1996 Cobra-- Cranks but won't start

As stated: 1996 Cobra, cranks, fired one time and sounded terrible for 1/2 a second. Then nothing. Just cranks.

I just bought the car, the PO thought the engine was blew (said a compression check said #5 had low compression) but even with that, the engine should still run, so there is another issue. From what I understand 3-4 years ago when it broke he was a bit tipsy and was doing donuts in a field when it died. He had replaced the fuel filter and that's about all the I know. We went in today and put new plugs in it and hooked everything back up as well as a new belt and battery.

From what I can tell nothing has come unplugged, the fuel safety switch in the trk (what ever that thing is called) is not tripped. It has 35-45lbs of fp when cranking at the rail. So we have fuel.

It has air unless the maf is dead... not as likely as the below.

My only guess is a bad coil pack or multiple bad wires. Any thoughts?


Edit, I have not hooked a obdII scanner up to it yet but I would think since the battery was left dead for so long that any prior codes would no longer be there.

What the compression on all 8 cylinders?

I honestly don't know. I doubt he would either as I believe the check was done a few month's even years ago. I know that #5 was a bit lower than the rest. I'm not exactly sure what they considered to be acceptable. I Unless there is a broken piston/or obvious issues (severe) it should still run. I bought a blown up 98 gt a few years ago that had 3 DEAD cylinders and it still ran... A little rough but it ran. I am planning a rebuild anyway but wanted to get it to run before I pulled it just to make sure I'm not chasing ghost on the first start up of the new engine.


FWIW, before we tried to crank it I was leaning towards a pats issue but when we put a new battery in the theft light blinks until you turn the key then stays off like it should.

Check the crank sensor. If it has fuel check and see if it has spark

Sounds like it looked up take the plugs out and try and turn it over by the balancer bolt. Does it click like the silionod is working?

I would assume that if it cranks and started for a sec it wouldnt be locked up

It also go be the pats shouting the car down

Stupid question: I've been out of the chasing "gremlins" part of this for a while. But back to the codes issue, if it has a bad crank/cam sensor, will it trip that code right away or will I have to play Russian roulette with tossing new parts at it?
(or is there any way to test the cam/crank sensor)

I'm going to get a set of known working coil packs to eliminate that issue likely next weekend, that will elim the fuel and spark (pending the car still won't start). I'm just trying to think what would make the car die while doing donuts in a field (yes, not bright...but wasn't me, see above.)

It also go be the pats shouting the car down

The theft light is not throwing any codes(and goes off when it should). I do only have one key (non ford) with it, but it's the same key the car has had for the 8 years I've known of it.

Also, doesn't pats shut down fuel? It has constant FP at the rails so I know that's not the issue.

Hmmm check for spark then is all I can say

Any quick/easy way to check for spark aside from pulling a plug wire off of the cp while cranking and getting shocked?

Take a plug and stick in the end of a wire and set the threads if the plug on a bolt or something metal and crank it and see if it sparks

UPDATE:


The car started but runs rough. It ONLY starts when u put the throttle to the floor. Then you have to help it idle until it warms up. It will settle down and idle, does better w/o the maf plugged in. I had a scan tool on it and the maf registered voltage, o2's read, tps read, iac read, all of it appeared to be normal. We also swapped in a known working set of coil packs to eliminate that. The only item left to try is a set of new plug wires. I ordered a set that will be here tomorrow (seems no parts stores stock wires for a cobra in the area).


There is VERY old fuel in it, I've ran a bottle of heet into it but fear I may have to pull the tank to drain it (can't get a siphon hose down it to do it the lazy way). If the wires don't fix it, I'll have to drop the tank. Not sure I'll have the energy to do that any time before xmas.


Anyone else with any suggestions?

The 94 GT I had a couple months ago ran awfullllllllll with the old gas that was in it. I ran it all the way empty put some fresh 91 in it and it was a new car.

X2 on the old fuel... heet is for removing water, Not restoring old fuel. take the shrader valve out of the fuel test port, attach a hose to the test port and run it into a gas can, then either jump the fuel pump relay so the pump stays on or keep cycling the key until all the fuel is out of the tank.

it has 3/8 of a tank.. Haha that will take a while. I'll drop it at some point and remove the bad gas.