'92 overheated, now it won't start. Any ideas?

[dirkr]

1992 3.0 with an automatic. It overheated. The water was empty. Bone dry. Just bought the truck, so no idea if it was already like that. Ran great util just now. Hadn't had time yet to give it the once over. Rookie mistake.

The truck overheated, and wouldn't start for about two hours, then it DID start, but sputtered like it's not firing on all cylinders. Well, it ran for about half an hour, and now won't start at all. It is getting fuel and spark, so that's not it.

Think I blew a head gasket? Could it have been anything else that I might be overlooking? Yes, it has coolant now, and I'm not seeing any grey water or oil, but it only ran for half an hour. Could I have fouled plugs? I'm praying it's something that simple.

-Dirk R

PS: If this engine is toast, is going to be more worth my time to just go ahead and swap in a 5.0 out of a Crown Vic or Mustang, or just replace the stocker?

-Dirk R

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

i would plan for the worst.

ill assume the engine is turning over...so it isnt seized. if so, a compression test is in order. most engines will run with 1 or 2 jugs cold...so i dont see a blown head gasket (or very possibly a cracked head) causeing a no-start in your case....i think something else is up.

how do you know it has good fuel supply? did you pressure test it at the rail?

 

[dirkr]

Well, I know there's fuel. I can smell it quite well at the exhaust, and I've even tried throwing some ether into the intake to see if it'll kick over with that. No luck. Fire's there, did the ol' bridge to the frame spark trick.

Would an overheat lead to a blown computer or coil? The odd thing is that when it did run, it stumbled alot at low RPM, but smothed out to just about normal once it was over about 1100 or so.

-Dirk R

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

overheating the engine wont effect the electronics.

if you have raw fuel coming out of the tailpipe, perhaps the engine is flooded (failed puel pressure regulator perhaps). pull a plug and see if its wet.

i would do a KOEO test and see what the PCM is seeing. theres details on how to run the test and pull codes in the tech library.

 

[almostclueless]

overheating the engine wont effect the electronics.

if you have raw fuel coming out of the tailpipe, perhaps the engine is flooded (failed puel pressure regulator perhaps). pull a plug and see if its wet.

i would do a KOEO test and see what the PCM is seeing. theres details on how to run the test and pull codes in the tech library.

Probably wont affect the electronics....but remember the TFI sheds it heat thru the dizzy body.

 

[dirkr]

I've been out of this game for a while, and I've never worked on a 3.0 before. We'll see how this goes . . . .

So it could have screwed my dist? I know I'm getting spark at at least 3 of the plugs, but could it have offset my timing? I'll be getting truck back to my house in a couple hours.

Thanks for the pointers, btw? Any other ideas?

-Dirk R

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

i guess thats true, it could have wiped out the TFI (mounted on the dizzy)...but not the coil and/or PCM.

most auto parts stores can test the TFI module for you.