willemims

Hi guys, I have a 2000 3.8 V6 Mustang and am having trouble starting it.

A couple of weeks ago, I took my car to autozone to have the check engine light diagnosed. Turns out Cylinder 3 was misfiring and with that two possible things could be wrong: the wiring or the sparkplugs. Today my Dad and I worked on my car, changed all the sparkplugs, and on the last one found out that the wire connected to the Cylinder 3 sparkplug was completely cut off. After that, my dads buddy (who is a decent electrician) spliced the wire and made a new connection on Cylinder 3. While he was doing that, my dad and I noticed the tube that holds the air filter & intake was slightly out of line with the tubing connected to it, so we took it out because we were about to simply re-fit it. My dad's friend finish the wire splice, made a fresh connection with Cylinder 3 Sparkplug, and told me to start the car. (Keep in mind we had not put the intake back into place, it was sitting on the ground beside the car). I started the car successfully, and shut it back off after we figured we had done a successful job. After that, we tried to start the mustang again, and the theft light begins blinking. My mustang tries to start, but will not turn over. We just disconnected the battery for 30 minutes, and still no luck. We have been trying for a couple of hours now. This is hard to understand because we successfully started it, however I'm not sure what happened to my car when it started. My dad checked the fuses and said they are fine. What should I do/try? Please help. If I need to supply anymore information, I will.

Thanks,
Will

chavostangV6

no owners manual to check on? mine is on all the time even while i drive.... read on some car there a certian combination of buttens to press to release the theft lock. might have to searce around. if not call a dealer. good luck man if it work let me know plz

willemims

Chavo,

To my knowledge, there is no button combination inside my owners manual for theft release. And also to clarify, my car will not start, it tries but my mustang will not turn over. My paragraph was worded oddly. Do you know of any button combinations to release the theft? I am just trying to go over the possible reasons why my mustang will not start. My dad mentioned the fuel pump yesterday, so may the problem is the fuel pump.

Thanks,
Will

BabyGT

Not sure how to fix but sounds like an alarm issue, I can't see it being the fuel pump, even if the pump died or was disabled the car would still turn over.

chavostangV6

yeah i got you, i member 2 ways to unlock the theft i dont know if itll work...
1st real easy-pull the turn signal up or down then turn the ignition to star

2nd- pull turn signal down while holding lock button down for 5 second then turn ignition to on,
it might not help but its worth a try. these were from a tacoma and olds theft lock release. post if you found a solution

Juan Lopez

Usually best not to start your car with the intake off. That filter is not there for looks. Your dads friend sounds like one of those people that will tell you to clean your engine by running water through the crankcase between oil changes. You might go back and check the wiring, though I doubt this is the problem now since your car has gone from misfiring to not firing at all. One bad plug or wire will only lead to the symptoms you initially had.

DRAGUL

Did you try another key? Possible the chip in the key went bad. As for not starting the pats system turns off the power to the fuel pump. So it will crank but not start. To my knowledge and you could do a search, the only way to turn off pats is with a tuner.

willemims

Alright guys, car is still out of commission. We're changing the fuel pump today. Hopefully this is the solution. I'll keep ya'll updated. Thanks for all of the help.

belairbrian

This is a bit confusing "My mustang tries to start, but will not turn over." normally turn over means the engine is spinning.

If this is the case it is not the PATS system. Quote from the factory manual "If normal two second proveout occurs and engine cranks fro more than one second after ignition switch is turned to start Position but fails to start, the concern is not in the PATS"

chavostangV6

soo... again explaine what exactly went down before and after problem occured... miss fo fires, no air filter, open throttle hose bad fueul pump cracked intake manifold still will run.....bad ing box (timing should not be an issue) unless messed with way out if lined...
hold throttle open if it fires air leak. (* just retrace you steps... )