North American Turbocoupe Organization

Hi to all again,

I had my friend plug in his scan tool to my TC, and we noticed a code 14 "PIP sensor intermediant fault detected"

Is the "PIP" the pick-up coil below the distrubitor rotor? If I'm thinking correctly, I need to remove the spur gear on the dis. shaft in order to get the pick-up out, correct?

The symptoms of the car is: usually only in 2nd gear, when I'm on about 3/4 throttle, once it gets to 4K rpm, the car stumbles similar to as if I abruptly turned the key off, then on again real quick. It seems to only do it in 2nd in the 3-4 thousand rpm range. I also notice when it's idling for a minute or two, it will stumble; the rpm will drop, then pick right back up in about 1/4 second time. Stumbling at idle and stumbling at 4K rpm...both happen in about 1/4 seconds time. It's stumble, then recovery. Very fast.

Does this sound like a description of a faulty pick-up coil? Thanks for the help in advance.

The problem at idle is one that every 2.3T (lima) I have seen, has.

As far as the miss at 3-4K, I dont know.

CM 14 is often caused by bad grounds (batt-engine, engine to frame, etc) or EMI / RFI from some brands of plug wires, dist cap / rotor problems, etc.

Thanks Jeff,

So what is a PIP sensor, then?

Sorry Jeff; I should have looked in the tech articles first before I asked that question. I'm going to do a major tune-up this weekend, and I'll clean the grounds while I'm at it. I'll replace the PIP sensor as a last resort.

It is the Hall effect sensor inside the dist under the rotor, etc. Outputs a low level signal, making it sensitive to grounding problems, EMI, etc.

Short duration idle stumble is a normal thing.

According to a Ford Tech that really knows his stuff, PIP does not refer to the hall sensor. The actual Ford acronym means "Profile Ignition Pulse". I read their troubleshooting chart for that code and it describes the problem as the computer is seeing a stray pulse that should not be there. That is why a bad plug, plug wire, carbon tracked cap etc. triggers the code.

I have the same problem, code 14. I changed the PIP sensor itself, while I was at it I changed the TFI, O2 sensor and spark plugs. I did clear all codes, after replacing the PIP sensor, but code 14 came back

After changing these items the car drove really well for about 1/2 and hour. It stumbled once when I gave it full throttle but recovered and acted normally. It was fine for about a day, but the last time I gave it full throttle, it acted as if the ignition was shut off and died. It has not restarted.

Since the breakdown, I have inspected the distributor, checking connectors, and I verified there is power to the + side of the coil. There is no spark from the coil. Any ideas? Right now I am leaning towards a coil failure.

Greg

greg, i have several spare coils. call me if you want one to test with...