need some help here

pbdevastator

Registered User
tuesday i drive the tbird to work, everything was working fine. when i go to start it in the parking lot to go home, it wont start. it turned over but just wouldn't start. at that time i was assuming it was the wire connecting to the top of the fuel tank to the fuel pump assembly which was the problem after upgrading everything. so i had the car towed home. wouldn't start wednesday or thursday. went to mess with it today and it started right up. i just dont understand what would've caused it not to start tuesday night, and while it wasn't working what could've changed to where it would start. the main this is i have a feeling this is going to happen again. anyone have any ideas or gone thru something similar?
 
k, now the car is back to not starting. took the fuel filter off again, tried starting it nothing getting to that point. so least we got it narrowed down, but still dont know why this is happening.
 
Could be the fuel pump dieing. Sometimes they'll go at once and sometimes they'll work intermittently before giving up. Can you hear the pump when you turn on the key and was there gas being pumped when you took the filter off and tried it?
 
yes it gets spark, upshift light comes on while cranking, just no fuel being delivered. fuel doesnt even get to the fuel filter. also checked the fuel cut off thing in the trunk, that was fine.
 
Something else to check would be the coil pack. I know you wouldn't necessarily thing that due to it having a spark but I had a very similar situation with a car I had. It died on me going down the road as if the fuel pump had went out. When my brother checked it out it wasnt getting fuel so we put a new pump on it but to no avail. Every now and then it would start. We overlooked to coil pack and spent a lot of money diagnosing the car with various sensors but couldn't get it to run right. Finally I took it to the dealer where they charged me $55.00 to make me feel like an idiot. It turned out that the coil pack was firing incorrectly thus the computer read the signal as if the timing was off severely and stopped the fuel flow to the engine. They replaced the coil pack and my brother is still driving the car almost two years later. I believe autozone can test it if you take it off and get it to them. There are many cars that have coil packs that interchange with the SC so I imagine you could find a good used one about anywhere if not here, if you don't want to spend the money on a new one. Virtually every 6cyl in ford vehicles including Contours, Windstars, Tauruses, Mustangs, F150's, New Cougars, and MN-12's are showing the same interchange from 1989 to 2000. The only engine not showing the same interchange is the 4.0. The ones that are showing to be the same are the 2.5, 3.0, newer 3.8, and 4.2. Hope this helps.
 
NCredSC said:
If the upshift light is on while cranking it, then you probably have a bad crank sensor.

Also, you should be getting fuel to the filter. If it's not making it that far, then you have a problem with the pump. I'd make sure the pump is pumping correctly before worrying about anything else. Do a fuel pressure test and see what numbers you get.
 
i would love the problem to be anything else but the fuel system :). but yes fuel isn't even making it to the fuel filter, but when key is on or trying to crank, the fuel pump whines but only for a few seconds then it stops.
 
As the system needs to be pressurized to work correctly, I'm not not if it would pump gas to the filter if the line was disconnected, thus having no pressure.

You will need to check the pressure with a guage at the schrader valve. 35-40 pounds would a good reading for the system with key on. It should hold that pressure for about 10 minutes after turning key off. It should hold that pressure while cranking as well.
 
NCredSC said:
As the system needs to be pressurized to work correctly, I'm not not if it would pump gas to the filter if the line was disconnected, thus having no pressure.

You will need to check the pressure with a guage at the schrader valve. 35-40 pounds would a good reading for the system with key on. It should hold that pressure for about 10 minutes after turning key off. It should hold that pressure while cranking as well.



I would think that it wouldnt matter if there was a fuel filter connected to it or not. If its going to pump fuel, its going to pump fuel. How else would it build pressure back up when you change out the fuel filter. If i am wrong, then i will say i have learned something new.........


Derek
 
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