92taurus wagon wont start

ok there seems to be some pretty knowledgeable/helpful guys here from what ive read, so.. here goes. This car will only run if i soak a rag in gas and put it directly into throttle body after map/maf sensor and airbox and associated plumbing. even just spraying either into t.b. it wont start.itseems to have fuel pressure to the rail and i hear pump run. in fact the pump would run constantly b-4 i changed the ccmc or whatever that square box is mounted to radiator I got this car off a friend was going to junk it but i think its nice enough to keep if i can jus getr going thanks in advance 4 your help.:confused:

Welcome to the forum!

Have you changed out the fuel filter to see if that helps? When you take the old one off, safely pour the fuel out of it in both directions and see if the filter is restricting flow and how dirty the fuel is that comes out the inlet side.

I suspect your 1992 will still use a distributor cap and rotor. If either of those are worn, or if the plugs and wires are worn, you may not be getting a hot enough spark.

Maybe, and this is a big maybe, the fuel filter or fuel pump is not allowing quite enough fuel pressure. When you put the saturated rag in the intake tube, they give just enough fuel vapor to get a good spark. But, when you spray starting fluid into the throttle body directly, the spark is not hot enough to start.

One other thought, when you are spraying the fluid into the throttle body directly, are you leaving all the air intake tubing in place and just squirting through one of the small ports on the intake air tubing? If not, and you have the tubing off after the MAF, that could explain why the car isn't starting. The MAF would be registering essentially no air flow and adjusting the fuel rail accordingly (ie: essentially no injector pulse width either).

Are you sure the fuel in the tank is good? Do you have access to a fuel pressure guage so you can verify good fuel pressure? When the car cranks but won't start without the rag in the intake, pull a plug or two. Are they wet with fuel?

Essentially you need three things to get the car started and running, proper air fuel ratio (with good fuel), compression, and spark that's timed properly. You need to determine which it is you don't have, and it sounds like it's fuel related with the checks you've already performed.

-Rod

thanks for your imput no i dod not change fuel -f but yes on the new cap and rotor and yes to leaving the MAF out of the loop. would maf sens really prevent starting? any suggest where to hook up a duel pres guage ?

Yes, leaving the MAF out of the loop really could cause the car to not start.

There should be a shreader valve on the fuel rail that the fuel pressure guage connects to. You will need the Ford adapter for the guage.

-Rod

ok so I put the intake back together but disconnected the airbox in front of the MAF.still no run without the gas soaked rag . seems to be about 35 psi at s- valve. it just seems like the injectors are not pulsing ?? have not figured out how to check them yet. with the 35 psi at s-valve (if thats enough) should rule out any fuel delivery problems to the injectors should it not?

You'll now want to find a noid light set or a high input impedance oscilloscope to check for injector pulse. You may be able to borrow a noid light set from you local auto parts store if they have a "loan-a-tool" program.

-Rod

Rod, could you use your voltmeter instead of a noid light to check for the signal from the pcm? I read somewhere that you could, but the only explaination why to use a noid light instead was that it was easier to look at the light rather than the meter for the signal, its consistency and frequency. Do you have any idea why it is named a "noid" light?

I don't know why it's called a noid light, but one concern with using a voltmeter is it won't respond fast enough, typically. The injectors fire with a pretty short pulse width (milliseconds) which is pretty hard to measure with a meter. You may be able to see the meter display move, but you wouldn't be able to get a good feel for amplitude. If there is a loose or corroded connection somewhere in the system, amplitude could be pretty important in diagnosing an injector issue. A shorted or nearly shorted injector could be pulling the signal low, but with a meter you'd never see that. Of course, since you unplug the injector and put a noid light in its place, you wouldn't see that with a noid light either. That's one of the reasons I back-probe the injectors and use an oscilloscope. That and I don't own a noid light set.

I've wondered why it's called a noid light too, but never seeked an answer. Maybe they were eating Dominos pizza when they developed the light.

-Rod

I don't follow why in particular Domino's pizza (unless that is the official food for e folks to be inspired), but if it is like the story of the beginnings of Trivial Pursuit, involving some spirits, I'd say that couldn't be too far off.

I actually had a hunch that it might be short for solenoid, but was just guessing at first. With further thought ( it took me a little longer without the benefit of some Domino's :D), I thought it was reasonable to follow that logic and assume the name's origin because the light is used to test fuel injectors which are solenoids. Not to brag too much, but I found on auto-pedia.com, "Short for solenoid, a noid light is used to test solenoids like fuel injectors." It seemed a likely possibility all along, we just didn't have enough Domino's to have the proper state of mind to ponder this great and deep mystery of....zzzz :D

Just an aside, auto-pedia.com/auto-dictionary/ appears to be a good source of well explained auto terminology.

I don't follow why in particular Domino's pizza (unless that is the official food for e folks to be inspired), but if it is like the story of the beginnings of Trivial Pursuit, involving some spirits, I'd say that couldn't be too far off.

I guess I watched too much TV in the 80's..... This (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noid) is why the reference to Dominos Pizza.

-Rod

Is the fuel pressure ok on this car?
How many cylinders is this car?
Keep in mind a 4-cylinder with 1 out,your losing 25% of HP.
You can get a pulse + a click on a Injector,and still have problems with it.
The flow rate needs to be checked on a Injector.

Note: Each cylinder needs a compresshion check,Spark check,and
flow rate check on Injector.

* COULD IT BE A FUEL INJECTOR RELAY SWITCH?

MCGIVER

I guess I watched too much TV in the 80's..... This (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noid) is why the reference to Dominos Pizza.

-Rod
Ahhh!........the Noid!
I guess in spite of all that tv watching, you still turned out to be a pretty smart guy, but you did let the influence of tv pop culture lead you astray just a little. ;)

The Noid never ocurred to me as I was too busy most of that time with school and other stuff for it to have made such a lasting impression on me. I don't remember the video games and Mr. Noid who went postal at a Domino's Pizza shop for stealing his name. Which by the way, reminds that the local Domino's is locked up by the state for not paying $45k in taxes. That sure don't taste too good. For our piddlin' litttle area, we have more pizza joints than a college town!?! :screwy:

The Noid never ocurred to me as I was too busy most of that time with school and other stuff for it to have made such a lasting impression on me.

I was in middle school at the time, before I needed to study, so I still had time for TV. ;)

-Rod