North American Turbocoupe Organization



Intermittent no-start condition.......Help!
flylear45 Offline
Member
#1
Hey gang, I have an 88 TC 5-speed here that is occasionally not starting. I'll turn the key past the lock, and nothing receiving power from the ignition switch will be powered. Everything else will be fine, though, such as lights, door locks, seat, etc.

The weird part is that it will work fine by the time I can go for my tools, so I haven't found the problem yet.

It finally quit last Sunday at the gas station and wouldn't start, making my wife drive for an hour and a half to take me to work.....ugh. Of course, when I went to pick up the car, it started!

I'm thinking ignition switch, unless there is someone with a better idea. Remember, the problem is that with the key on, I'm getting no annunciator lights on the dash or any power to any switched circuit, just as if the key is still 'off'. (so don't say... check the battery!)

Thanks, Jim
88 TC 5.0 turbo project

79 TR7 convert 2.3 turbo project
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Birdman78758 Offline
Senior Member
#2
Just a thought, has your switch been replaced by the recall?
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Walsted Offline
Posting Freak
#3
My bet would be the ignition switch, also. Next time it doesn't work, see if you can push the bundle of wires going up toward the steering wheel up a little more in that direction, and see if the car will start. Or you could remove the covers from the steering column and see if the switch is loose or fallng apart.

------------------
Mike Walsted - NATO member
1986 5-speed TurboCoupe .
Mike Walsted - Sold my 1986 5-speed TurboCoupe
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flylear45 Offline
Member
#4
I don't know about the recall, but when I got the car running, none of the gages worked due to a fried resistor wire coming from the switch, and going to the instrument cluster. I recall that the switch looked as though it had gotten hot, and assumed that some DPO had hooked up an 'accessory' improperly. Maybe it is the switch self-destructing. I'm gonna change it tomorrow since it looked fried, and see if the problem goes with it.

Thanks, Jim
88 TC 5.0 turbo project

79 TR7 convert 2.3 turbo project
Reply

Birdman78758 Offline
Senior Member
#5
flylear45,

"Maybe it is the switch self-destructing".

The next step is that it catches on fire! [Image: eek.gif]

Go see your local Ford dealer; the replacement is FREE. This was a big recall and covered a lot of cars due to severity of the fire.

Don
aka Birdman78758
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flylear45 Offline
Member
#6
Well, I got the birdy fixed. I bought a replacement switch from Autozone for $9.00,
but found the old one was fairly new. The cat and EGR recalls were done, so I'm sure it was replaced then.

Anyway, as I was installing the new switch I found yet another bogus splice in the yellow switched power wire. When I cut off the tape I found a corroded mess. After splicing in a 2" piece of proper gage wire, my problems are solved.

Thanks for your help in this. It's almost like having a buddy over to help!

Jim
88 TC 5.0 turbo project

79 TR7 convert 2.3 turbo project
Reply

BRAXX Offline
Junior Member
#7
Are you still interested in selling this car?
Josh

Quote:Originally posted by flylear45:
Well, I got the birdy fixed. I bought a replacement switch from Autozone for $9.00,
but found the old one was fairly new. The cat and EGR recalls were done, so I'm sure it was replaced then.

Anyway, as I was installing the new switch I found yet another bogus splice in the yellow switched power wire. When I cut off the tape I found a corroded mess. After splicing in a 2" piece of proper gage wire, my problems are solved.

Thanks for your help in this. It's almost like having a buddy over to help!

Jim
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