Hey guys, long time no see.
Anyway, I have a 1994 4.6L Thunderbird (some of you from the Carolinas remember her, her name is "Esther"). She is not wanting to start when it's cold. It started last summer, it would get to being below 40 degrees or so, and would crank and crank until the battery would die and would not fire. Would go out the next morning when it was a little warmer, and would fire right up. She also threw the P1151 code, about the O2 sensors showing lean/rich (I don't remember which). Then things with work and my son going back to school prevented me from really delving into the problem, so I parked her for the winter.
About a month ago (yay tax return), when I was doing maintenance on my Focus, thought to myself, "Self, let's go throw the battery in Esther for the hell of it." Was a warmish day, and she started right up, purred like a kitten. Didn't drive her because I couldn't find the plate sticker, and knew I had to do some maintenance. Maybe a week or two later, I had bought new wires and plugs, and threw them in. Car didn't start. Crank crank, no fire. Frustrated and out of time, let her sit. Then on Monday, I went out to work on her, as I had two days off in a row (YAY!). She started right up (WTF!), drove her into the garage, parked her. Did an oil change, cleaned off the rotors, checked out the crankshaft sensor and cleaned the electrical connection. Went to start the car to check the oil level, no start. Crank crank crank. Put the battery on the charger. Crank crank. Tried to fire, didn't stick. The radiator fan is also coming on at this time (and it's a little chilly outside). Dad came out to the garage, and started poking around. We got the car to start at this point, but it didn't really "fire up", it just sort of decided to run the engine very sluggishly. Dad says, you have a vacuum leak here somewhere. He found a connector towards the back that wasn't hooked up to anything coming from the intake. Turns out it belongs to the EGR Regulator Solenoid, which wasn't hooked up at all! So, he says, we need to fix that, and let's take off your intake and check to see if maybe those EGR ports are clogged up and clean them out, too. Get it halfway torn apart, and had to quit about 6 pm. Get back out there in the morning, got a new EGR regulator, slapped it on (old one was very obviously stuck). Checked my IAC vs. a good one my dad had (he has a 94 4.6L Crown Vic, how convenient!) Put everything back together. Crank crank, no start. Now my younger brother is over, too. Fuel pump is coming on, getting power to the injectors, getting spark. Dad has even sprayed good gas into the intake to try to get it to fire, no start, just cranking. Change the fuel filter, filter is a bit dirty, but no start after the new one is on. So we let it sit, while I search the forums here, and some others some more. Come across some interesting information about the CCRM being bad, it will cause the radiator fan to come on when the key is just on, and won't let the car start, etc. So, I go out to the garage with a hair dryer, ready to heat up the CCRM. As soon as I open the door, I notice the garage is warmer. I put the key in the ignition to accessory on, and the fan kicks on, then goes off almost immediately. I jiggle the big conduit full of wires near the firewall, and especially the ones near the EGR, fan doesn't come back on. Wiggle the wires going into the CCRM, fan doesn't come on. Go back inside the car, cranks and fires up. HIGH idle, and when punching the gas, bogs down. Mystified, I pour in some Lucas fuel treatment (thinking bad gas!), and within a couple minutes, the idle slows down to where it should be, the funky exhaust stops, the CEL goes off, and when I punch the gas, it revs like it should. Pull the car out of the garage, and park it.
SOOOO I'm thinking now that I have a bad CCRM. OK! So, today, I pulled it out of the car, and put it in the freezer. For about four hours. I plugged it back into the car, turn the key to accessory on. No fan. WTH. Turn the key, and it cranks and fires right up. Tried it two or three times, fires right up. It is very warm today, so the only part of the car that is cold is the CCRM.
SOOOO in short, I have:
-cleaned the Crankshaft position sensor harness
-changed the plugs and wires
-charged the battery, checked the wires
-checked the IAC
-replaced the EGR Regulator and cleaned the three ports in the intake from the EGR that clog (they weren't clogged)
-changed the fuel filter
-put in fuel treatment
-checked for spark, power to the injectors
-put the CCRM in the freezer then on the car when cold
I have previously had problems with the cooling fan. A few years ago, the fan motor had locked up, and it caused the 60A fuse to literally melt it's location in the underhood fuse box. We put in a new motor, moved the fuse in the box, and I also changed out the coolant temperature sensor, and then I drove the car to Gettysburg from Ohio where it was a 100 degrees for 3 days and had no problems.
So, my dilemma is, I would really love to start driving my car again this summer. BUT I don't want it to strand me if it gets cold at night! I'm not sure what else that warm vs. cold temperatures would affect on the car! I have no CEL currently, but might go get it checked anyway (hey, it's free!), and dad suggested having it hooked up to a diagnostic type computer at a shop. Other than that, I understand there may be some obscure shorted wire somewhere, but what am I missing, if anything?
Thanks in advance, and sorry for the long post, but didn't want to leave anything out!
Anyway, I have a 1994 4.6L Thunderbird (some of you from the Carolinas remember her, her name is "Esther"). She is not wanting to start when it's cold. It started last summer, it would get to being below 40 degrees or so, and would crank and crank until the battery would die and would not fire. Would go out the next morning when it was a little warmer, and would fire right up. She also threw the P1151 code, about the O2 sensors showing lean/rich (I don't remember which). Then things with work and my son going back to school prevented me from really delving into the problem, so I parked her for the winter.
About a month ago (yay tax return), when I was doing maintenance on my Focus, thought to myself, "Self, let's go throw the battery in Esther for the hell of it." Was a warmish day, and she started right up, purred like a kitten. Didn't drive her because I couldn't find the plate sticker, and knew I had to do some maintenance. Maybe a week or two later, I had bought new wires and plugs, and threw them in. Car didn't start. Crank crank, no fire. Frustrated and out of time, let her sit. Then on Monday, I went out to work on her, as I had two days off in a row (YAY!). She started right up (WTF!), drove her into the garage, parked her. Did an oil change, cleaned off the rotors, checked out the crankshaft sensor and cleaned the electrical connection. Went to start the car to check the oil level, no start. Crank crank crank. Put the battery on the charger. Crank crank. Tried to fire, didn't stick. The radiator fan is also coming on at this time (and it's a little chilly outside). Dad came out to the garage, and started poking around. We got the car to start at this point, but it didn't really "fire up", it just sort of decided to run the engine very sluggishly. Dad says, you have a vacuum leak here somewhere. He found a connector towards the back that wasn't hooked up to anything coming from the intake. Turns out it belongs to the EGR Regulator Solenoid, which wasn't hooked up at all! So, he says, we need to fix that, and let's take off your intake and check to see if maybe those EGR ports are clogged up and clean them out, too. Get it halfway torn apart, and had to quit about 6 pm. Get back out there in the morning, got a new EGR regulator, slapped it on (old one was very obviously stuck). Checked my IAC vs. a good one my dad had (he has a 94 4.6L Crown Vic, how convenient!) Put everything back together. Crank crank, no start. Now my younger brother is over, too. Fuel pump is coming on, getting power to the injectors, getting spark. Dad has even sprayed good gas into the intake to try to get it to fire, no start, just cranking. Change the fuel filter, filter is a bit dirty, but no start after the new one is on. So we let it sit, while I search the forums here, and some others some more. Come across some interesting information about the CCRM being bad, it will cause the radiator fan to come on when the key is just on, and won't let the car start, etc. So, I go out to the garage with a hair dryer, ready to heat up the CCRM. As soon as I open the door, I notice the garage is warmer. I put the key in the ignition to accessory on, and the fan kicks on, then goes off almost immediately. I jiggle the big conduit full of wires near the firewall, and especially the ones near the EGR, fan doesn't come back on. Wiggle the wires going into the CCRM, fan doesn't come on. Go back inside the car, cranks and fires up. HIGH idle, and when punching the gas, bogs down. Mystified, I pour in some Lucas fuel treatment (thinking bad gas!), and within a couple minutes, the idle slows down to where it should be, the funky exhaust stops, the CEL goes off, and when I punch the gas, it revs like it should. Pull the car out of the garage, and park it.
SOOOO I'm thinking now that I have a bad CCRM. OK! So, today, I pulled it out of the car, and put it in the freezer. For about four hours. I plugged it back into the car, turn the key to accessory on. No fan. WTH. Turn the key, and it cranks and fires right up. Tried it two or three times, fires right up. It is very warm today, so the only part of the car that is cold is the CCRM.
SOOOO in short, I have:
-cleaned the Crankshaft position sensor harness
-changed the plugs and wires
-charged the battery, checked the wires
-checked the IAC
-replaced the EGR Regulator and cleaned the three ports in the intake from the EGR that clog (they weren't clogged)
-changed the fuel filter
-put in fuel treatment
-checked for spark, power to the injectors
-put the CCRM in the freezer then on the car when cold
I have previously had problems with the cooling fan. A few years ago, the fan motor had locked up, and it caused the 60A fuse to literally melt it's location in the underhood fuse box. We put in a new motor, moved the fuse in the box, and I also changed out the coolant temperature sensor, and then I drove the car to Gettysburg from Ohio where it was a 100 degrees for 3 days and had no problems.
So, my dilemma is, I would really love to start driving my car again this summer. BUT I don't want it to strand me if it gets cold at night! I'm not sure what else that warm vs. cold temperatures would affect on the car! I have no CEL currently, but might go get it checked anyway (hey, it's free!), and dad suggested having it hooked up to a diagnostic type computer at a shop. Other than that, I understand there may be some obscure shorted wire somewhere, but what am I missing, if anything?
Thanks in advance, and sorry for the long post, but didn't want to leave anything out!
