1993 Ford Tempo Starting Problems

WILDFLOWER1

MEMBER
1993 FORD TEMPO
4 CYL
4WD
AUTOMATIC
70,000 MILES

I've had the car a year and a half. I've had a new starter put on, 2 solonoids, harmonic balancer (twice), some connector of some sort, among other things. It won't start sporadically. Never know when it's going to decide not to start. Sometimes it just clicks and then later (minutes or hours) it will start. Sometimes it turns over and over but doesn't start. I get under there and wiggle wires or bang around with a wrench and so far it eventually starts. It's infuriating. The connector was supposed to fix the latter problem (it wouldn't start after church one day and sat there for a week, with my son-in-law coming and trying to figure it out to no avail. I finally had it towed to the shop and when it got there, it started. The starter and solonoid were to fix the click problem. Any advice?

3 Replies

MERLIN2021

MECHANIC
17,250 POSTS

New negative battery cable, and check the fusible links at the solinoid.

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Thursday, April 24th, 2008 AT 4:15 PM

WILDFLOWER1

MEMBER
2 POSTS

I forgot to mention my son=in-law put on new battery cable connectors during the process.

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Thursday, April 24th, 2008 AT 5:09 PM

RASMATAZ

MECHANIC
75,992 POSTS

Have them do a voltage drop check on both battery cable.

Sometimes it turns over and over but doesn't start. When the starter is engaging the engine it means the starter is doing its job other than the overrunning clutch could be slipping.

Cranks but will not start do below to determine if its fuel or spark problem and get back with us.

Get a carb cleaner and spray into the carb or the throttle body on an EFI. Did it start and die? If not disconnect a sparkplug wire or 2 and ground it to the engine -have helper crank engine over-do you have a snapping blue spark? If so-you have a fuel problem, check the fuel pressure to rule out the fuel pump/pressure regulator and listen to the injector/s are they pulsing or hook up a noid light.

Fuel pump and Injector/s checks out-start checking the ignition system-power to coil, coil/s itself, distributor pick-up, control module, Cam and Crankshaft sensors.

If both fuel and spark is present-check the valve and ignition timing, this will lead you to problems with compression and valves opening and closing at the wrong time

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Thursday, April 24th, 2008 AT 5:34 PM