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Posted on Feb 27, 2017
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Why won't my 1990 Ford Taurus spark?

Ran out of gas, tried to restart many times- cranks but won't start, turned hazards on, returned filled gas- plenty, batt. now dead, charged and jumped- wouldn't start (did I blow the EEC/PCM if I charged with key in the ON position- for the hazads?), towed home. Checked fuel shut-off/ inertia switch- hadn't popped, removed fuel filter, primed fuel pump- 4-5 oz of gas came out, replaced filter, tested Schrader valve- seems to have sufficient psi, hmmmmm...? Checked spark- no spark and plugs wet (what happened?). Took the ignition control module to O'Reilly's- everything passed, rented OBD- no codes, looked up test for ignition coil and misread the test- bought a coil without need, bought plugs and wires, replaced all three, tried the test again- I get a light on my test light at the (+) wire to the coil and the (-) wire to the coil, however, when I crank the engine the test light does not flash as the test said it should when connected to the (-) wire of the ignition coil. So, I am told to check wiring from EEC to ign. coil at the EEC looking for a constant light- couldn't identify wire and gave up on that. If the light had consant light the wire could be deemed ok and now the driver/transistor in the EEC would need to be looked into through examining the powers/ grounds to the EEC, but more probably the crankshaft position sensor and the camshaft position sensor and then the EEC itself. This is where I am now. I want to test the two sensors and I want to know if I have properly narrowed the problem down to the sensors, EEC, and wires between them using the ignitiion coil test or if something else could be wrong like a problem in the distributor (PIP sensor?)

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Marvin

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  • Ford Master 85,242 Answers
  • Posted on Feb 27, 2017
Marvin
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You make no mention of having done an OBD2 fault code test, do that first.

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