Engine just died, won't restart 35th SC Help!

Mike8675309

Registered User
O.k, this car is kicking my ask. I purchased this 1990 35th Anny car with an auto trans. Stored it for a year and now I drive it back from storage. I get to about 80 miles (10 miles from home) and the car dies and trying to start drains the battery to zero after one attempt.

I get it home and replace the battery cables. Put a big charger on it and it'll crank a few times and then stop cranking.

I can get it to start by giving it about 1/4 throttle, but it runs very rough and then dies hard.

The upshift light is not flashing while cranking. The Check engine light does not stay illuminated. During cranking it sounds real bad almost like the engine is out of time. I think it's misfiring which is working the starter hard and draining the battery down really fast.

This car was running fine for 80 miles and now it won't run. Any ideas? I've replaced the DIS as I had one on hand. I've checked all the wires and they are good.

Could a bad CAM sensor make it misfire and sound like it's dead on many cylinders?

I checked the balancer and it's fine. i may try to record what it sounds like as it's really weird. If it didn't have a timing chain I'd swear the belt broke.

Help me get this car running. I don't want to have to go get the winter beater out of storage and I'm out of ideas. Yes, it's that bad.
 
i know you say you checked the balancer........... but i had the same problems and the balancer didn't wobble and was on tight. After changing EVERYTHING , computer.. DIS.. etc i finally removed the balancer and it had cracked and spun inside the timing chain cover. i spent 2 weeks and $$$$$$ b/c i KNEW the balancer was good. :D
 
Cool, how the hell do you upload audio ?? Sounds exactly like mine did with bad balancer. Hope i'm wrong b/c thats 4 bills.
 
when mine wouldnt start one time it was crank sensor one time it was cam sensor one time harmonic balancer and one time it was fuel pump . never had a dis prob yet
 
Record it with a laptop and a microphone hanging over the engine and use Audio Recorder built into Win 3.1, Win95, Win98, WinNT 3.51, Win NT4, Win2k, WinXp.

Then send it up to the FTP space allocated by my internet service provider. (www.frontiernet.net)

Well thanks for the input thus far. More is welcome. I'm going to start tomorrow morning with disconnecting the cam sensor and see if it'll do better. If so, I'll swap the cam sensor with the one from my 93 that's still in pieces in the garage.

If not, then I'll pull the radiator and the crank pulley and inspect the balancer and swap out the crank sensor. I can try the crank sensor from my 93 if the balancer looks fine, but I'll probably pull the balancer and verify it's ok. I can always throw my 93 one on until I can get a bhj unit.

It's just the sudden failure after going for 80 miles without nary a hickup that really puzzles me. The sucking the battery down right away when cranking also puzzles me. Only thing I can logically think of is that the engine is trying to fire against the starter causing it to work to hard.

Anyone think a bad starter could be pulling enough juice to cause this problem during cranking?
 
have you pulled any codes? When your car gave you problems was it running or did you stop for something then it wouldn't restart? When you're starting it what does the tach do? And I know you've checked but have you checked for a plugwire falling lose? You also stored it for a year I wonder about that gas?
 
I know Ford changed the balancers, but not sure what year. It may have been 94. Make sure the one you have will work first.
 
1989 - 1993 balancers are the same. 94/95 when they went to EDIS got the different ones.

I was coming to a stop at a red light (auto car) and it stumbled then died. Attempt at restart got the noise heard in the sound bite above, then the second attempt at crank was met with a dead battery.

When I get it to run for a few seconds, it's only by giving it about 1/4 partial throttle and during that time the tach appears to be working. At least it's as irratic as the engine itself is. I'm not feeling the cam sensor as the cause personally, but it's the easier thing to eliminate. The no upshift light during cranking really tells me the sensor is o.k. But if the balancer cracked and spun on the crank, I can see how the timing would be off now.

I have just a beeping code scanner and I never can read that crap right. The check engine light goes off once the dash light check goes through at key on so that's telling me no stored codes. I'll probably try to pull some codes in the morning as well.

oh and on the gas. It was at 1/4 tank over the winter and was filled with 10% blend 92 octane within 8 miles of startup. After 80 miles I'd think most of any bad stuff had gone through it or been well blended by then. Valid concern though. Wife just asked if I checked the plugs. I guess I haven't yet. The combination of the hard cranking, and terribly sounding misfiring motor is leading me away from such simple things. Though I can't count it out I guess. Maybe I should pull the fuel line and run some fuel through the pump into a bucket?

Keep the ideas coming.
 
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Unplug the cam sensor. :cool: I don't think its the problem, but you can at lease eliminate it that way. Might try swapping in a spare DIS after that. Assuming you cleaned the batt posts and cable clamps, check your engine ground straps. Also, whenever you get that misbehaving start up, remember to turn the key off and retry. Do you have any codes?
 
OK.. sound try1. Sounds like the classic vaccuum leak. On the restart retry.. thats the EEC getting confused and advancing the timing. Key off for 1-2 seconds should clear that up. :) try2 and try3... same thing EEC is confused.. If no codes (I'd be surprised), try swapping the DIS out for a good one. So much for the easy stuff.. you can track down a vacc leak with starter fluid sprayed around everywhere the intake is connected and at all of the IC joints. Give some behind the intake also and around the EGR valve. :)
 
No EGR on this car. Those noises were with the DIS off the 93. I'm not sure how vaccum is going to mess up the EEC. And that wouldn't effect the ignition like it sounds.

On try1, after that run for a second the last brump heard actually was a solid sound that stopped the motor dead. Almost sounded like it wanted to go backwards.

How does vaccum leak account for the high starter draw? just a coincidense that the starter is failing?

Where would it be leaking from in your mind? I had the blower out and resealed the inlet plenum to the blower. The intake manifold connection looked good.

I forgot one thing I found. With the blower out I found a wire connector narrow with what looks like two holes to connect to something. But it wasn't connected to anything. It was on the back side of the intake manfold directly center. I couldn't see anything it would connect to so I figure it was just a spare.

Can anyone recommend a good code scanner that isn't over $100 from a place like AutoZone that doesn't require me to listen to beeps? Is the Equus 3145 any good?

Thanks for all the input so far.
 
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Only code I got was 85. Canister purge valve.

Disconnected the cam sensor. No difference in behavior. (broke the little retaining tabs though. grrr)

Going to push the front of the car into the garage and start pulling stuff apart to get at the crank sensor and inspect that balancer and replace the sensor if necessary.

going to replace the starter as well as the power drain is just too crazy.
 
Mike when you took the car out of storage did you adjust the seating position? Because one time with mine one of the buttons on the seat got stuck in and it drained the battery several times before I figured it out. Never hurts to check out the little stuff.
 
Mike,

Start with the more obvious things first...like the alternator. If they go out they will not provide enough voltage to recharge the battery and it could cause the car to stall. It would also explain why the battery seems dead after cranking the motor only one time. They also go suddenly for no apparent reason.

Just pull the alternator off and take it to autozone or one of those type places and have it tested before changing anything else. If the alternator checks out then inspect your ground straps and the negative battery cable to make sure it has good contact.

David
 
I'll see if I can replace the negative cable. It's pretty chewed up, but it was showing good ground when testing with a mult-meter.

The alt from the 93 was rebuild just before taking the car apart this winter. And that's what's in it now. i put a new positive battery cable on it as the old one was black and that just freaks me out.

I've got a big charger on the battery that has a starting mode and even then it gets sucked down.

Keep in mind I can not get this motor to run any more than a couple seconds at a time and by cracking the throttle open about 1/4 of the way. When it runs it sounds like it may be missing a couple cylinders and the tach follows the engine in it's irratic behavior. After a couple seconds it dies even when playing with the throttle.

Thus far I've changed alternator and the DIS, and eliminated the Cam sensor as an issue. No codes so that points to a mechanical breakdown somewhere and/or a flaky crank sensor.

Thanks all thus far.
 
Mike8675309 said:
I'll see if I can replace the negative cable. It's pretty chewed up, but it was showing good ground when testing with a mult-meter.

The alt from the 93 was rebuild just before taking the car apart this winter. And that's what's in it now. i put a new positive battery cable on it as the old one was black and that just freaks me out.

I've got a big charger on the battery that has a starting mode and even then it gets sucked down.

Keep in mind I can not get this motor to run any more than a couple seconds at a time and by cracking the throttle open about 1/4 of the way. When it runs it sounds like it may be missing a couple cylinders and the tach follows the engine in it's irratic behavior. After a couple seconds it dies even when playing with the throttle.

Thus far I've changed alternator and the DIS, and eliminated the Cam sensor as an issue. No codes so that points to a mechanical breakdown somewhere and/or a flaky crank sensor.

Thanks all thus far.

Just a long shot, but if it sounds like it's missing on a few cylinders, you may want to swap out the coil pack as it will drop two when a coil goes bad.
 
If you had the blower off, I'm even more convinced that its a vaccuum leak. I would redo both of the Intercooler tubes at the front by pulling the IC off and resealing the flanges. Then I'd reseal the rear tube where it connect to the intake. I would, in fact pull the tube off, but then again since I've done it many times, I don't even think about it as work.

You can check for this if you get it running by spraying starter fluid around everything that channels air.. intake tube, throttle body, intake plenun, SC, etc. Or have someone else try to start it while you do the same.. Stay off the gas pedal and charge the batt.

Ask David about "can't believe it" vaccuum leaks. One fooled me also. ;)
 
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