Hello,
I have some questions for you I was wondering if you could all help me with. I have a 97 F150 that has a 4.6l engine with 170k miles on it.

I am in Colorado and its been raining like crazy here the last couple of days and my truck does not want to start. It started the other day when it took 2-3 times to start and now it tries to turn over but only continues to crank and will not actually start.

I have looked at the pcm board to see it it was wet and it seems alright.
There is no distributor cap but I have looked at the spark plug wires and ends and seem to be dry.
The battery is good.
I did run a test on it and it came up with a code p0320.

The spark plugs and wires were changed about 2 months ago by a professional mechanic.

I am out of ideas on what could be wrong.
I had it running the other day and seemed to work well then when I was driving it the rpm dropped to zero and the engine quit. I put it into neutral and it kicked on again?

If you all have any ideas it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Arb.

 

Is it a no crank, no start or a crank, but no start. Two totally different things.

 

Getting fuel?

 

It cranks but does not turn over. We do hear the fuel pump running when we turn the key over. The fuel pump is also about 3 months old. We do think fuel gets there since sometimes the truck runs and other times it doesn't(usually when wet).
Thanks

 

Possibly a damaged or wet crank position sensor. Check that before you go farther. If necessary, take if out, clean it off (check it of course first) and reinstall. See if your truck will trigger fire then. If not then possibly the cam sensor. One or the other, I'm betting.

 

Thanks for the information.

I took a look at the ckp and tested the voltage with a ohm meter and there was some voltage.

I had the spark plugs and wires replaced a few months ago so I decided to take a look at them.

So I removed a spark plug to see if that is a problem and tested it and it does not spark at all.

I checked the spark plug wires and they seem good.

So any other ideas. Is the CKP going to cause this or is this another issue?

The battery is new

Thanks,
Arb

 

If you have no spark, it is the crank position sensor or the cam sensor. Both are inexpensive to change (about $25 each). If the crank sensor is not working, the PCM does not know where or when to send the spark to the cylinder. Therefore, you get no spark.

To change the crank sensor, take off the fan belt, unbolt the A/C compressor and move to the side, take out the one bolt holding the crank sensor and remove then unplug sensor from wiring harness. The cam sensor is on the other side of the engine and removes the same but is easier to get at.

 

Hey just for anyone else who has a similar problem I seemed to find the solution.

First after testing the CKP and the ignition coils and such I still could not find a spark on the spark plug. I decided to once again checkout the pcm and sprayed some electronic spray in there(like wd40) and hooked it up and the truck started just fine. I think the water got into the connections and such or the older wire mounts are getting worn out. Either way it seems to work now and thanks for everyone's help.

Arb