Hi everyone. Longtime lurker who has benefited from many posts.
I’ve got a “crank but no start” issue with my 95 Bronco XL 5.0 (225k miles) that has me really banging my head against a wall.
A few months ago I had the old starter go out, so I replaced it, along with the starter solenoid. It worked fine for a while, and then I started getting intermittent no starts, and finally no start at all.
I pulled the ECM and opened it up, after doing some reading about how that could be the problem. There was some obvious corrosion inside, so I sent it off to a company in Florida to be fixed. I figured even if that wasn’t the only problem, the corrosion indicated it needed to be fixed.
I put the fixed ECM back in the vehicle, and it didn’t start. I got a “crank but no start” diagnostic manual from easyautodiagnostics.com, and went through the series of tests he recommends. After putting a probe on the grey/orange wire out of the ICM (attached to the positive terminal), and having someone crank the engine, it started right away. The engine started over and over, even without the probe connected, and I even drove it to the store and back. The next day, nothing again. According to the manual, 99% of the time this indicates a bad PIP sensor on the distributor, so I ordered a new distributor from Rock Auto, marked the positions on the old distributor, and put the new one in. It started immediately, and I thought I was finally there, but then it died in 5 seconds. I couldn’t get it to start after that.
I thought maybe I messed up the timing with the new distributor, so per the Haynes manual, I cranked the engine over to 10 degrees before TDC, marked cylinder 1 on the compression stroke, and pointed the distributor rotor to spark plug 1. Just more cranking, but no start. Everything is getting spark, and there are new plugs, wires, and a new ignition coil.
I could easily be missing some very obvious, simple thing. I’m not very knowledgeable, but have done what I can with the help of manuals and forums like this. If anyone has any directions on where I should look, I would be very grateful.
Additional info: I’m also getting the five chimes indicating something is wrong with the airbag module. I don’t know if this is related, but I don’t know much. Thanks again, everyone.
I’ve got a “crank but no start” issue with my 95 Bronco XL 5.0 (225k miles) that has me really banging my head against a wall.
A few months ago I had the old starter go out, so I replaced it, along with the starter solenoid. It worked fine for a while, and then I started getting intermittent no starts, and finally no start at all.
I pulled the ECM and opened it up, after doing some reading about how that could be the problem. There was some obvious corrosion inside, so I sent it off to a company in Florida to be fixed. I figured even if that wasn’t the only problem, the corrosion indicated it needed to be fixed.
I put the fixed ECM back in the vehicle, and it didn’t start. I got a “crank but no start” diagnostic manual from easyautodiagnostics.com, and went through the series of tests he recommends. After putting a probe on the grey/orange wire out of the ICM (attached to the positive terminal), and having someone crank the engine, it started right away. The engine started over and over, even without the probe connected, and I even drove it to the store and back. The next day, nothing again. According to the manual, 99% of the time this indicates a bad PIP sensor on the distributor, so I ordered a new distributor from Rock Auto, marked the positions on the old distributor, and put the new one in. It started immediately, and I thought I was finally there, but then it died in 5 seconds. I couldn’t get it to start after that.
I thought maybe I messed up the timing with the new distributor, so per the Haynes manual, I cranked the engine over to 10 degrees before TDC, marked cylinder 1 on the compression stroke, and pointed the distributor rotor to spark plug 1. Just more cranking, but no start. Everything is getting spark, and there are new plugs, wires, and a new ignition coil.
I could easily be missing some very obvious, simple thing. I’m not very knowledgeable, but have done what I can with the help of manuals and forums like this. If anyone has any directions on where I should look, I would be very grateful.
Additional info: I’m also getting the five chimes indicating something is wrong with the airbag module. I don’t know if this is related, but I don’t know much. Thanks again, everyone.