Well, after the head gasket blowing on the 95 Windstar a couple weeks ago, I figured (wishful thinking) that nothing else could go wrong. I must be stupid or something....
Anyway, I pulled the van up to our townhouse today to get another load to take to our new duplex, and after completely loading the van it would not start. There was a funny little clicking noise coming from near the driver's side of the radiator and both radiator cooling fans were on. I made sure the A/C- Defrost system was not on, and the engine was cool, so the cooling fans should not have come on.
I could not hear the fuel pump running, but that is not unusual with this van. I would need a second person to turn the key for me while I get under the van by the fuel pump to see if it is running it's usual pre-start pressurization.
So anyway, I crank on it for a while, and eventually it starts and runs normally. I drove it to the Ford dealer here in town and one of the techs told me that the black box that is making the clicking is the Constant Relay Control Module (the clicking stopped when it started adn ran normally). He said that these rarely go bad, even though my van is nearing 120,000 miles. This controls the fans, fuel pump, computer power--- everything. It's only $72, but is a real pain in the ass to replace. You damn near have to remove the radiator.
On the way home, it almost died twice. It was just like I had shut the key off, and did not act like it was sputtering at all. This was while driving at ~35mph. It was off for about 1 - 2 seconds and then ran normally again. I didn't have to restart it.
Later in the afternoon I backed into the same spot and it would not start again. This time there was no clicking and the fans were not running, but the problem is bound to get worse.
I ordered the CRCM. The Ford tech said that it could also be the fuel pump, but I have my doubts as to a faulty fuel pump turning on the cooling fans. Any thoughts? This was really the last thing I needed right now. I can't afford this ****.
