Re: 1998 Mustang GT 4.6litre Questions =)

I don't know how much I have to offer, but, here are few points.

  1. To check to see if the fuel pump is running, turn the key to on but do not start the car. You should hear some whining in the back of the car. Have someone listen if you wish, the pump should be on the passenger side. If you hear nothing at all, your fuel pump is not operating. This could be a few reasons - broken or disconnected wire, bad fuel pump relay, or bad computer. I would *not* suggest just changing the computer because it is most likely not the case. I've only seen *one* occurance of a bad computer.

  1. If you truly had a short somewhere, you would blow a fuse or drain your battery so fast that the car would not crank whatsoever. There would be no lights anywhere and no sign of life if there was a short with no blown fuse.

  2. 0.00 on a continuity check means that there is continuity from where you are measuring from and to. It could also, depending on your multimeter, be caused by reading a circuit that is live. 0.00 does mean a short from where you are measuring from and to, but what two points are you checking? If you are checking a wire to ground (car body), that wire might supposed to be a ground. If you are checking a wire from its origin to its destination and get 0.00 then your wire goes where it is supposed to go. Always check continuity on dead circuits... disconnect the negative cable. Much less chance of false readings, and more importantly, injury.

  1. You say the car won't start. Does it at least crank? Sputter while trying to strart? Anything? An engine requires three things to run - air, fuel, and spark. To die that suddenly does lead me to believe it's electrical, as even with a fuel pump dropout there's typically at least a little sputtering while dying. Not saying it can't be that though either.

What would I do first? Check the little things... like gas in the tank (hey, it could happen), battery cables connected and tight, and all main fuses. If a main fuse dies the car could die abruptly. If there is one blown, research the cause of the failure first. A fuse doesn't blow out for no reason, something shorted out. Check fuel pressure... there should be a schrader valve or some sort of check area on the fuel rails that will allow you to see if you do in fact have fuel pressure somewhere. After these simple checks, I'd have the computer codescanned to see what it's thinking. It knows it isn't running, and it might provide a clue as to why.

Hope some of that helps.

JS

I bought a 1998 Mustang GT 4.6litre close to a year ago (a little under) and > I've had numerous problems with it (more than likely due to poor maintenance > in the past--before I owned it). Anyway... the current problem is that I > _believe_ there is a short somewhere.. I spent 8 hours with my Haynes Repair > Manual (hehe) a couple days ago trying to figure it out... a couple others > were with me (thankfully b/c I don't know much about cars at all) and we > went through every possible aspect..what happened is I was driving into > wal-mart & the car spontaneously DIED. That's it.. just... died. I noticed > it when my brakes weren't working & it was really hard to steer :P. The car > wouldn't start. I thought maybe it was the fuel filter so I took $10 & 30 > minutes of my time & replaced the fuel filter (first time doing it, so I > wasn't that fast). Anyway, that didn't fix it... so anyway in the end we > thought it might have been the fuel pump.. but the next day I further > investigated & I got my multimeter out & I _think_ there's a short > somewhere.. I get a 0.00 reading for continuity and Haynes says that means a > short somewhere... but anyway.. has anyone else ever experienced anything > similar to this? Also I was wondering if anybody has any recommendations for > me learning more about cars (Mustangs specifically, I prefer). Like... any > web-sites? So far I've learned purely by my car having problems & me trying > to fix them myself with this repair manual... it's been alright.. but I'd > like to know what other stuff means so when I start modifying the car I'll > know what the heck I'm doing :>. Thanks & sorry for the long post. > >
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JS
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Hey, I don't mind one bit. Constructive criticism is always welcome. It's the "hey asshole, you're wrong" posts that annoy me. ;-) Especially when they don't go into any detail as to why. I'd rather know what the real story is... it might help me out some day when I'm helping a friend (or myself) on the side of a road somewhere.

Yes, that's entirely true. Low fuel pressure under the load of a running engine can also cause grief. A few Cavalier Z24s I've seen that had failing fuel pumps would run and then die, not run for a while, and then start right up again. When it died, it died abruptly and showed no signs of any failure until the actual problem occured. Sticking a key in the schrader valve (I know, high tech tools) showed there was at least fuel there, but it wasn't enough to make the car run.

I agree completely... I think I said that somewhere in my reply.

However, at this moment, having drank a little too much and not being one who drinks very often, I'm not even very sure. ;-)

JS

Reply to
JS

I didn't get to see the replies except for the very first one... could somebody e-mail them to me? snipped-for-privacy@yourpageant.com please thanks =).

-Mike

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memsetpc

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