Engine died and will not start

Flex

Registered User
Another frustrating no start thread.

A few days ago I started the car and it was running fine. It was idling for about 5 minutes and kept running slower and slower sounding like a lawn mower as it was dying. I jumped in and hit the gas a bit but it had no power and then died.

My first thought was DIS as it ran like this when the last one died. I tried two spares with no effect. Bought a new one, still no difference. Tried swapping several coils including the one off my brother's 94 Mustang and still no start. I pulled a wire and tried a wire tester and there was spark flashing at the plug. So it appears to have spark. I tried changing out the cam sensor as well. No effect. No upshift light when cranking and the tach jumps to about 200 when it is turning over. I replaced the sensor and the balancer with a BHJ a few years ago.

The only thing I can notice is different is the fuel pressure on the gauge does not go as high as it used to. It is a walbro 255hp with only a few hundred miles on it.

Snow is almost here and I would hate to have to push it into the garage.
 
The only thing I can notice is different is the fuel pressure on the gauge does not go as high as it used to. It is a walbro 255hp with only a few hundred miles on it.

Well, how high DOES it go?

The numbers may tell us the answer easily enough!

RwP
 
There was something wrong with the setup when I first put the pump in. It always read 90 psi. The engine ran normally and was not flooding. A kinked return line was suggested for a possible reason it read so high. Another alternative was a faulty gauge. Now when it is cranking it jumps to about 50-60 psi max.
 
have you checked the fuel pressure with a good guage, not one that is mounted to car?

rember you can have pressure and not much volume. if the volume is not there I know of another car make that doesnt run very well.

you are showing almost a 30psi drop from when it was running good to now. I suspect something in fuel system. like others have said.
 
Since my last post I have checked for fuel. Tons of fuel at the rail. I have replaced the cam sensor with a spare, no effect.

I discovered that the key in the ignition tone comes on as soon as you open the door, obviously with no key in the ignition. I am wondering if it isn't the ignition switch?

It has only been doing this since the no start. It locked up on me when I was installing the trans controller and I had to take the lock out of the column to repair it. Will a defective ignition lock or switch allow it to turn over but prevent the engine from starting?
 
Since my last post I have checked for fuel. Tons of fuel at the rail. I have replaced the cam sensor with a spare, no effect.

I discovered that the key in the ignition tone comes on as soon as you open the door, obviously with no key in the ignition. I am wondering if it isn't the ignition switch?

It has only been doing this since the no start. It locked up on me when I was installing the trans controller and I had to take the lock out of the column to repair it. Will a defective ignition lock or switch allow it to turn over but prevent the engine from starting?


A faulty ignition switch could easily cause this condition.
 
Since my last post I have checked for fuel. Tons of fuel at the rail. I have replaced the cam sensor with a spare, no effect.

I discovered that the key in the ignition tone comes on as soon as you open the door, obviously with no key in the ignition. I am wondering if it isn't the ignition switch?

It has only been doing this since the no start. It locked up on me when I was installing the trans controller and I had to take the lock out of the column to repair it. Will a defective ignition lock or switch allow it to turn over but prevent the engine from starting?

Tons of fuel is not necessarily a good answer---what is the PRESSURE???? If the fuel pressure regulator is stuck open, you can have fuel flow out the wazoo and not enough pressure to satisfy the needs of the injectors...ignition switch is always a suspect though,,,,,,Dan
 
Since my last post I have checked for fuel. Tons of fuel at the rail. I have replaced the cam sensor with a spare, no effect.

I discovered that the key in the ignition tone comes on as soon as you open the door, obviously with no key in the ignition. I am wondering if it isn't the ignition switch?

It has only been doing this since the no start. It locked up on me when I was installing the trans controller and I had to take the lock out of the column to repair it. Will a defective ignition lock or switch allow it to turn over but prevent the engine from starting?

Have you checked the spark plugs? They are probably completely carbon fouled. Letting the engine idle for 5 minutes was a very bad idea. Why do people do this? You already know you have way too much fuel pressure so that's a dead ringer for fouling plugs. Knowing that you had too much fuel pressure you should have stopped everything and fixed that immediately.

If the ignition switch were a problem you wouldn't have spark.
 
Have you checked the spark plugs? They are probably completely carbon fouled. Letting the engine idle for 5 minutes was a very bad idea. Why do people do this? You already know you have way too much fuel pressure so that's a dead ringer for fouling plugs. Knowing that you had too much fuel pressure you should have stopped everything and fixed that immediately.

If the ignition switch were a problem you wouldn't have spark.

Dave he originally said it had more fuel pressure and that the gague didnt go as high when it died and the no start had occurred. He then later said it has plenty of fuel at the rail (probably checked the shraeder valve) Not so sure thats. Id say still pull a plug to check. Anything that could make the injectors not pulse?
 
Dave he originally said it had more fuel pressure and that the gague didnt go as high when it died and the no start had occurred. He then later said it has plenty of fuel at the rail (probably checked the shraeder valve) Not so sure thats. Id say still pull a plug to check. Anything that could make the injectors not pulse?

He initially said 90psi, then later 50-60psi. Both are so far above desired that the motor cannot be expected to run properly. He must obtain a verified 39-42psi before even trying to move forward. I don't see where that has been done.

He has never mentioned pulling a plug and checking for fouling. This is the first thing that should have been done. If the motor has spark, then the EEC is commanding fuel to go with it. If for some reason the injectors are not injecting, then there will be no fire at all. He said that it fires intermittently which tells me that it is getting fuel.
 
I agree

Buy a 40 $ fuel gauge and check the pressure. Even 60 is too high. It should be between 30 and 40 psi. Make sure that is good before you throw more money into replacing parts. I bet it throws codes. Have you checked.
 
He must have mentioned pressure in a different post. Yeah pull a plug t o check..>Easy enough..But if getting that much fuel it really has to be the regulator or a blockage in the line
 
Dave has a great point, I was thinking bad alt and battery voltage dropped causing the car to die. But fouled plugs is a better first check. 5 minutes of idling with excess fuel pressure will lead to overly rich fueling, and you could easily foul the plugs and cause the engine to idle poorly and eventually die.
 
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