Well, the damn DIS is NOT the problem!!!!!!!!!!!!!

phils89sc

Registered User
Stupid fuc#ing SC!!! I was driving to work this morning, pulling onto the last street before my work and wham, started missing like hell!!! Got to work, about a mile away and shut it down. Ran a code test, got a code 49, default spark error (what the hell does that mean anyway??). Let the car sit ALL DAY LONG at work, started it up at 5:30, same sh!@. I had no choice but to drive it home, but I was thinking how lucky I was that I had ordered my new DIS, and was exchanging this defective one that is causing all of my problems, so I will just stop to Autozone on the way home and replace it right? So I get to Autozone, swap it out and it is THE SAME DAMN PROBLEM, it is NOT the DIS, unless there is the slimmest chance that even the brand new DIS is bad (doubt it). So now I have to finish my drive home, driving along on 4 of 6 cylinders (BTW, also did a cylinder balance test when I got to work that morning, it failed and kicked back code 4, which I am sure is a #4 cylinder test failed) all the way up to about a mile from home. Then, she cut down to 2 cylinders, WHAT THE HELL!!!!!! I still had no choice but to keep going, got about 1/2 mile from home, went to shift and the fuc$#g clutch goes to the floor, losing all pressure!!!!!!!!!!! I hate this car more than anything I have hated before. It ruins my weekends, and is draining my wallet every payday on repair!!!! I don't know what else to do!!

There is no abnormal smoke coming from the exhaust, so I don't think it is mechanical!!! What the hell does the code 49 mean exactly? I am so ready to give up on the wreck and just about give it away or part the mother fuc#$r out!!!

Please help!!!!

Phil Stocker
Very disgruntled SC owner (soon to be ex-owner if I can't get this pile of crap fixed!!!!)
 
Yeah, I'm having a similar problem but mine never shuts off. It's grossly underpowered and misses all of the time. I'm going to be switching the DIS pretty soon... hopefully that's the problem.

I sympathize...
 
And it never stops. I made it to this weekend with these problems, RF wheel sensor (that I just replaced) is out again. New is $170 WTF? so another salvage part is going in. The laptop won't communicate with the tuner, more fun.

Phil if you can let her go and get something you'll be happy with I recommend you do so now, straight faced and serious. What you're feeling is so common in the SC community that my stomach turned when I read your post from my own bad memories. My SC friends all want me to take mine to the track to put up what we all feel would be some top 10 quarter mile times but I'm way to freakin' scared to drive 90 miles and thrash this car without a truck and trailer to tow it home and then drive to work for the two weeks it would take to get the SC ready to break again.

As for the code 49, this means the SPOUT (spark output) signal that the EEC generates for the DIS was so whacked that the EEC threw in the towel and defaulted to the 10* base signal generated by the crank sensor. Why this happened I can't tell you, this is the first I've heard of that code. Could be lots of reasons from corrosion in the DIS to EEC wireing, loose connection, F'd up EEC itself, I don't know. Whatever the reason it means the EEC couldn't generate a spark timing signal to save it's azz and gave up. After checking the wireing I would try replacing the EEC with a known good to attempt a repair. The fact that your hydraulic clutch took a dump at the same time surprises me like, not at all. It's a SC after all.

I have a spare '89-'90 5-speed EEC that I would let go for $75, it has a really wicked superchip programed for it by Lee Bender, owner of C&L performance (the mass air company). The chip would cost $150, and believe me it works well.

Vernon
 
sensor

yea that sounds like the same damn thing my SC did before i bought it off my old man, it missed and jerked the car back and forth......he replaced a sensor that had something to do with timing or the flywheel or something...ill have to ask him or consult my manual which i dont have here. He also replaced the mass airflow sensor but i don think that was actually the problom in his case....i dont know if im any help here but im here anyways:)
 
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Side Question...

When you put the DIS on, can I put heat resistant grease on there instead of thermal compound?
 
I am ata complete loss!!

All this crap makes me want to just shutdown myself!! I physically feel ill over this!!!

1> The DIS is BRAND NEW!!! I just picked it up at 6pm this evening, installed it at autozone, same missing problem.

The only things my diluted and tortured mind can think of right now is that it may be a dead injector (code #4 on the cylinder balance test). Also maybe it could still be a screwed up camshaft postiton sensor. I say that because I looked at it tonight and it had oil all over it from the supercharger I used to have on it leaked alot!! I am going to remove the cam sensor, clean or replace it, then see what happens.

I am not even really all that worried about the damn slave cylinder (hence the puddle of brake fluid under the transmission bell housing, that is a no brainer!!)

I just want to thank you guys out there for always listening and helping me out, I wish someday I could meet some of you in person to shake your hand and thank you for the help you have given to me!!

Any other ideas would be more than welcome!!

Thanks

PHil
 
My nephews 90 SC upon accelerating would cut out and the tach would read 0 then it would kick back in and the tach would jump back to where it was supposed to be. It would do this and buck severley. I went back to my garage and there were no stored codes. So I get out my old crank sensor from my 89 that I replaced last year when I did the timing chain. I install that one and go out and same problem. I drove the car longer and had the cutout happen more. Upon checking codes this time I got codes 18 and 49. No let me say that the engine runs butter smooth up until the bucking no mises or anything just a loss of tach and engine power. ALso this car has a new CAM, Crank, DIS along with a new Ford Harmonic Balancer installed last year due to failed balancer last year.

Well after looking at the codes my buddy thinks it's the cam sensor. So I get out the old cam sensor from last year the original part mind you adn we install it and go for a drive. Ran fine then bam bucking and loss of tach. So I installed my original 89 DIS from my 89 SC that I beleive was causing a heat soak misfire. I install that DIS and it runs great so far. We will see and I will report back on this thread if problems arise.


Jerry
 
Well.. That bites.. Sorry if our suggestions didn't cure the problem. When I offered the advice, it was based on the set of 3 problems that I have experienced a couple of times. A failing cam sensor will cause buking and a dead tach.. a failing DIS will cause what you described where banks of cylinders will drop out.. a failing crank sensor will cause the engine to just die and a no-start. I have experienced all 3 of these problems.
The EEC can fail, but we just don't hear of it happening very often.

All that I can suggest from here is that you first off check the resistances on the coil pack and check that your engine ground straps on the engine mounts are secure, clean and tight on both ends. You could also take a set of jumper cables and ground the engine manually to the frame. This is a shot in the dark, but the problem sounds electrical. Still another possibility is the EEC fires the injectors. If the EEC is bad or wiring is broken, the problem could be due to no injectors firing. The code 49 (default spark out) means what vernon said. Either the EEC isn't talking to the DIS (wiring), or its going out. Of course, the EEC can't generate a spark signal if it couldn't read the sensors, so some wires are OK.

I'd suggest you grab hand fulls of wiring all around the DIS, cam sensor, coil pack, under the pass kick panels, unplug and replug every connector and wiggle the heck out of them especially where they connect to the components. Do the wiggle test with the engine is running if possible.

If none of this pans out, maybe time to take it the shop where they have better equipment and explain what has been done so far.

Good luck with it.
 
Pinpoint test for that code say either the DIS is bad, or the SPOUT wire from the processor to the DIS is bad.

The resistance between Wire 36 (Yellow with Light Green stripe) in the processor module and Pin 5 in the DIS should be less than 5ohms. If not, there is an open somewhere there.

If resistance between Wire 36 and Wire 14, 40, or the battery positive terminal are less than 10,000 ohms, there could be a short to ground, or power.


And that's it. Check that DIS connector to make sure a pin didn't get bent when you changed it out. Check the visible wires for damage.
 
Phil, Mike has just told you exactly how to do what I told you to do hours earlyer. What more do you need, it would take me all weekend to drive over and my SC probably wouldn't make it anyways.

Vernon
 
This is a reach i know, but i had the same symptoms with a faulty generator.... kept shorting to 6 amps and back and caused the same cylinder misses. Would not throw a code or act up until the generator had a load on it (i.e.bench test was fine) turn on the radio,headlights and i was driving a badly tuned mazda.
Just a reach........
 
as most of you know i am having the same exaxt problem and my new dis didnt help either. jsc i think you may be on to somethign!!!! at stop lights my cars radio cuts off but i always just contributed it to my underdrives on the alternator. but come to think of it it never used to do it before the old motor. what am i looking for with this generator. are you talking about the alt or what?? thanx a million and i will keep my fingers crossed. brian
 
One more thing....

None of this started happening till I had to replace my EGR valve, which is on there, but not functioning because the steel flex tube broke. So I capped that off, made a gasket with no hole for the EGR and left it at that, pretty much deleting the EGR. Also, at the same time I had replaced my Supercharger with a low-mileage unit. I don't know if any of this helps or not. I will do what was recommended above and see what happens though and listen fellas, you don't know how much I appreciate everyone's assistance and patience here. I feel sort of numb right now though! The prob with my SC was like the icing on the cake yesterday, was just a plain bad day.

So like just about every weekend here lately, it is raining and I have to go get wet. I will let you all know how it works out.

Thanks

Phil
 
Phil since this started happening when you swapped out the supercharger (the EGR thing doesn't play in) the most likely problem area is in the ignition wire harness junctions above the pass side valve covers and next to the supercharger. Check these harnesses over big time, especially the connectors. Look to see if one of the SPOUT wire terminals has backed out of a connector or is rubbed though and grounding. Take the throttle body off if you need to gain better access. The SPOUT wire is the one with the jumper pill in it on the A/C bracket.

To those who suspect the alternator whoes, you need to have an alternator diode test performed.

Vernon
 
Injector

I went out this morning and checked the wiring while my car was running. I said that yesterday when I ran the code test, I had a code 4 on the cylinder balance test. Well, I decided to look further into this. I started pulling off the injector plug connectors one at a time, except for number 3 (can't get to it). on all except # 4, the engine stumbled and slowed. When I pulled the number 4 injector, the engine idle did NOT change at all!! So I hooked up a noid lite to see if the injector was getting the signal from the EEC , and it was.

So, I have come to the conclusion that it is more than likely the fuel injector #4 is either clogged, or has given up the ghost and is causing major problems. Does anyone else here agree? I think I am going to replace them as a set, as they do have about 234K miles on them. If it turns out to be an injector, I can't really blame it for dying, look at my mileage!!

Any more opinions?

Thanks

Phil
 
That may explain the rough running, but not the code 49, nor the issue with feeling like running on 2 cylinders, or the clutch pedal.

good luck.
 
beedogg91 said:
as most of you know i am having the same exaxt problem and my new dis didnt help either. jsc i think you may be on to somethign!!!! at stop lights my cars radio cuts off but i always just contributed it to my underdrives on the alternator. but come to think of it it never used to do it before the old motor. what am i looking for with this generator. are you talking about the alt or what?? thanx a million and i will keep my fingers crossed. brian


Yes, the alternator....swapped mine out and no problem since, replaced DIS , coil pack,and ignition module b-4 figuring out it was the alt,cause that was what code it was throwing out.
 
Phil,
I hope you get the problem fixed...I just got my 90 SC on the road
this week and I have the same problem as yours.. I have not had the time to look at it yet (My Brother wrecked his Jeep - I am repairing it) But I will have time Sunday (out of parts for the Jeep)
I suggest you buy a car to go back and forth to work in, If you like the SC when it runs.. I did...

Tony
 
ok... take a sledgehammer - open the hood - stand on the bumper - hit that mother fuc#er right on the damn sc about 3-4 times (be sure not to crack the top). start the car. if it doesn't fix it - put the car in neutral and drift it into an intersection/parked car (make sure you have collateral with your insurance)

my SC is giving me bad bad problems and I have 70k origional and 500 miles on the engine. I want to physically harm the beast, but I kept getting reminded that it is hotter then I am....

**sigh**
 
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