Cam position sensor

Fyi, You don't have to remove the balancer to take a look. You just trying to see if anything looks out of place.
 
supergordo said:
I'll give you another diagnostic idea. Find another 97 V6 Tbird/Cougar computer. Swap that computer in. Not hard to do. Drive it and see if the code comes back. That would at least rule out the computer.
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Since these cars do not have transponder keys you can do that. I keep a spare computer that has a bad cam sensor channel around for things like this.
 
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Didn't the 1997 computers have a super high failure rate or am I thinking of a different year?
 
The 94-95s had a habit of hanging injectors open, but generally the 96-97 PCMs are pretty reliable.

That said, they are all 25+ years old now...
 
The computer went out in mine years ago, O2 heater circuit code. I went through 2 "tested good" junk yard pulls off ebay, different sellers. Both had the same error. I ended up getting a rebuild off Rockauto that has been working fine.

I think the O2 heater circuit malfunction on the computer is common enough, that it's causing people to give up and junk their MN12's.
 
97 eecs are also high failure; I had an FTE1 eec fail in my 97. It would not read the transmission, or control it. Replacing it with a new MBE2 one from a JY worked great. If you are tuned, you lose a reset on the tuner/programmer. But you reset it to stock, change the eec, then add the tune to the new eec. I sent the new vin # from the car to SCT; They let me tune my 3 cars, but If I tune someone else's car, They want me to pay for a different license, so I keep them informed of part swaps like that. :) The 94-95 eecs seem to hang injectors; the 97's seem to fail random circuits.
Any weird shit on the 97, and I try my spare eec first. Even tho it's no longer the affected code. The bad one only fails the trans, so I use it for troubleshooting too.
 
It seems like FTE1 is the most troublesome of the 96-97 PCMs, but remember it’s just a catch code, all PCMs in that range are the same hardware so any failure unique to the code is likely a batch in the timeframe it was produced. FTE1 , MBE2 et all aren’t applicable to the topic though since these are V8 programs.
 
I can't provide any meaningful update.

Cleaned out the pins in the large connector on the firewall leading to the PCM. They looked a bit coated though it didn't look like corrosion but rather old white-ish grease. Drove twice since and couldn't reproduce the stalling.

But that may have been luck.

Honestly, I have a hard time believing it's the PCM. Considering everything it does, I would assume a faulty PCM would throw more than one code.

Stupid question: how many misfires are normal? I set up a misfire screen in my app, and on my two short drives today it showed 1 misfire count in cylinder 6.

I'm thinking once the car cools down I may look at all the plugs.
 
FWIW, I've bought plenty of rebuilt ECMs / PCMs / TCMs for various vehicles from this company in Cary. Highly recommend them and they stand behind their work well.

Car Computer Exchange - Replacement PCM, ECM, and ECU Parts

Car Computer Exchange - Replacement PCM, ECM, and ECU Parts. Car Computer Exchange offers ECM, TCM, and PCM auto computer control units for Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Plymouth vehicles.
carcomputerexchange.com carcomputerexchange.com

Here's the link for the 1997 3.8L:

1997 Ford Thunderbird 3.8L Engine Control Computers

carcomputerexchange.com carcomputerexchange.com
 
What is the condition of the wire/connector at the coil pack? How old are the plug wires? You ever replaced the fuel filter? What is the condition of the engine ground?

Oily threads on a spark plug could be an indicator of bad valve cover gaskets.
 
jco1385 said:
What is the condition of the wire/connector at the coil pack? How old are the plug wires? You ever replaced the fuel filter? What is the condition of the engine ground?

Oily threads on a spark plug could be an indicator of bad valve cover gaskets.
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Coil pack connector looks good. Pack itself is less than a year old. Wires one year. Fuel filter 1.5 years.

Engine ground I don't know... I have perfect continuity between various engine parts and ground. I checked that yesterday.

I was wondering if it was loose.
 
Alright...

So I regapped all the plugs. Spec range is .052 to .056. They were all at .054, so exactly mid spec, mostly because my tool only has .054 and then a much smaller gap.

So I guesstimated it down to .052 as best as I could.

I also cleaned all the terminals and checked the wires for visible damage; there was none.

Went on another drive. First thing I noticed: the engine ran distinctly more smoothly. Did all kinds of acceleration, including one full throttle from standstill, but didn't exceed 50 mph as I didn't want to go on the interstate.

The stalling did not return. I don't want to get my hopes up yet...but I'm optimistic.

Even if the problem doesn't return, I couldn't specify what exactly solved it - possibly a combination of things.

I love this car, but this diagnosis drove me out of my mind. Thanks all for helping!

Meanwhile, @Rodeo Joe, did your new cam sensor fix your code?
 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
Meanwhile, @Rodeo Joe, did your new cam sensor fix your code?
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No.

The car definitely idles and drives better though. The original problem that brought it to my attention was a miss or stumble between 65-70 mph when I was on 95 last week. That appears to be gone but I have a pending code for the same code.

I might try plugs and check the wires for any issues, reading up it sound like it could cause a problem. Mikey, Gordon what are your thoughts?

Joe
 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
Oh, one more piece of information: all plugs were in the exact same condition.
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We dont know how long they were in there right? [Oh wait you said they're 1 yr]

Edit: At least they're not this bad. And no, replacing this did not fix my bigger issue but Im glad I did. The question mark is there because I lost track of which one in the back it was. The 4 in the front looked a LOT better

1697158465820.png
 
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If regapping made that much of a difference, and you replaced the ignition coil recently, then I suspect the coil is no good. The aftermarket coils are nowhere near as reliable as the OEM Ford ones. I would see if you can get a Motorcraft one.
 
@MadMikeyL, I did get a Motorcraft coil pack. That was about a year ago or so.

The unit that was in there previously was an aftermarket one. It had visible arcing across the top which prompted the replacement.

Right now I'm more of the opinion: if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
 
It may have been a not fully seated plug wire on one of the plugs.
 
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