electrical problems

[adamcpennington]

Hey whats going on everyone.....I have a 88 ford festiva(super base model) and my car has a running problem... I stalled out in the middle of the freeway and coasted to the side. It wasn't like I ran out of gas. It just gradually lost power without notice. I was towed away after finding out for sure it wasn't a matter of no gas. The next day my friend Joe took me to my ride and it started up no problem. It died out again about 2 miles later. I was then towed home. Hours later my dad tries to clean the battery cable and it starts again. ..only to die a few minutes later. We replaced the coil and it didn't solve the problem. The distributer cap looks good. It just gives no spark on the plugs. Any ideas??? I need my car to pick up my girl this weekend. Thanks.

[takeone51]

i had the same problem, but mine i traced it to the wiring harness connector on the distributor , leave the ignition in the on position with out the engine being started but all accessory's on and try wiggling the connector and wiring harness and listen if you hear any relays clicking on and off .. you might want to try replacing your fuel filter if you haven't already...

[eye_of_ra93]

Is it not getting spark, or is it just clipping out? If its just clipping out you may wanna check fluids, the motor will clip off if overheated. Get us more info.

[adamcpennington]

When i pulled out the plug out, I had a buddy of mine crank it over there is no spark at the plug....this is the 1st time its happened in the last 2months of owning it and it hasn't overheated.

[PaulLehr]

I am currently working on fixing a no spark problem on my 91GL hat has got me pretty stumped as well. If you want I can list pretty much everything to check. Ive gone through and tested so many things and so many wires on my car. It is a PITA but if you take it slow and start from one end of the ignition to the other you can usually figure out whats wrong and why pretty quick.

[Icedawg]

Have you checked your alternator. A weak or faulty alternator will do what you describe. As the battery sits it recovers, but then dies out when you use it a bit.

[getnhi1]

Its the ignition module, they heat up, quit working, cool down then work again, thats typical with a lot of other cars too.

[2ndmouse]

Ive got an current ongoing problem like this... here is what's going on;

[1993 festiva]

it will start... idle fine.
to begin the horror show, it would while driving start hesitating and choking, as if it was either running out of gas, or had a bad vac leak...

it gets so bad it will buck like a bronco.
then often if you shut it off, you couldn't get it started, NO SPARK.

then maybe a few min later, it would have good spark and fire up... on acceleration you got the same problem choke choke choke.

so I hit it with a new set of plugs, wires cap rotor and a fuel filter.

she hopped in the car and drove it FOURTY MILES and it ran like a champ..
then started AGAIN! choke buck gag choke...
[let it sit and idle its fine....]

so I went to check it out and it was DEAD SPARK.
mm mm mm so I replace the COIL.

nope still does it.
[this stuff is getting expensive!]
so... off I went to fine an ignition control module.
$115 bucks! that little black cube!

ok I CAREFULLY put this on and.... it started up. I shut it off and tried to start it again DEAD SPARK.

:roll:
so I got pizzed off and said "try to start it" and I hit the distributor... it started.
when it went back to dead spark again we tapped the distributor again, and it fired up!

so My logic says "it wasn't that $115 buck chip" so I returned it.

next, I ordered a whole distributor head, that has the crank position sensor and the rpm sensor in it also... $185.

Since tapping it made it start..
Well I just put the NEW distributor head in and guess what…
It has yet to not start, but that on acceleration gag and choke thing is still there.

So, take note of this so far! A new distributor, coil, ignition module [returned because it didn’t cure the problem] cap, rotor, plugs, wires, fuel filter.
I would be inclined to guess it’s an intake crack, bad injectors, or a faulty fuel pump…. I WOULD if it wasn’t for the fact it was doing the SAME THING before, and it was intermittently loosing all spark…. Which has so far kept me thinking its electrical. I suspect this one of those rare times when MAYBE 2 things go wrong at the same time…

Oh and I queried the computer for a code… I get a code 2, which is a crank position sensor, but that now is NEW and the code was cleared out.

So I am left standing in the rain, wondering whats NEXT to try.

I am also wondering if the ignition module was bad and the stuff in the distributor was ALSO bad…. Whats the odds…?

:x

[2ndmouse]

oh i put a vacuum gauge on the intake, when you nail the throttle the vac drops to zero the rpms do not respond for a second or so, then it slowly gains rpms, does a lottle pop thru the throttle body now and then.

I'm seeing maybe a cracked valve... time for a leak down test.

[clintorino]

Damn I have a similar problem, The past 2 weeks, the car has been fine. So one day I got an oil change and the next day hell began. Car starts up and then when i put it in gear and drive... hesitates at times.. but was driveable.. i cannot press on the gas pedal more than 1/2 way. eventually one day after work, the battery was dead so i got a jump. Stopped at a gas station, refueled and the car started up without any problem (so maybe its not the alternator). On the way home from work, i noticed it hesitating and while i was at a toll bother, i noticed when i pressed on the gas, my lights got brighter. I also noticed that my turning signals were dimming and every time they came on, my car lost a little power... So i turned off the lights and the car ran somewhat smoother. Eventually one block away from home, it died on me. Battery dead game over. So i had the battery checked out and a Advanced Autoparts store and they said that it was so low, they wanted to charge it overnight and check it in the morning. The next day it tested good. I put it back in the car, started it up and tried to drive it... (i thought that perhaps if it was drawing directly from a fully charged battery, the hesistations would dissappear -if it was a fuel pump problem). Still hesitating.... So lets play. I then removed the terminals from the battery to see if the alternator was working correctly... it was fine and did not turn off... then i heard a click, click , click and it shorted out and died on me. From the sounds of things, i am assuming that I have a short in my turning signals because it sounded like they were on but at a really fast pace for 5 seconds. Anyways, so i removed the signal fuse and reconnected the battery and it started up again, disconnected the battery...ran fine, however when putting it in gear, still hesitating... I did this for 5 minutes to see if the car would lose power but it didnt. I dont know what to do. Do you think it is an alternator problem and i should go have it tested or what? its so frustrating. I love this car i just dont know what to do next.

Thank you

[MONSOON]

WOW! Congratulations youve just earned.

Dont you feel special now?

[batstiva]

Hey, that's mine!!!

Didn't know I had to re earn it every day.

[batstiva]

Clint, let me see if I've got this straight. The car was running fine, you got the oil changed, and now it runs like crap. Correct? Is that all they did, was change the oil, or did they do some kind of 'signature' oil service? Assuming you checked the obvious, they didn't over/under fill it with oil. If they did anything other than the oil change, what was it. I think I would check for loose/ broken ground wires. Possible they broke something trying to get to the filter. Check the connections at the alternator, make sure nothing is pulled loose, making a limited connection. Never messed with an FI Festiva, but on the carbed models there is a connection into the alternator that is very, very easy to bump loose. A loose ground/ loose connection would cause the symptoms you are seeing. Post back with findings.

[Smedley]

I'm no mechanical expert, but one of my cars had a similar problem. The battery checked out as OK, but when it was under load, using lights, radio wipers etc, it couldn't handle it. We finally replaced the battery and everything was fine.

After you check all your connections and the battery cables out, if that doesn't solve the problem, it might still be the battery itself. Nobody who owns a Festiva wants to spend a lot of needless money. LOL We are all cheap. If you have access to a battery in another car, maybe you could swap them and see if the problem goes away.

If it does, then you need to replace the battery. If it doesn't, someone else needs to chime in with other things to check.

[jglutz]

start the car and immediately turn on the hi/beam, blower fan and wipers...if it does right awy rather than two minutes...the propblem lies in the charging circuit.