Hello group. I do not own a thunderbird, but i have a friend who does. it is a 5.0 and fuel injected. It is located 300 miles away at his parents house, but we will be looking at it july 4th till then I need ideas what could be wrong with it. It has not run since before he bought it. It doesn't fire at all, and has not for years. because a couple parts have been removed and put back suposedly. I know about the GM TBI a little bit and I know how to read thier codes, and have a dealer manual to help with it. I have done things like change the fuel pump and rebuilding carburators. but I havent worked on a Ford before. The owner of this car doesn't know anything about cars at all though. So he isn't of much help though. Right now it cranks but does not fire. thats all I know, in a week I will check to see whats wrong with it. His parents do have a repair manual for it, but I am not sure if its Hanes or dealer or what. What I will check is Timing, fuel flow(pump), fuses, vacume lines etc. and then try the repair manual. My question is, what is could be keeping the car from running? Some parts may be missing, and I may not spot them b/c I am not famillar with Fords, so another way to word it is What is nessesary to get it to run? I dont know if there are any websites out there that deal with it, but they seem to be harder to find than GM Sorry for the vague question, thanks for any help. David

Well 1st off, you've come to the right place. The next place to go is to tccoa.com. Join the forums there and they can help in alot of ways. Do you know exactly what parts were taken off? If it will crank but not fire, look for plugs, cap and rotor, ignition module, coil, plug wires, see if someone unplugged the PCM. There is so much to do. When you get the thing started the timing should be at 10 degrees before TDC. I don't think a vaccum line will keep it from firing. There are many sensors on the car. One that will keep it from firing (just one of the things it does) is the IAC. It will probably be in the lower intake near the number 5 fuel injector. If not then the manual will tell you where. Good luck and just ask if you need help with anything.

Thanks for the reply, No I don't know what exactly is missing. but I believe on of them was some electrical componet on the passenger fender, with big wires conected to it (I think I have seen one like it in the old chevy blazers), I want to call it the "ignition module" (but maybe not, at least for the chevys, those are kept inside the distributor). I will find out that is, when I see the book though. It is an 85 5.0 CFI, so I think it is a small carburator-like TBI, with only 2 injectors. So I would guess the IAC screws into the side of the CFI unit (like gm), but I will see when I get the Hanes book. On the GM OBD-1 cars, you just ground the two upper right pins on the dianostic connector, and it reads you codes if they are set. I think the Fords do too, but I don't know which pins to tie together?? I last looked at it 2 years ago when I didn't know enough to hardly reconise many parts, but now I have learned a lot after dealing with my chevy truck's woes. It may not be that hard at all now. Leaving tomorrow morning, Will actually see it and work on it sun, mon, & tues; I will check this group back monday with news and maybe questions

On the passwenger si9de fender is a MAF or MAS sensor. That is the only thing I can remember being on the pass. fender. The ignition modlue is in the front of the car next to the headlight. It's mountedon the inner radiator support. Not real sure about the IAC. If it is Throttle body mounted fuel injectors then I won't know where the IAC is. Also look for a MAP sensor. That's where I would start looking first. On that model year, I am not sure about how to go about reading codes. I have a code reader for that. NO it's not the same as a GM. Can you send pic.'s of the engine? I mat be able to help you more.