I recently purchased a 1989 Mercury Colony Park station wagon, it has a fuel injected 302. I was able to get it running once for only about 5-6 minutes. Then it just trailed off and died. I haven't been able to get it running since... It will turn over and occasionally act like it is about to start up, then it dies again. I don't know what to do. Any help would be great! Currently I have a boat tank which has an electronic pump mounted in it, which I am using for the fuel tank.
Mow, maybe the fuel pump sucks more than the boat tank is able to release in other words starving the fuel pump/ engine of fuel supply anyway why are you drawing from a boat tank ?
if it ran for 5-6 mins did it seem to run "right" for that amount of time? could be the module on the distributor? did you lose spark?
I am running it from a boat tank, cause the pump that is in the original tank is shot. And I had this other set up made a couple years ago for a car I raced with a similar pump. Yes it ran good for the brief time that it ran. It was a little rough, but I took out the plugs and they seemed to get spark. I also took the distributor cap off and it looked very good inside!
A car needs 3 things to run: spark, fuel, and timing. Fuel injection requires a specific fuel pressure to run and the pressure band is usually very narrow. There are specific diagnostic procedures to troubleshoot problems, but haphazard guessing by random people isn't anything I've ever seen in a diagnostic manual. Begin by looking up the fuel pressure specs and then perform a fuel pressure check. Don't have the proper gauges? Then take it to someone who does. Tools are expensive....that's why you have to pay them.
I would start with the correct pump in the tank, and make sure the gas cap is good. These systems do rely on the tank being pressurized properly. At least the fuel pumps are not terribly expensive. Also, the ignition control modules on these Fords are notorious for sudden failure. Sometimes the car will run after it cools down. Sometimes it just dies and stays died. Check for spark, for sure. These cars are terrific, and once you figure it out, I bet it gives you many years of great service.
wagon help I agree with the other guys it needs 35-45 psi for the fuel inj to run correctly. The ing module Is bolted to the dist good luck " Taztech "
the module usually takes a special wrench set up. It is a plastic rectangular shaped object bolted to the distributor with a flat plug with I belive 6-7 wires coming out of it in the form of a flat plug. Did you check your bump/impact switch before anything else?(this kills the fuel pump in case of an accident) Some go off very easily others are normal.] Check all fuel related fuses. and all ECM related fuses. The module runs many functions on the car including spark, fuel and timing(sends signals to comp for timing) if it DID run ok for the few mins that it ran I would think it's close to the right pressure may not be "right" but 5 mins? got to be fairly close or you would have notta at all. I have seen modules drop off different functions too had 1 that killed the fuel pump but spark was fine. fixed it to run and 2 weeks later lost the spark lol pesky electrical gremlins.
I have to agree with Old Fox ... the best approach to the repair of an unknown problem is taking a methodical approach. Measure what you can (e.g. fuel pressure, plug condition, spark, timing, etc.) and use that to help narrow your diagnosis. The condition you described could be a number of different things completely unrelated to fuel delivery but you haven't provided enough info to truly diagnose the issue without just guessing at problems it might be. By the way Old Fox, we always say fuel, spark and air to run treating timing as a component of spark. Best of luck with the repair. Paul
Double check your basics, Fuel pressure, Spark, etc. Also, check the vacuum hoses, especially the large one that runs from the charcoal canister to the intake. they dry rot and fail from underneath, visually looking good from the top but completely collapsed and split open on the bottom. If that pans out, then check compression. 1989 has a crappy nylon coated cam sprocket instead of a metal sprocket for the timing chain. They fail suddenly, and will throw cam timing out of whack. If your compression test reveals some cylinders with way high compression, and others with seriously low compression, and if it sounds "funny" (sorry I know that's vague) while cranking, I'd pull the timing cover and inspect the timing chain. It's a common problem that sends many nice full size fords and GMs (because they were stupid and did it too) to the scrap yard.
