1987 ford country squire lx 5.0 L SEFI eec-iv,no carb. approx. 250k(i lost the speed cable a few winters ago).yesterday i typed this question and wrote a little too much with humor and the website timed out and didn't tell me until i went to hit the send button.no draft was saved.got mad...ok but it was too much to read and unessesary, i need to get to the point..i had and still have a problem with the fuel pump relay staying energised after turn off the car and also it will energise automatically overnight or day,thus killing my battery...i thought i was wrong before but if i still heard the pump running after i shut my car off i would pull the battery cable off. i don't think it's a figment of my imagination,it must happen by itself.i originally had a problem with a loose wire or 2 when i jiggled the wiring to all those relays that are on the drivers side of the fender. i think 2 relays would click when i moved the wires around. i replaced the fuel pump relay and tried to fix the wiring associated with it and it worked a year or so ago,case solved.i went to start the car the other day and dead battery.i charged it and noticed and heard the pump relay was on when i moved the wires so i had it fix them again any loose terminals i found to be loose and/or corroded one wire at a time.all but two wires were crossed, i think i may have got them wrong but anyway the fat yellow wire + energises the relay when plugged in the right terminal slot with the key in the off position. i tried switching the wires but the pump won't turn on.so i turn the key and it does it's as usual reliable in any weather champ quick start up for less than a minute and stops running...i hear what sounds like fuel squirting out at the rear of the fuel rail or out of an injector,but see no gas leak..i only check the the other cold night if i was getting any fuel to the rail by popping the valve open and got a little squirt.i hope i didn't finally burn out the pump- it still runs but could have lost it's pressure and volume.idk.i'll put a guage on it today and for giggles and grins check to see if i got spark as well, but i doubt it.it's all original and like i said before i can get a half a rev start on it.she fires up fast and better on the coldest of days over the hottest.i know i got a break or two in the wiring to the tps which kills it-but i never got around to fixing it all these years. i just twist the wires to get it to stop surging and dying at idle until the car relearns how to idle again after battery disconnect. i also have loose and exposed wires to my throttle bypass or iac..anyway it gets progressively worse as i try to start it,it wants to start but doesn't...would you know why my relay is staying powered up or somehow powering up later after the key is off and why it's not starting again? thank you kindly. sorry it was a long story..

 

The ECA provides the 2 seconds of power to energize the fuel pump relay when the key is first turned on . There is a good possibility the computer is the problem.

 

hanky so your saying because nobody has replied but you that it could be my eca,ecm,eec or simply the brain of the car is why it's not shutting down fuel.i was explaining the situation to my mother. I wonder if the ignition switch is to blame.you know..it cuts spark but not fuel..i don't think there are separate circuits in it,ie.fuel,spark,ecm etc..I did pump test,it was fine for pressure.i didn't get a chance to do a volume test.that was not listed in my Haynes manual for the ford and merc 75'-87' v8 models black book, but my Lincoln rwd green book has a test spec for volume on a mechanical pump ,1 pint in 20 seconds.i know that don't apply for FI or maybe it does and out of error again as usual those drunken brits who wrote these damn Haynes manuals didn't put the specs in for volume test on FI...?..I didn't feel the need to have to do a deadhead pressure off of the tank when I had 40 psi at the rail..i decided to pull out my old innova 3145 ford code reader to see if I can get a no start code..if its possible.my battery checker said they were fine but I still saw the battery icon on..it would not stay linked in. it would do a quick actuator(normal sequence) start and then stop.i heard the click from the other fender well vac control solenoid.it didn't complete the process to get me the codes.so I did the alternative method by jumping to ground the extra wire (tan)and tried to run it.again it would intermittently either click in or not,but only for a brief second.no link to eca..I decided to press in the hole reset button and i got a 551 'O' -koeo. I thought it was a malfunction cause of the batt icon.didn't look in the book until I got back in the house.IAC solenoid circuit failure . I never got that code before and I did say that those two wires were hanging out and loose...hmm?it does choke down and I can hear it sucking at the snorkel. I don't know..i took out the batteries over night and had the reader in the house..so it's either it needed a deep reset or the unit was too cold because it sat outside for hours last night or both. I hate when that happens to my work test tools for heating and appliances.i need to carry a bigger cooler in that wagon that I use for that business- I forgot to mention she's been my workhorse since 04'. I have a tiny cooler in there for small batteries, supply water pressure gauge,boiler water pressure qauge,honeywell tstats, etc.this extreme cold or heat just kills these batteries and electronics. I finally got smart and started carrying a cooler just for that purpose.. i think it was about 16 degrees.no batt. icon today..i have another eca I've had for years from my old 86' colony park,if needed I hope it will work for my model and that it will work at all.it had the same motor...time to go out in the cold and figure this thing out..you never answered about why the odometer never had a sixth digit..? thanks.

 

I don't know how it could've went from bad to worse over 2 wires and a pump relay killing my battery or so I think it was/is my relay...I decided to finally do a spark check and there was none..i kept going over Haynes manual schematics after going through helm first to see where these 2 wires go into the pump relay.i thought maybe the extra wire is not supposed to go into that relay .so I checked against the other relays and where their wires go. I tried them both swapped,still no spark.all done after I had fixed the 2 terminal wires to my IAC.i also did a continuity test to the solenoid, I got a beep-ok?..checked wire for voltage with key on-lit.ok.tested between terminal wires for ground? with same bulb tester.nothing...it got way too cold and windy under tarp with my heater(I finally broke down after way too many years of doing it on the street without heat repairs- electrical troubleshooting is a complete slow down and freeze situation, they are the worst.) to next test my ignition module.i believe it's fried or is it my eca... there's more explanation and some pics of schematics that I found errors with (helm?. I can't believe it!)..there were other codes I had over the years that I could never figure out but that never made my car not start and run that I maybe should and might inevitably have to fix now that it could be a culmination of problems related to a no start.i had a quick start and stop now I got none..wow! my work horse has just temporarily bitten the dust when I need it to run,i'm grateful though I haven't had any work emergencies up here in Albany,ny... i'll post some schematics and you can see for yourself what I mean about inconsistencies or error later I gotta go do some indoor job for a customer on a furnace..at least I get all my boilers and furnaces to work,otherwise no money.i've always been good with my cars. boilers and furnaces are easy diagnostics compared to cars now adays and mine is only 87' electronics...I learn on a need to know basis that's how I roll...I was always told to pick a field and go to school for it- I never did.i'm 46 now.lol!..

 

I finally figured out the problem,it was right back to where It started.going through many wiring diagrams-helm,haynes,chilton and last but not least Mitchell.which I favor as well as the ford training manual from helm inc...I trusted helm for the info I was looking at to be 100% accurate and up to date..it was either me for picking up the wrong book from them years ago.on the cover said 1987 ford/mercury grand marquiselectrical and vacuum troubleshooting fps-12118-87 it says it was published in 1986 on the back cover litho in usa but on the index page very small at bottom right copyright 1984.is this the right book for my car listed at top?.this would explain maybe why there are errors that i found. some of the wiring diagrams doesn't match my wires or at least just the ones i need to know about.i have an 1987 country squire lx wagon...ok so changing the eca didn't solve the problem..good thing I didn't go out and buy one..i had an old one from my 86' 5.0L eec-iv,sefi grand marquis colony park.i used it to do pin tests,grounded of course.very difficult to do without a breaker box.some of the tests that michell was telling me next to do I couldn't without it.but anyway.i figured it out to be the module that I tested over and over again before hand and it tested out to be good(?) unless I blew it out by either switching or adding a stray wire to the fuel pump relay relay and the eec relay(original) wire wasn't even connected to a terminal at all,it was in the wrong slot.i think the newer relays will have an extra terminal, I know for sure that that they don't have a keyed slot when plugging into it. ...but I am still back to square one with my fuel pump relay staying energized after the key is in the off position.looking at the bottom of the fp relay(newer one,OE in the trash gone)- plugged in there is an extra open terminal .i have been switching the yellow wire back and forth.one energizes the pump with key off and the other doesn't..i believe as of last night out in the freeze when I got it to finally start a bit and show signs of improvement that it won't start with the wire in the slot that doesn't keep it energized with the key off...what could be the problem,why does the pump keep running with the key off?thanks again.

 

There is an EEC relay that gets power from the ign switch when the key is turned on.
The EEC relay in turn powers the ECA which provides the ground for the fuel pump relay to energize it. If the fuel pump stops running when you remove the F/P relay ,something is either providing a ground to keep the relay energized or the relay is sticking closed. Two terminals of the F/P relay have power all the time.When the relay is energized (ground provided by ECA) that power goes to the F/P. That covers 3 wires there. What you can check is that 4th wire that should provide a ground for the F/P relay for approx 2 seconds when the key is first turned on without starting the vehicle. If that 4th wire is grounded longer , you can either cut it to confirm that is the problem or chase it back to the ECA Pin 22. It could be rubbing against some metal and making a ground that way. Sometimes you need to take something out of the circuit and cutting the wire is the quickest way to isolate a problem. Of course we reconnect them carefully so we don't have problems later. Let me know what you find, thanks.

Take a look at the self test plug . One of the wires there is a ground and it could be providing a path to the same wire that comes from pin 22 of the ECA on to the F/P relay !!

 

wow ! this was so long ago i forgot but i believe once i got the right wires going to the f/p relay and the eec relay and connected tight it worked great for a couple of more years until now with a new problem on 1/21/20.i will start a new thread on that...