88 caravan 3.0 engine wont start

hi everyone, thought i'd give this forum a try to solve my dilemma. My 88 mini ram/caravan just quit running while I was driving. No sputtering or hesitation first, it just quit. The last time something similar to this happened to this vehicle, the fuel pump needed replacement. that was only four years ago and i've only put about 14,000 miles on since then so i'm looking elsewhere for the problem first. Can anyone tell me the ignition key sequence to access the failure codes? I knew at one time but forgot. The instructions in my chiltons manual did not work. I also tried a new ignition coil with no luck. The engine will start briefly if I spray starting fluid into the air intake so i'm pretty sure the problem is fuel related. I'm thinking the problem may be with the engine computer or a relay but i'm not sure how to properly diagnose a failure code. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Dave

Well, I still haven't solved my problem yet. Thanks for the replies. My battery is still cranking over fine. Volt guage always reads about 14 volts. After trying to access failure codes, I realized that I have no check engine light. I thought is was burned out so I tested the bulb which was good, but I tried a different working bulb just to be sure. So now i'm leaning toward a computer / wiring problem. I checked the fusible links coming from the SMEC but found no problems. So I ordered a used SMEC yesterday. It was only $60 so I guess i'll find out next week when I get it if this is the problem.

Dave

On 6 Jul 2005 19:37:40 -0400, evad5150 <UseLinkToEmail.RemoveThis@AutoForumz.com>
wrote:

>hi everyone, thought i’d give this forum a try to solve my dilemma.
>My 88 mini ram/caravan just quit running while I was driving. No
>sputtering or hesitation first, it just quit. The last time something
>similar to this happened to this vehicle, the fuel pump needed
>replacement. that was only four years ago and i’ve only put about
>14,000 miles on since then so i’m looking elsewhere for the problem
>first. Can anyone tell me the ignition key sequence to access the
>failure codes? I knew at one time but forgot. The instructions in my
>chiltons manual did not work. I also tried a new ignition coil with
>no luck. The engine will start briefly if I spray starting fluid into
>the air intake so i’m pretty sure the problem is fuel related. I’m
>thinking the problem may be with the engine computer or a relay but
>i’m not sure how to properly diagnose a failure code. Can anyone
>point me in the right direction?

Failure code access is to turn the key to position 2, and back to 0,
three times.

The sudden death thing seems t be catching too - my 87 3.0 suddenly
died comming home from a party july4th, Driving along, 45mph, all of a
sudden oil light comes on, and the steering goes impossibly heavy. For
some reason the battery went flat. 10 minutes sitting at the roadside
with the battery disconnected and it fired up again.

>
>Dave