Okay guys, I'm officially stumped

[idriveafordranger94]

This absolutely confuses the hell out of me. I am completely stumped by this.

So here's the story:

The '94 blue Ranger I just bought quit running, so I decided to see what was wrong. Meanwhile, I had my brother's red '94 Ranger in my garage for a new clutch. I read some of the forums and concluded that I may have a bad ignition control module. So, I decided to take the ICM off of my brother's truck and put it on my blue Ranger. This did nothing. Truck still wouldn't start. It ended up being a clogged fuel filter. I reinstalled the ICM onto my brother's truck. I finished the clutch and went to start his truck. All it did was crank. No spark.

So, I figured I had messed up his ICM. Went to the junkyard and pulled one. Stuck it in his truck. Nothing. Cranks and cranks, no start. I figured I got a bad one from the j-yard. My older brother was over for the day in his green '94 Ranger, so I decided to switch his with my brother's red Ranger. Nope, nothing. Crank and crank, no start. So, I put the ICM back in my older brother's green truck and now it won't start.

I bought a brand new ICM from Autozone and tested it to make sure it worked, it did. Installed in in both trucks, neither will start.

I am completely baffled and have no idea what in the heck I did wrong. Did I short out the computer? Please, I need some suggestions Thanks!

 

[Moreflying]

Make sure to use all the mounting bolts. If you don't it won't start.

 

[Bryan22]

+1 was just gonna say that. without all three of those little bolts in, it wont start.

 

[chilsam]

Dielectric grease

Dont forget that also 4 insulation

 

[idriveafordranger94]

Make sure to use all the mounting bolts. If you don't it won't start.

These trucks are all '94 4cyl 5 speeds and there are 4 bolts holding it on to the intake manifold (which is aluminum, which doesn't make sense. As far as I knew, aluminum doesn't make a good gound.)

 

[Moreflying]

Trust me....it does. Get all the mounting bolts in or you are not going to be happy. If you don't think it makes a ground check the continuity..it does ground out. Get them in there and snugg each down carefully.

 

[Moreflying]

By the way there are 3 bolts holding it the ICM on the 94..top right, bottom left and right...no bolt on the top left.

look at these pictures you will see that the mounting points on the bolt heads make contact and continuity with the unit..therefore ground out.

 

[idriveafordranger94]

Wow thanks guys. I didn't realize there was only 3 bolts. There are 4 holes on the ICM which threw me for a loop. Good news! I got my brother's green Ranger running by adding the third bolt! Thanks!

However, I have another problem. My brother's red Ranger's ICM bolts all broke off. I tried using vice grips to get one of the broken bolts out but it snapped flush with the intake. Drilling is out of the question-there is not enough room. Any ideas?

 

[Moreflying]

Oh man sorry about the broken bolts...glad the other one is running. That is a heck of a spot to get in there to drill out and extract those. You may be looking at taking off the intake manifold to do the work. It's just too tight a spot. I guess you could move the power steering pump out of the way to give yourself some room. Soak the ones that are sticking out with some oil. When you get the job done the tourqe specs are 22-31 IN LB

 

[idriveafordranger94]

I think what I am going to do is take off the intake and replace it with a junkyard one with the holes still intact

 

[Earl43P]

That's a remote mount.
Make another remote mount.

You've learned that all three screws (or 4) need good chassis ground.
As long as you satisfy that requirement, it should run fine.

A plate, a ground strap to chassis/intake/wherever the harness will reach.
A lot less work. Slap some of that dielectric grease on it while you are at it.

Let's not work any harder than necessary. It's an electrical connection to Ground.

 

[Moreflying]

Gonna have to somehow modify the wiring harness to relocate it then (plug on top and bottom)...good luck with that and make sure the new bolt heads contact the top mounting surfaces as shown in my picture on the top of the ICM or it will not start wherever you relocate. One last thing to consider is that a new mounting point must be able to dissapate the (heat sink) heat the ICM generates or it will fail in short order.

 

[Bryan22]

realistically the intake manifold isn't the best place for dissipating heat as it gets hot all by itself. If you can relocate it without hacking the wiring harness, i'd say go that route. otherwise removing the upper intake manifold isn't all that hard. a few gaskets and a couple hours you should be able to get those bolts extracted, or replace it with a junkyard one.
If you go that route and it's been a while, might as well chnge the drivers side plugs and wires while you've got everything out of the way. good luck.

 

[idriveafordranger94]

That's a remote mount.
Make another remote mount.

You've learned that all three screws (or 4) need good chassis ground.
As long as you satisfy that requirement, it should run fine.

A plate, a ground strap to chassis/intake/wherever the harness will reach.
A lot less work. Slap some of that dielectric grease on it while you are at it.

Let's not work any harder than necessary. It's an electrical connection to Ground.

I was thinking about doing that actually. There is no a/c so I was thinking about making a little metal piece that sits where the compressor would go that holds the ICM. I'll be in touch with some updates later!

 

[idriveafordranger94]

Made a bracket out of an old tailgate I had laying around. Still no start. I sanded the paint off of it as well. Any problems?