1989 Ford Festiva L EFI will not start. HELP!!!!!

[nostart89]

Hi Everyone,

I have been going through site to see if anyone has had or is having the same problem, but i have yet to find anything. I hope that someone here can help me figure out what it is because i really love my Festy and do not want to get rid of it, but we will be moving next month and if i can't get it going by then it will be left behind

Anyways here is the issues i am having:

First off, The story behind it.

I was driving my son to work,got about 4 blocks when out of the blue i hear this pop sound and a small flash of light that seemed to originate under dash far left side and everything went dead like it had no battery.. It would not crank,no lights,NOTHING AT ALL!!!. So there i am side of road hood up, scratching my head wondering what had gone wrong. Started checking engine area and found a fusible link wire burned in half.Well that should be an easy fix so i got a section of close gauge wire and put it on and turned on key it had power again cool.Turned it over and it would only crank and would not fire up.I am now thinking this is not going to be a good day,about that time i look up and yep police car pulling up. At first i was thinking well it just got worse but to my surprise he was in a good mood and actually ended up giving my boy a ride to work. So i walked back home and got my wife and younger son to help push it back home.

Since then tested for spark (has good spark) fires up with ether sprayed into air induct.

The fuel pressure, pre filter is @ 35 psi while cranking because it does nothing with just key on???

Checked for power to injectors with with lite tester and meter (no power with key on, or cranking)

Checked connections back to where it goes behind driver fender (all good)

Looked under dash for any signs of burnt wire or loose connections (looked ok)

So no power to injectors is where i am currently at. What powers them? ECM, camshaft positioning sensor?? how do you test?

I am not good at fixing electrical issues and can't afford to put in parts that are not needed. The moving expense is is bad enough lol. So any help would be greatly appreciated.

Sorry for such a long boring post.......


Thanks in advance

John

[91_festy_Gl]

Pick up coil in the disty sends reference signal to the ECU which sends signal to the injectors. Pull the disty, turn the key to the on position and spin the rotor by hand. The injectors should click when turning the rotor button. If not then the distys pick up coil is shot. Have you checked all the fuses in the car and the 3 wire fuses things on the drivers side strut tower?

Also remember to put the disty back in the correct location otherwise you will have a bad miss fire.

[FB71]

ok, you have spark, so the distributor is good. The injectors get power from the main relay on the drivers side inner fender near the headlight. The relay gets power from the ignition switch behind the ignition lock.

[nostart89]

Pick up coil in the disty sends reference signal to the ECU which sends signal to the injectors. Pull the disty, turn the key to the on position and spin the rotor by hand. The injectors should click when turning the rotor button. If not then the distys pick up coil is shot. Have you checked all the fuses in the car and the 3 wire fuses things on the drivers side strut tower?

Also remember to put the disty back in the correct location otherwise you will have a bad miss fire.

Thanks for the fast response. why would i have to pull disty to check that when it cranks over? isn't that doing the same thing or is it something that has to be done to test it?

The fuses are all good except room fuse but it was blown when i got the car.

The main one of the 3 wire fuse is the one that blew but have that fixed.


Thanks

John

[nostart89]

ok, you have spark, so the distributor is good. The injectors get power from the main relay on the drivers side inner fender near the headlight. The relay gets power from the ignition switch behind the ignition lock.

Thanks FB71,

Is that the one that has a 4 wire pigtail round plug? how do i test, it clicks when you turn on key so it is getting some power.

[91_festy_Gl]

Thanks for the fast response. why would i have to pull disty to check that when it cranks over? isn't that doing the same thing or is it something that has to be done to test it?

The fuses are all good except room fuse but it was blown when i got the car.

The main one of the 3 wire fuse is the one that blew but have that fixed.


Thanks

John

Doing this allows you to hear just the injectors clicking insted of hearing the starter turning the engine over. You can always use the ol screw driver trick. Place a screw driver on the injector and stick your ear to it. Have someone turn the engine over while listening through the screw driver. You should hear the injectors clicking if they are getting power and reference. Either way works i guess. If they are clicking then they are working. You obviously are not getting fuel otherwise the engine should fire.

[nostart89]

I am positive that there is no power getting to the injector, i tested with noid light tester and tested for d/c power with key on and while cranking and there is nothing happening.

It realy has me stumped because it has good spark and fuel pressure providing 35 psi is sufficient and if not, then would it stop power from being sent to the injectors another fuel sensor or something? I hope it did not fry the brain on it. I know mine is starting to lol

[91_festy_Gl]

Swap in another ecu and see what happens. They are a dime a dozen. Did you check out what FB71 mentioned?

[JohnGunn]

There is a large, round, 8-terminal connector that carries power to the injectors on a yellow/black wire. Its location is given as "Between the Distributor and intake manifold".That wire seems to have power before that connector and not after it. The only thing it takes power to are the four injectors. If that connector needed cleaning that would explain why everything powered by the main relay gets power but not the injectors. Clean that connector and check that power is getting through it in the direction of the injectors.

This information comes from my 1990 Festiva electrical manual. Hope the wiring is enough like yours to be helpful.

Let us know how it goes.

[FestYboy]

check for power at both sides of the EGI fuselink (far left one as you look at the link block)

[briggs]

How you getting along with your problem? Same issues here in Nebr.

[TominMO]

Swap in another ecu and see what happens. They are a dime a dozen. Did you check out what FB71 mentioned?

89 EFI car. Aren't ECUs unique for that year?