1995 Mark Viii with 111,000 miles is it time for things to start dying?

OchoMarko

OchoMarko

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Today I went to start my car and it just cranks over and over but won't start. I can hear the fuel pump coming on so I keyed it on and off about three times to "flood" it a little. Then I go WOT to try and clear the flood. It still just keeps cranking. I haven't had to check fuel pressure or spark because by the time I get home, its dark as heck. Is it at the age and mileage where things start going bad, ie: crank sensor, cam sensors, fuel pumps, etc. ? I swapped horn and fuel pump relays and they both work but still no start.
Hopefully I can get home a little earlier tomorrow to check it out more.
 
Could be crank position sensor or the PCM itself might be shot. I had one that was working fine out of a 93 but when I put it in, all it does is turn over. It will not crank the car. Sometimes they just decide to go bad. Yours could be a number of things but that would be my first two guesses, since you have checked all relays.
Fuel Pressure Regulator (FPR) may also have went out. Check fuel pressure at the rail. If you have no gauge, just take the cap off and put a rag around the shrader valve and then stick something down just to see if it is holding pressure. Just don't spray gas in your eyes lol.
 
+2 unplug then plug in the crank position sensor. wont be fun in the dark, pass side next to the crank pulley
 
Check your coils ei spark

I didn't see it mentioned or asked yet...your anti-theft light isn't flashing is it?
 
Not yet Sapp, I should be able to do it tonight. Do we check at the number one cylinder or does it really matter? Thanks Chicken, I took a look with a flashlight and saw the connector for the CPS, looks like I'll have to jack her up a bit to get to it.
 
dug up an old pic just to help

cps.jpg
 
Both my 96' and then my newer lesser mileage 98' did the same crank with nothing happening :(

Unplugged the CPS and plugged it right back in. Bingo fires right up!

Only thing that really sucks is if you have to replace the CPS cause there is no room to easily pull it out of the timing cover :mad:
 
Try the unplug/clean connector/replug on the CPS before you decide to replace it..spray it with some brake parts cleaner.. If it needs to be replaced, you'll have to remove the AC compressor for the room needed

You should check all wires from both coils..just take 1 off at a time from the coils have someone crank while you watch for a spark, if it's sparking you'll deffinatly see it dancing in the coil cup.
I would do that step first...car will not run if 1 coil is bad, since 1 coil controls 4 cylinders, and it doesn't require jacking the car up and crawling on the ground
 
Thanks everybody for your help. I removed the electrical connector to the compressor at first thinking it was the CPS and cleaned the crap out of it with MAF cleaner then put some dielectric grease in the connector. Of course it was still just cranking so I looked closer and realized, I was an idiot. Looked closer towards the crankshaft pulley (thanks so much Chicken) and removed the correct connector and repeated above procedure. I put a lot of dielectric grease on the connector. Sure enough she started right up. I turned it off and tried about 3 more times and it kept starting right up.

Now the scary part, I won't have time to replace it til Sunday. Will it be pretty safe to drive til then? I guess it was easy enough to reach down and disconnect and reconnect if it happens again. Thanks again all!
 
OchoMarko said:
Thanks everybody for your help. I removed the electrical connector to the compressor at first thinking it was the CPS and cleaned the crap out of it with MAF cleaner then put some dielectric grease in the connector. Of course it was still just cranking so I looked closer and realized, I was an idiot. Looked closer towards the crankshaft pulley (thanks so much Chicken) and removed the correct connector and repeated above procedure. I put a lot of dielectric grease on the connector. Sure enough she started right up. I turned it off and tried about 3 more times and it kept starting right up.

Now the scary part, I won't have time to replace it til Sunday. Will it be pretty safe to drive til then? I guess it was easy enough to reach down and disconnect and reconnect if it happens again. Thanks again all!
Click to expand...

Never replaced either of mine that did this and have put over 30k combined without another mishap so take it at your own risk I guess :confused:
 
Sounds like you just had a poor connection, replacment not required if vehicle started,
glad you got it going, cheap and easy ;-) good job
 
OchoMarko said:
Thats very reassuring, Subaru. If it happens again, I'll definitely replace it.
Click to expand...

Actually my 200k 96' did do it to me twice now that I thought about it but it was in my driveway. So the second time was a 5 min fix and slipped my mind.

Also the spare 96' engine I have in my garage gave up it's Sensor to me but when I did try to unbolt the one in the car the bolt was so seized it broke :eek:

Still just plugged it back in and the car went till the trans crapped out like 5k later :(
 
chicken, what is that Alternator specifically for in your pic? i had one JUST like it that was bad and i warrantied it out and got a regular lookin Mark one back... i want my cool lookin one again
 
I changed my CPS and all I did was back the compressor bolt out until I could get the CPS out. I didn't have to remove the compressor. The toughest part was trying to find all of the bolts. There are 4.
 
mistermaclincoln said:
I changed my CPS and all I did was back the compressor bolt out until I could get the CPS out. I didn't have to remove the compressor. The toughest part was trying to find all of the bolts. There are 4.
Click to expand...

there are 3
 
Sapperfire said:
chicken, what is that Alternator specifically for in your pic? i had one JUST like it that was bad and i warrantied it out and got a regular lookin Mark one back... i want my cool lookin one again
Click to expand...

dunno, thats the alt that came on the junkyard motor out of a 95 mark, and is still in the bird today. the thing that confuses me is all the people lately saying a crown vic etc alt will fit cuz they shouldn't (stock for stock) we were gonna use his sohc alt when we did the swap (cuz it was fairly new) and the alt was too deep and touched the intake so maybe some of the after market ones are skinny i dunno
 
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