is absolutely no fire or fuel or both. i need help.

Check to see if its getting spark. I've heard that some non-motorcraft parts that are "for this car" don't work with it. Like that IAC I bought a while back...
 
ok i had a feeling it was the dis module so i went out and bought the bwd unit from advance and put it in using dielectric grease between the bracket and the unit. again i checked that i had the connection right between the plugs and the coil and the car still will not fire up and i mean not even a sputter. its like there is absolutely no fire or fuel or both. i need help.

Try it again with heat transfer compound (like from Radio Shack) instead of dielectric grease under it. This is an old debate on this forum. Some manuals say to do one thing, some say to do the other.
 
out of the blue car runs rough

great news, the car started it seems the plug on the coil has a rubber band on the inside and this dislodged enough when i plugged it in to interfer with the contacts. istaightened it out and plugged it back in and she fired right up. thanks guys for your help. this is a great resourse for all the masochists that own sc's
 
out of the blue car runs rough

ok i though i had put this problem to bed. as i said in my last post i fixed the plug issue on the coil so as the make good contasct and the car fired right up and ran great. better than it had in years , i guess i have needed plugs and new wires for some time. anyway i felt confident in driving it the 8 miles to work saturday and way within two block of work when she just shut down . ignition lights came on , no steering assist, just stalled. i turned off on side street and she started back up but had no power and would not accelerate and barely able to get up slight grade to park her. cel came on during this time and i pulled codes 215 and 217. i had just replaced dis with new unit from advance because i had similiar issue with original dis and code 216 was coming up. i took the advance dis back to advance for warranty replacement and purchased new cam sensor just to cover all my bases . is there anything i am missing ?
 
ok i though i had put this problem to bed. as i said in my last post i fixed the plug issue on the coil so as the make good contasct and the car fired right up and ran great. better than it had in years , i guess i have needed plugs and new wires for some time. anyway i felt confident in driving it the 8 miles to work saturday and way within two block of work when she just shut down . ignition lights came on , no steering assist, just stalled. i turned off on side street and she started back up but had no power and would not accelerate and barely able to get up slight grade to park her. cel came on during this time and i pulled codes 215 and 217. i had just replaced dis with new unit from advance because i had similiar issue with original dis and code 216 was coming up. i took the advance dis back to advance for warranty replacement and purchased new cam sensor just to cover all my bases . is there anything i am missing ?

The DIS unit may be overheating because of poor thermal contact with the bracket, so heat transfer compound will probably help ensure a long life. Still, the unit you got may have just been bad.
 
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