1996 T-bird no start

87GP

MEMBER
1996 FORD F-150

I have a 1996 Ford T-Bird, 3.8L with 150000mi. Recently while driving on the freeway there was a loud "pop" sound followed by an exhaust leak. Turned out one of the hoses on the DPFE had blown off. It ran for about 10 more miles in this condition then lost power. I had the car towed home where it sat for a couple days. Now when I try to start it just turns over, it sounds really close to starting but will not. There is a strong gas smell, I pulled the plugs (autolite platinum) and all 6 were gas fouled. I have verified spark and there are no codes. The cats have a rattiling sound when tapped. What could be the problem and the best place to start diagnosing.

Thanks,
cwjaxon

3 Replies

LOSONE

MECHANIC
1,616 POSTS

Sounds like you have a bad ignition module. It is located left of the radiator on a heat sync platform.

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Sunday, April 16th, 2006 AT 10:20 AM

87GP

MEMBER
18 POSTS

Thanks for the reply losone. We still have spark, so could it still be a bad ignition module? We recently did a compression test on #4 and I'm confused, it doesn't hold pressure. The guage will go up to about 130psi then immediatley drop. It sort of goes with the pulses when turning the engine over. We tried another cylinder (#5) and same result. We haven't tried the others because the fitting we were using didn't seem to fit right, or so it seemed. But it got me thinking, is it possible the timing chain could have jumped?

Thanks
CJ