1995 Ford Aerostar - No Start

Hi,
I am having a problem with a 1995 Ford Aerostar, 3.0L, 130k miles. The
engine will crank, but it won't start. I'm getting 39 lbs of fuel
pressure at the fuel rail. I checked one plug wire, and it is getting
spark. Can a bad hall effect sensor give me these symptoms? If so, can
this be changed without removing the distributor from the engine?
Thanks in advance for any help,

Mark
(If you want to email me, remove the words DIESPAM from my address)

On Thu, 09 Dec 2004 06:07:15 GMT, Mark
> wrote:

>Hi,
>I am having a problem with a 1995 Ford Aerostar, 3.0L, 130k miles. The
>engine will crank, but it won't start. I'm getting 39 lbs of fuel
>pressure at the fuel rail. I checked one plug wire, and it is getting
>spark. Can a bad hall effect sensor give me these symptoms? If so, can
>this be changed without removing the distributor from the engine?
>Thanks in advance for any help,

You need 3 things to make this engine run:
fuel
air
ignition

You checked 2 ( sort of ) but made no mention of checking the air
supply.

Getting any Malfunction Indicator Code ?

>Mark
>(If you want to email me, remove the words DIESPAM from my address)
>

Thanks for the quick reply. I am pretty sure it is getting plenty of air.
The air filter was changed recently. I checked for stored codes, but didn't
get any.
The reason I suspect that sensor is because, I believe the engine relies on
that signal to determine the camshaft position, and to time the fuel injector
pulses.
Thanks,

Mark
(If you want to email me, remove the words DIESPAM from my address)

Lawrence Glickman wrote:

> On Thu, 09 Dec 2004 06:07:15 GMT, Mark
> > wrote:
>
> >Hi,
> >I am having a problem with a 1995 Ford Aerostar, 3.0L, 130k miles. The
> >engine will crank, but it won't start. I'm getting 39 lbs of fuel
> >pressure at the fuel rail. I checked one plug wire, and it is getting
> >spark. Can a bad hall effect sensor give me these symptoms? If so, can
> >this be changed without removing the distributor from the engine?
> >Thanks in advance for any help,
>
> You need 3 things to make this engine run:
> fuel
> air
> ignition
>
> You checked 2 ( sort of ) but made no mention of checking the air
> supply.
>
> Getting any Malfunction Indicator Code ?
>
> >Mark
> >(If you want to email me, remove the words DIESPAM from my address)
> >

On Thu, 09 Dec 2004 06:55:58 GMT, Mark
> wrote:

>Thanks for the quick reply. I am pretty sure it is getting plenty of air.
>The air filter was changed recently. I checked for stored codes, but didn't
>get any.
>The reason I suspect that sensor is because, I believe the engine relies on
>that signal to determine the camshaft position, and to time the fuel injector
>pulses.
>Thanks,
>
>Mark

I think I would first rule out the easy stuff, like a vacuum hose leak
or disconnection. Hard for me to imagine a non-working or badly
adjusted timing sensor -not- throwing a MIL code. I've never had the
experience of such. I'll sit back on this and see what Mr Goodwrench
has to say about it. Sorry I can't be of further assistance.

Lg

I'll double check all the hoses and connections tomorrow. Thanks again for your
help.
Mark

Lawrence Glickman wrote:

> On Thu, 09 Dec 2004 06:55:58 GMT, Mark
> > wrote:
>
> >Thanks for the quick reply. I am pretty sure it is getting plenty of air.
> >The air filter was changed recently. I checked for stored codes, but didn't
> >get any.
> >The reason I suspect that sensor is because, I believe the engine relies on
> >that signal to determine the camshaft position, and to time the fuel injector
> >pulses.
> >Thanks,
> >
> >Mark
>
> I think I would first rule out the easy stuff, like a vacuum hose leak
> or disconnection. Hard for me to imagine a non-working or badly
> adjusted timing sensor -not- throwing a MIL code. I've never had the
> experience of such. I'll sit back on this and see what Mr Goodwrench
> has to say about it. Sorry I can't be of further assistance.
>
> Lg

"Mark" > wrote in message ...
> Hi, I am having a problem with a 1995 Ford Aerostar, 3.0L, 130k miles. The
> engine will crank, but it won't start. I'm getting 39 lbs of fuel
> pressure at the fuel rail. I checked one plug wire, and it is getting
> spark. Can a bad hall effect sensor give me these symptoms? If so, can
> this be changed without removing the distributor from the engine?
> Thanks in advance for any help,
> Mark (If you want to email me, remove the words DIESPAM from my address)

If you smell gas on the plugs, then try checking the mixture or timing.
A timing gun could be useful if the hall effect sensor decide to skip a
beat or so. A good mixture is when the pulse width of a cold motor
injector is about 30-60ms with good airflow. 30-60ms is about
equal to one large stroke from a water bottle mist easily seen
when the plugs are removed.

In article >,
Mark > wrote:

> Hi,
> I am having a problem with a 1995 Ford Aerostar, 3.0L, 130k miles. The
> engine will crank, but it won't start. I'm getting 39 lbs of fuel
> pressure at the fuel rail. I checked one plug wire, and it is getting
> spark. Can a bad hall effect sensor give me these symptoms? If so, can
> this be changed without removing the distributor from the engine?
> Thanks in advance for any help,

Check for rot and corrosion at every spark plug *wire* terminal,
that means both ends of all six plug wires AND the coil wire.
Just because you have spark at one plug doesn't mean you have it
at the other five. Odds are, you'll find the coil terminal and
coil wire terminal caked with corrosion either at the coil, at
the distributor cap or both. (Fords are lousy for this)
Check for injector pulse at one or two injectors, this can be
done with a 12 volt test light substituted in place of the
injector *at* the injector. A #194 bulb (side marker) with the
contacts bent straight should be a very close fit to the injector
plug and will not load the circuit enough to cause any damage
(appx 1/4 amp).

To replace the Hall switch, you'd need to remove the distributor,
and then remove the drive gear on the bottom of the shaft.
if you don't have the proper tools to remove the gear, odds are
you'll break the gear.
I wouldn't say it's impossible, but it would be very unlikely to
have a failed Hall switch and have spark but no signal to the PCM
to signal the injectors.
Chronic Hall switch failures in Fords went away in the late 80s.

Pull a couple of spark plugs, are they wet, dry, black with soot,
worn, wrong part #?

In article >,
Mark > wrote:

> Thanks for the quick reply. I am pretty sure it is getting plenty of air.
> The air filter was changed recently. I checked for stored codes, but didn't
> get any.

If you ran a KOEO self test, you should have got a coolant sensor
code with a cold engine that hasn't been/won't run.

> The reason I suspect that sensor is because, I believe the engine relies on
> that signal to determine the camshaft position, and to time the fuel injector
> pulses.

Damn, now I'll have to check the wiring diagrams to see if 95
uses a separate crank position sensor to fire the ignition coil.

Thanks for all the replies. I got the engine to start by varying the
throttle position while cranking. In order to keep it running, I had to
keep my foot slightly on the gas pedal. After about 5 minutes, something
kicked in and the engine speed increased to a normal idle on its own. I was
able to retrieve a code 172 - system lean bank 1. I'm guessing that there
is a vacuum leak somewhere, and the engine compensated for it when it went
into closed loop. Does this sound logical or should I be looking at
something else?

Mark
(If you want to email me, remove the words DIESPAM from my address)

Mark wrote:

> Hi,
> I am having a problem with a 1995 Ford Aerostar, 3.0L, 130k miles. The
> engine will crank, but it won't start. I'm getting 39 lbs of fuel
> pressure at the fuel rail. I checked one plug wire, and it is getting
> spark. Can a bad hall effect sensor give me these symptoms? If so, can
> this be changed without removing the distributor from the engine?
> Thanks in advance for any help,
>
> Mark
> (If you want to email me, remove the words DIESPAM from my address)