1999 windstar won't start

[edwardscars]

I have a 1999 ford windstar 3.8L, that will not start. it ran fine until the other morning. When it was started it was knocking, pinging making a heck of a rattle. Was shut off after 5 -10 seconds, left it for a few minutes and tried it again, same thing happened ! I left it until returning from work that afternoon and tried it again and it turned over fine but will not start. I have checked for spark, have that, ckecked and tested the CKP sensor, the CMP sensor, the ignition coil pack and the wiring and connections. All of these seem to be fine. I am wondering if the PCM has given up ? A neighbour question weather the timing chain may have jumped making it out of time ? any idea how I would check for that, or any other ideas of what I should check ?

[Honda Owner]

First of all, what is the mileage? Second, is there a check engine light?

In all honesty, the Windstar is not the most reliable vehicle on the planet. The rattling sound you describe sounds bad, really bad. You have to decide if you want to have it towed and diagnosed or do you just want to scrap it right now. Speaking from experience, a diagnosis could be several hundred dollars if there is no code to tell the problem. Is this vehicle worth several hundred dollars, plus a tow?

If the car has more than 200,000 km I would have it picked up for scrap. It has gone a long way for a Windstar.

[edwardscars]

Thanks for the reply, the milage is at 230,000. no check engine light, but when I put the code reader on it shows amber meaning there is one pending but I think it has to run to complete it diagnostics. I know that windstars have a bad rep but we have been very happy with this one and it has been very reliable till now.

[Honda Owner]

the milage is at 230,000.

The vehicle is at the end of its service life. It is a money pit. No codes will be generated until it is running which could be a very expensive propostion.

[articsteve]

A neighbour question weather the timing chain may have jumped making it out of time ? any idea how I would check for that, or any other ideas of what I should check ? 

Remove the plugs and put a breaker bar on the crank bolt and see if you can turn the motor over thru a complete cycle.  Might be a b*tch for elbow room.

I too would be very careful about how much money you spend on it.  Those motors were real junk.  I believe the water pump books out at 8 1/2 hours.