PATS was not used until 98 so it is not a PATS problem.
An ocassional problem with the Duratec is a flooded engine. Too much fuel causing the plugs to be wet and not fire. If this is the problem you can usually get it to light by cranking with the throttle held to the floor. Holding the throttle to the floor shuts off the injectors and after a minute or so of cranking the engine will usually light off.
In an extreme case of flooding, the engine may crank very rapidly from loss of compression due to the excess fuel washing out the rings and cylinder walls. Often you can still get the engine to light by holding the throttle wide open as above. In an extreme case, it may help to pull the front spark plugs and squirt about a tablespoon of engine oil into each cylinder and reinstall the plugs and try again. The oil will bring the compression back. If you don't think the engine is cranking extremely fast, don't add oil to the cylinders. It won't help, and may complicate things. The engine will run rough until all 6 cylinders have regained compression and the engine will smoke heavily out the exhaust for several minutes until the oil is burned out.
If this isn't your problem or if it doesn't help, you will probably need to get a shop involved.
Anyone else have any ideas?
