Help with a nightmare of a problem on 97 Mark

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maskmarkman

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:Bang I'm a new 97 Mark VIII owner... I was driving down the highway when it died at speed. It would crank, crank, and crank but it won't fire. It seems like it could be the fuel pump so I have replaced the pump in the tank, filter and the regulator but I still have no fuel pressure at the shretter check vavle??? I checked all the fuses and moved around the relays in the fuse box. I have taken a spark plug out and I didn't see any spark coming from it. I went to AutoZone and rented a hand held computer and it wouldn't link up or throw any codes? I did pull the ECM to have it checked but all of the part houses and the Ford dealership is saying that they can't check the ECM out of the car. I have also replaced the cam sensor and have a crank sensor to replace next. I see that the green "alarm" warning light on the dash computer is blinking. I also seen two other messages that come up on the dash computer when it crap out on me. One was saying something about eng overheat. and the other was saying something about a gear. I know that the car wasn't overheated when it died... Plz help with any insight or direction becuase I'm getting tried of throwing parts at this car.

Thank you,

Sincerely.
Maskmarkman :Bang
 
Did you check the fuel cutoff switch? It's located in the driver's side trunk where the air suspension shut-off switch is. Give that a try, similar thing happened to me in my Cougar years back.
 
Yes, I have replace the fuel cut of switch. It not pumping any fuel though its lines and everthing as far as the fuel side of the car has been replaced. Pump, regualtor, filter, switch but I still don't have any fuel? So, I'm started thinking that its eletrical. I metered al the fuses and changed around some relays in the fuse box but still no go yet. If the ECM computer does control the fuel pump and the spark and it was fryed all would be dead like it is wouldn't it??? Also is it normal for the "Alarm" green light on the dash computer suppost to be flashing or is it because all the doors and the truck is open while working on it. Someone else said to check its codeible keys ??? I know that if I was to replace the ECM computer that I would have to reprogram the keys to the car. Can that be done outside the dealer? Thank you the reply and help!!!
 
The anti-theft light would be flashing due to your doors being open. If the car just died at speed, I am leaning torwards a sensor problem. I had a similar problem with my 95'. I would park and shut the car off, and go back a few minutes later.......NO Start. I tracked it down to the crankshaft position sensor.


As far as your NO fuel problem.... I would check all of your grounds for the PCM. Crawl underneath and pull the PCM connector off. Once you do this you need to find the main grounding pins in the connector(Black wires). Take a digital multimeter, ground it to a good body point, and then go to each ground pin, and check for continuity between them.


I have had a few cars that have gotten bad grounds that acted up like what you have right now.


Let me know if you need the PCM Pim out diagrams, I'll scan em for you and host them on my site. If you follow the links for my cars, youll go to webshots. Look for a link that says anti theft, that has all of the trouble shooting procedures for that system and should help you out on that end.



Mike



Edit......I'm sorry, I just noticed you have a 2nd gen. None of the diagrams I have will work for your car. Ill have the 97 and 98 factory books soon. Sorry to confuse you.
 
it may be different on a 97 but my 93 did the same thing .it was the fuel pump computer....on these cars they have a relay box in front ,behind the grille ,mounted to the core support .it controls the fuel pump.and i believe the fans and something else.even though your fuses are good this box can cut off the actuall power to whatever it controls.i forget what the name of it is but its a noticeable box right directly in the middle of the car behind the grill.i got one out of a junk yard for 35 bux ...after replacing the fuel pump,relay ,filter,etc
 
For some reason, my service manual DVD is on the fritz, but let me say again - if a code reader will not function(not show communication, power up, etc...), most likely the PCM has no power! If the PCM has no power, you will have no fuel and no ignition. Stop throwing parts at the car and go back to square one. Read the codes. If you cannot read the codes - fix that problem first.
 
First of all I would like to thank all of you for your help and your input you may post.

Wahoo, I got it today:

It was short that came from the two wires that is connected to the crankshaft sensor. This short did blow the #11 fuse within the interior side panel fuse box only after I first check the fuse and was installing a new crank sensor. Its only a small 10 amp fuse but it provides the power to the PCM relay which without that we have no PCM or brains...LOL. Without any power to the PCM you won't have anything at all. It would crank but wouldn't fire. I had no fuel pressure or and the fuel pump wasn't pumping. I also didn't have fire at the plugs or coil which is also controled by the PCM.

Within the gen 2 Marks the PCM relay is located within the fuse box under the hood and is the front relay (to the front of the car) or the first one of three black relays that are all alike in parts numbers. The middle being the Starter relay and the relay closer to the driver is for the Horn which are black in color. In my 97 LSC the last three relays are white in color and all are of same part number but are different to the front three relays within the Eng fuse box. The back three white in color relays are for the Hi Beams, Trunk lid, and the relay that is closer the driver is for the Fuel Pump. Within the Eng fuse box I checked the # 1 fuse for the PCM, and then check the 26, 27 Ign fuses. Then I moved some of the relays around that was for the PCM and the Fuel pump thinking that if one was bad it would show its ugly by now. No changes yet so suspected the Computer or the PCM. I took it out and to serveral places including a dealership to get check but everyone was saying that they were unable to check the PCM while it outside of the car. So, I done some more reading and everyone was saying that PCM don't go bad very often. So, I put the PCM or computer back into the car and started throwing parts at it on the fuel side because I had little or no pressure at the shretter check valve.

I replaced the fuel cut off switch, regulator, filter, and then the pump and still wasn't getting any fuel though its lines. I also replaced the cam shaft sensor then the crank sensor when I discovored the wires to the plug of the crank sensor was fryed a bit so I repaired it and put it back together. With no luck I started checking for a ground problem and everthing was checking good. I was looking at diagram given to me by the local Ford store and noticed that the Cam / Crank sensors were connected to the PCM and then it clicked within my hard head that the short on the crank shift sensor could be related. So, I started to look at the ignition system and discovered that the power to the PCM relay is coming from two locations one being #11 10A fuse within the dash and the other was #15 30Amp fuse within the engine compartment. I check the big fuse again and it was alright then I check the little fuse for the second time and guess what??? Opps, there she blows boys.... I would say that wiring problem is a fairly common problem within the Marks. I was about to send off my PCM to have it reprogramed. I was glad its up and running and hope that this post may help others that experanced a simular problems. Thanks again all,

Respectfully,

Maskmarkman.
 
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