1999 Windstar Won't start after coil replacement

[crrobbins]

Was returning from vacation back to Ky. Made it to Atlanta when Windstar began misfiring and sputtering at lower speeds or when letting up from accelerator. It even ran better at higher speeds. Windstar actually shut down once. I pulled to side of interstate but car refired on its own(The tach was showing zero RPM for a second or two). I continued on to daughter's home in Atlanta. The next AM when I started Windstar it was misfiring badly. I drove to a Precision Tune Auto Center. I had to continuously depress gas pedal so it would stay running until I got to repair shop. When codes were pulled it showed a P0351. I had recently replaced plugs and wires when the same code was pulled along with P0354. Technician said plugs and wires appear to be OK. They replaced the ignition coil and car immediately ran better. The technician then found(?) a bad wire that he said may have caused the coil to go bad. I am not sure if he was just repairing the bad wiring and caused more problems or the bad wiring caused the problem. I do know the van was running great just before he found bad wire. Now the van will not restart. He has not been able to find any cause for the non starting problem. He has decided that the antitheft is causing the problem and will not allow van to start and now and it will have to be taken to Ford dealership for reprogramming. This may have been caused by so-called wiring issue.

Stuck in Atlanta until Monday!

[12Ounce]

Both those codes have to do with harness problems (either "shorts" or "opens") between the ignition pack and the PCM. The harness is rather straight-forward ... with no harness connectors between the two. It needs to be inspected for damage.

Take note that several of the '99 - '01's had damage to the harness near the firewall at the ac tubing area ... caused by an manufacturing issue, but does not show up for several thousand miles. The wipers and plastic cowling need to come off for a thorough inspection. This is not a big task ... just looks a little scary (sp?).


The ignition pack wiring is as follows: (Disconnect battery before making continuity checks)

Red wire ... hot in "start" or "run" ... fed by fuse #1 in battery fuse box. Look in your glove box manual under "roadside emergencies" for fuse identification.

Dark Blue/Light Green ... goes to terminal 26 on the PCM ... check for continuity between the pack connnector and the PCM connector. Also check to see there is no shorting to ground or other conductors ... easily done at PCM connector.

Red/Light Blue ... goes to terminal 52 on the PCM ... ditto.

Pink/White ... goes to terminal 78 on the PCM ... ditto with check.

With a continuity testor or a voltmeter, this should not take over 1 hour to isolate. Sorry I can't be more help ... but about to leave town for a few days.

Good luck!

[tidalcock]

Sorry to hear about that. Hopefully it is something simple like a blown fuse or a loose battery connection. Taking it to the dealer usually results in mucho dinero being extracted from your wallet.

Good luck to you.

[CoachKarl]

Why did you replace the coil pack to start with? What's the history prior to you current woes? (Year engine size, # miles etc.)

Karl

[crrobbins]

Originally Posted by CoachKarl

Why did you replace the coil pack to start with? What's the history prior to you current woes? (Year engine size, # miles etc.)

Karl

Windstar has 3.8 liter with 85,000 miles. Technician determined that ignition coil to be culprit of bad misfire. He replaced coil, van ran good for a few minutes while he completed more checks, then it shut down for some reason. It will not restart although it turns over. Tech states that after he repaired some wiring it will not start. He has determined that antitheft is causing nonstart problem. About one year ago I replaced plugs and wires when I got codes P0351 and P0354. When I pulled the plugs the number 1 and number 4 plugs were broken internally. After replacing plugs and wires it ran great until now.

Crrobbins

[12Ounce]

One more quick comment ...

Make sure the plugs are not overtorqued. I don't know of anything else that would cause them to break. I believe the recommended torque is 10 NewtonMeters (NM) ... that's about 7.4 foot-lbs ... not very much torque! ... and easy to exceed.

[crrobbins]

Originally Posted by 12Ounce

One more quick comment ...

Make sure the plugs are not overtorqued. I don't know of anything else that would cause them to break. I believe the recommended torque is 10 NewtonMeters (NM) ... that's about 7.4 foot-lbs ... not very much torque! ... and easy to exceed.

The original plugs that I said were broken actually looked more like they were burnt into two pieces. The electrodes separated inside of insulators of plugs. When I pulled rubber boot from spark plugs part of the plugs came out with boot. The plugs that are in van now are in good shape. I am not having any problems with plugs or wires now. The problem that I seem to be having now is a wiring problem. The
technician says the non-start problem is because of anti-theft not alowing van to start. I think the anti-theft system in van is passive anti-theft. I am not sure what that means. Has anyone had a problem with anti-theft not allowing car to start under these or similar circumstances?

crrobbins

[patfogle]

The PATS system won't allow the car to even turn over. It's a starter interupt system. It's not firing because it's either not gettin power to the coil, or not getting the signal to fire. Have the mechanic recheck his connections, as there may be a bad wire.. It may be a bad fuse as well.

[crrobbins]

Originally Posted by patfogle

The PATS system won't allow the car to even turn over. It's a starter interupt system. It's not firing because it's either not gettin power to the coil, or not getting the signal to fire. Have the mechanic recheck his connections, as there may be a bad wire.. It may be a bad fuse as well.

Van was towed to dealership. They found that one of the pins in coil connector to harness was bent and may have shorted to another pin. Precision Auto Tune had replaced the coil. Instead of fuse blowing, the metal in fuse partially burned but did not open. The resistance of fuse went high and would allow only about 7 VDC through. They replaced fuse and repaired connector and reprogrammed PCM and keys. Cost me about $300.00 at dealership. Am in negotiations with Precision to get reimbursed for some of my costs. Thanks for feedback and wish me luck with Precision. I started to replace coil myself before I went to auto repair shop, but I wasn't sure that I had enough tools with me to do job since I was on vacation and I did not want to spend my vacation working on van.

Thanks AF