Please help me with my 1988 t-bird. It has 69,000 KM. and has had a complete tune up?

Question

After I drive for a little bit sometimes it re- starts and other times not until it decides to. I have had the computer reset, coil, fuel cut off switch, air filter, spark module, gas filter, rotor, distributor cap, wires and spark plugs replaced. I want to find the 02 sensor but can't find it. Is it easy to change? Any ideas what could cause it not to start? Sorry for the length of this question. Knowledgeable help greatly appreciated!!!!!!!!!

The mechanic put a guage on some valve to which indicated that the fuel pump was working and the pressure held.

Answer 1

HERE IS AN ANSWER THAT NO ONE HAS THOUGHT OF YET. DO YOU KNOW OF ANYONE THAT HAS A HAND HELD SCANNER FOR THE COMPUTER, SUCH AS A SNAP ON SCANNER TOOL? HOOK UP THE SCANNER TOOL AND SCROLL TO THE TEMPERATURE OF THE ENGINE. IF THE ENGINE IS COLD, SUCH AS OUTSIDE TEMP OF SAY 80 DEGREES BUT THE SCANNER READS 200 DEGREES THEN WHAT YOU HAVE IS A BAD TEMP SENSOR. THE TEMP SENSOR THINKS THAT THE ENGINE IS HOT, TELLS THE ONBOARD COMPUTER THAT THE ENGINE IS HOT AND THE COMPUTER PUTS ITSELF IN A CLOSED LOOP AND LEANS OUT THE FUEL MIXTURE. BY DOING THIS, YOU WILL NOT RECIEVE ENOUGH FUEL TO START OR TO KEEP THE ENGINE RUNNING.
HOPE THIS SOLVES YOUR PROBLEM....GOOD LUCK
YOU CAN CONTACT ME IF YOU NEED TO...RON

Answer 2

4, 6 or 8 cyl tbird? Well, either way you either lack spark or fuel or both. Pretty simple to check if you can have a simple spark tester available when it acts up. You can buy one at a parts store. Connect it to a spark plug wire and clip it to the engine somewhere where it makes contact with metal. Have someone crank the engine and see if it fires the tester. If so, then you need to determine if you have fuel pressure, if so you need to determine if the computer is pulsing the injector. Once you determine which of these you are not getting then you can narrow down the problem. Some older fords had problems with the relay that powers up the computer, the eec relay, some had problems with the pickup coil in the distributer, they all had problems with the ignition module which you have replaced, and occaisionally a fuel pump relay would go bad. But you need to know where to begin by determining if its spark, fuel or both. Sorry for the length of the answer.

Answer 3

Here's one possibility I found on the internet concerning your car:
Try turning the ignition switch on and off a couple of times when the no start occurs to see if helps start the car.

Ignition Switch


The 1988 T-Bird was one of many Fords that had a recall for faulty ignition switches. They can overheat and start a fire in the steering column area, and if severe enough and not noticed, the car can catch on fire.

You should have been issued a warning from Ford if you are the original owner. If you are not the original owner, the quickest way is, was, to take your 1988 T-Bird to your local Ford dealer for the ignition switch recall.

It was a free recall, but this has been maybe 4 years ago?

To all you 1988 T-Bird owners, you should check your ignition switch and see if it has been replaced, otherwise you risk having an overheated ignition switch, that has been known to catch the entire car on fire at times if severe.

You can have your local Ford dealer run your VIN number, and they should be able to tell you if it was replaced or not.

Answer 4

An O2 sensor is easy to replace depending on its location in the Y-pipe coming off of your engine. It should be somewhere between the cylinder head and the first catalytic converter on the exhaust pipe there should only be one on one side of the engine or the other. I don't think that a faulty O2 sensor would cause it not to start from time to time though.

Answer 5

O2 sensors should be on the exhaust pipes, just before the catalytic converters. They just unscrew. There may be 2, or 4, 1 before and one after the catalytic converters. It they are bad though, all it would do is send the wrong signal to the computer, the car would start, but run rich.

Answer 6

Sounds like you have an issue with the starter relay, maybe the starter solenoid, and possibly your battery terminals are dirty, this can cause some wierd things to go on with the car. the O2 sensor is mounted on the exhaust manifold, and the is another downwind of the cat converter, to remove them you need a torch otherwise it will be very hard to get it off, you need to heat it enough to make the metal expand, but don't heat enough to damage the sender.

Answer 7

I had an older car that did the same thing and it turned out to be a problem with the starter, when it got hot it would not work and when cool no problems. The other thing I can think of is a timing problem as heat would cause a crack in my distributor to stop working because of a hair line crack that became bigger with heat

Answer 8

Get a car/ shop manual to get to know your car better it have a section on trouble shooting an location. Check the start it might need a shield
it acts like a sponge and take in too much heat from the exhaust pipe

Answer 9

It's your ign.module Idon't care if your mechanic says he replaced it Maybe he did maybe he didn't but that is what it is .Same problem with my T-Bird It would quit and then restart when it wanted to Iguess it's possible to get a bad module as I have seen things fail on the assy. line brand new

Answer 10

Your 02 censer should be close to the exhaust manifold. Their are a few reasons your car isn't cranking, the ignition could be wearing out or your starter. (electronic ignitions do seem to have a mind of there own.)