Well instead of erasing my down-mouthâing above.
What does work for problem systems diagâing once you can no longer know good parts swap out?
Thermal shocking. In the summer, Cool-Cold shock with the AC at Max. Winter: Heat-Hot after overnight outside sitting with the heater/defroster on Max. Use a wall plug-in hair drier/paint stripper. (we used to use cans of R-12 refrigerant to cold shock âfast and cleanâ, a NO-NO now . . . shhhh . . . still works with R134a).
Tap/rap/thump shock the modual and adjacent areas. Really. Was an early Ford Dura-Spark modual in-field checking recommendation along with the Freon thermal shocking.
If you can make a state in function change - IT IS AN INTERMITTENT BAD, confirmed.
You break, melt something you were too aggressive testing.
System working: wiring harness twisting, pulling; plug wiggling/pulling testing. Again any change in functioning and youâve focused in on the problem area.
In fact GaryG, Ford had such problems with broken motor mounts in the front wheel drive Taurusâs stressing and internal work-breaking chassis to engine harness wires that they programmed in a special wire harness wiggle test mode into their vehicle computers. Iâve use this test mode in Fords up through 1995 to find problems. These could run running cylinder power balance tests too. I do not know if these are applicable to yours.
Last using a very strong halogen pinpoint light and a magnifying loop: unplug and look in very carefully at all of the relevant circuits harness end plugs. Especially at the power and ground supply terminals within these multi-pin connectors. Look at the plastic plug surrounds for signs of over-heating/melting/discoloring.
At the PCM/ECU in particular since all of these terminals are the same size the clever engineering trick is to have multiple terminals as positive power in, and multiple terminal as grounding out to get enough paralleled circuit wattage capacity. Lose one branch and the others will cascade overload, over heat. Then make in-use intermittent connections.
Yeah. Chrysler/Dodge 4th gen minivans at their cooling fan controller harness end plugs!
Chrysler/Dodge 4th and 5th gen minivans at their âwave solderedâ instrument clusters, + and - solder connections!
Jeeps rough road shake loosening their back of instrument cluster harness plugs!
Honda and Toyotaâs with the coil in cap ignitions engine heat hardening then engine vibration breaking down the to ignition engine harness!
80âs early 90âs full sized GM car rwdâs with an inner center of dash harness to harness connector that seemed to always use load overheat and die killing half the dash power!
Iâve hard way experienced all of these. And more. No manufacture is innocent.
So get frustrated . . . thump on it! At least be testing, and make you feel better.
On your own stuff, youâve already bought it anyhow. It is yours to break, On The Road To Better.
S.U.
Well guys, almost two weeks ago I was once again having issues getting my 2004 Ford running, Darn thing would not start in the morning, Turned engine over. Pumped the gas pedal. Sprayed ether down the air inlet. Checked to make sure all the plugs were firing. Even checked the fuel rail pressure (60psi). Finally got it going on gasoline again and drove it to work but switched over to charcoal gas about two miles down the road, It ran well. About two miles before getting to work I turned on the fuel pump, opened up the air valve, shut off the charcoal gas to the air intake and drove the rest of the way on gasoline, My big fear was will the truck start when I leave work? At 4pm, I tried to start the truck and no go, All the settings were just the way I left them after arriving 8 hours earlier but would not start. A little rumble from time to time, but the engine did not take, I was getting worried about running the battery down so decided to forgo gasoline and just try to start it on charcoal gas, something I had never done before. Well, it worked but the engine really ran rough. Kind of like running on 2 cylinders of the 4 cylinder engine, When pushing on the accelorator, it would almost die, Finally it âcaughtâ and would rev up, Got home OK. What I noticed was it ran well going down the road. Easy to switch from charcoal gas to gasoline and back, The problem I am having is getting the darn truck started,
I think Iâve stumbled upon a starting proceedure that works. I drive to my destination on charcoal gas and use no gasoline before shutting down, Close down the gasifier and walk away. When ready to go home, open the air inlet valve and close the charcoal gas valve. Turn on the fuel pump and turn the engine over, Then turn off the fuel pump and turn the engine again for a second or two, Turn the engine over again and pump the accelorator and it starts up, Quickly turn on the fuel pump and Iâm up and running, At this time I top off the gasifier with new charcoal, shake the grate and set the fluid drip,
Iâve used this starting proceedure about 5 times and it seems to be working,
One other lesson Iâve learned, DO NOT use large pieces of charcoal. I did not have enough engine grade charcoal so dumped in some larger pieces, Well, I was loosing power and had to finish the trip on gasoline, I opened the gasifier and of course waited for the PUFF which happens right on cue, The course charcoal allowed the fire to move to the top of the charcoal bed. This basically formed a tube allowing some CO2 to sneak by. The fire should be contained in a ball at the base of the gasifier, but the coarse charcoal did not confine it,
Enough for now,
Boy am I having fun
Gary in PA
Wellllll, the saga continues My new found method of starting did not work a few days ago and the Mule would not start. After reading up some more on auto diagnostics I rechecked the spark. Pulled wire #1, inserted a sparkplug and grounded it while turning the engine over. Good spark. Same with the other 3 plugs. OK shoot some ether and splash some gasoline in the throttle body and it should at least fire. Well not a fart. It was 10pm and the Mule has a scheduled appointment the next morning to get inspected. I was resigned to calling the garage but decided to see if the truck would start on charcoal gas. Took about 5 minutes to get good flaring gas (used an oil drip too) Started cranking the engine over, Took a few tries, but by golly gumby it started to run I revved it up several times and then turned on the fuel pump while opening the air valve, Away it went, Took it for a short drive and parked it, This morning it started up (on gasoline) and made to to the garage on time.
Seems the spark is not an issue. I need to check more into the fuel pump, I never hear it running, even with the cap of the gas tank off and my ear next to it, When you turn the key on, the fuel pump should pressure up, correct? If I depress the schrader valve on the fuel rail, nothing comes out. When the engine is turned over and then the schrader valve is depressed, a small squirt of gasoline comes out.
Enough for now, At least this vehicle has a fitting name âMuleâ
Gary in PA
Gary; Havenât worked on your particular year but most Fords have a FUEL FILTER along the frame directly under the driver: on the inside . Fairly cheap simple fix. If you get a new filter you might want to make sure you get new plastic clips. They get old and brittle. TomC
Oh yes. and check the exhaust system. We had a couple of trucks that the catalytic converter rotted on the inside and plugged the exhaust â second thought probably not your problem. Just tying to think of some dumb things that have caused me problems.
By the way. I have lost all confidence in the âmewâ starting fluids-- they ainât your either anymore. It doesnât really mean you have a spark problem if they donât fire on this new stuff.
Good advice, Tom. Hereâs a story to go along with it.
We left for Webster, Ma. for Thanksgiving, 79 Corolla ran good for 10 miles and then it gradually lost power. Five more miles and I was down to a crawl. I shut it off for a look see, nothing obvious and it started right up, idled great (tried it several times). Hmmm, crawled home at 5 mph in the breakdown lane. Without a momentâs hesitation, our neighbor offered us a car. Everyone should have a neighbor like ours⌠talk about Thanksgiving.
Anyhow the problem turned out to be a collapsed (eaten up internally) muffler. Replaced it, problem gone.
Pepe
I was told as a kid, that it can be problematic for a teacher, if you smash a potato,apple or something over the end of the tail pipe on their car. Hmmmm! Interesting. TomC
âMythBustersâ tested that one and every vehicle they tested just blew out the potato without any effort. They then filled the muffler with concrete trying to âreplicate the resultsâ, and that did stall the motor right away.
Hey guys, thanks for the suggestions. The muffler was replaced two months ago. The fuel filter is being replaced while at the garage getting inspected and some other work done. Donât think there are any potatoes or apples stuck in the exhaust It does run well on gasoline once it gets started! Iâll try propane instead of ether next time, Wayne, many years ago I filled a ballon with some acetylene then gave it a good shot of oxygen, Taped a fire cracker to it and set in in my Momâs flower bed. Lit the fuse and Holy MOLY!! I blamed the flattened flowers on the dog.
Gary in PA
My observations:
Fuel supply, some systems donât like to be run without pressure in the line. Thatâs why i switch of the injectors electric and not the fuel pump.
If a car gets a LPG install, i trick the computer with some resistors ( switch box that disconnects the injectors electric and replaces the current flow with resistors )
Anyhow, pump running dry, Symptome none or only few drops at your engine fuel line, can be caused by one injector that is bleeding air in dry mode ( no pressure on the injector)
Also take a look at the fuel pump intake, any blocking will make the pump having problems to build up pressure after running dry.
But, as always, Gary, youâr doing well in keeping my mind busy with ideaâs and experiments
December 3 and here is an update. Picked up the Ford Ranger (aka âMuleâ) from the service station where it was getting the annual PA state inspection, It needed a replacement bumper (rusted out), some sway bar end links and rear spring shackles. When I picked it up, the mechanic told me he had trouble starting it too and that he removed the spark plugs and found it flooded. Alright, that explains why I could not get it running on ether also. With this knowledge confirmed, I will be leaving the fuel pump off when cranking the engine and then stop, Turn the key back on and crank the engine and turn on the fuel pump. Hopefully this will work.
I drove it to the Penn State DuBois campus today where I gave a presentation to the students in a dendrology (tree) course, Yes, charcoal was one of the items I talked about and showed them a picture of old Mule parked out side, I am relieved to know what the problem is which will give me more confidence in operating the vehicle.
More experimentation to do and one thing to look at is controlling the injectors instead of the fuel pump. Another design change will be an auxilary fuel container to give me a longer run time between fueling. And then there is the opportunity to install my Kallhe style gasifier that I used on the VW beetle and Model T truck that can be augmented with wood chips or sawdust.
Anyhow, that is where the Ford Ranger project stands for now,
Gary in PA
Hi Garry,
most probable then; leaking injector(s)⌠but still does not explain why its possible to start it on Charcoal when it does not start on gasoline. Or am i missing something ?
I distilled from earlier postings, that it would not start on gasoline, but subsequently would start ( after effortless trying to start on gasoline ) on charcoal ?
I might be misunderstanding the point there
Good to confirm that itâs flooding. I suspected as much from your earlier startup procedures.
Three ideas:
Unplug the computer and reset it. See if that helps.
Get an AFR gauge. This will help you mix the woodgas and diagnose gasoline issues.
Consider a PWM for the fuel pump. This can just be a $20 brake controller. By reducing the voltage, you get less fuel pressure, and youâll lean out the engine to where it will run.
Koen, this isnât a leaking injector problem. The computer is confused by the lean woodgas, and is actually pouring in too much gasoline.
Once you switch off the fuel pump and run only on charcoal, the computer is getting a constant lean condition, so it will add more injector pulse-width trying to compensate. Eventually it will max out, having had no effect. Over a few miles, it will now store this value into long term fuel trim.
When you restart on gasoline the next day, the computer uses the long term value as a starting point. Oxygen sensors are offline until they warm up, so the computer works âfrom memoryâ. Since this memory says " give full pulse-width to injectors and itâs still not enough!" - then thatâs what it does. Only now with gasoline available, thatâs far too much fuel. The engine floods, and wonât even start.
If one were to try starting on woodgas at this point, it would still be flooded from the gasoline. But repeated cranking would eventually clear it out. If you had tried the woodgas without trying gasoline first, it would have worked fine.
Thanks Chris,
Your explanation makes perfect senseâŚ
Again, i learned something. i was unaware of that memory value use.
Lucky for me, the small tuktuk did not read this yet (easy setup for injection) and is tricked by the pulse wide restriction build in now.
My new found method of starting did not work a few days ago and the Mule would not start. After reading up some more on auto diagnostics I rechecked the spark. Pulled wire 
I revved it up several times and then turned on the fuel pump while opening the air valve, Away it went, Took it for a short drive and parked it, This morning it started up (on gasoline) and made to to the garage on time.