Thanks guys. I have been researching like crazy and really appreciate the input.
I will respond to the comments and then add aditional information.
05X,
Yes, a bad new part is a possibility. I was getting zero pressure before the new pump. I'm hoping to get the problem to repeat at home so I can check pressure. I'm even willing to take it on the road with the pressure gage hooked up and taped out of the way so if it happens again, I can pop the hood and see!
XLT03,
I found a couple of your old posts about your inertia switch. I pulled the panel and unhooked the switch. Everything looks great. I'm going to leave the panel off and try to repeat the no-start condition. When it happens again, if I don't have pressure to the rails, then I will check at the inertia switch to see if I have power there. I think I will since I can hear the pump prime after the car dies.
pzy,
You are getting to the heart of it. Right now since it only happens out on the highway, I don't have tools with me. This next time I will! Right now I don't know if it dies due to the computer pulling spark or fuel. I'm going to leave a fuel gage hooked up and also have my spark tester ready. I'm going to figure this out! Only the mustang long block, pan, water pump and crank ballancer were used. Everything else is explorer.
Extra info: After checking the IAC last night (it is clean) and the MAF (also clean), I rechecked the relays and swapped some around. I rehooked the battery and cranked it up. I was surprised to see my gas gauge read 3/4 instead of full. I believe 3/4 to be the correct reading. So I drove the explorer up and down the driveway a couple of times (600ft of gravel). I thought maybe one of the relays had caused the problem and it was now fixed since my gas gauge was reading correctly. In that time on the driveway, the gauge went back to full. I spent the rest of the nigh researching that. I found that the more resistance in the line, the higher the gauge will read. I think I might have a bad ground down by the pump.
Tonight I'm going to pull the seats, pull back the carpet, open up my "pump door" in the floor and see if I can spot anything obvious. I will check the grounds there and at the connector on the outside of the framerail. If I can't find anything I might take it on a little road trip with my test light and multi-meter in one hand and my fuel pressure gauge in the other! The dieing on the highway with no restart and the fuel gauge might be two different problems or the same one.
Sorry for the long post. I've been thinking about this one alot. I have found two other places in the forum where people reported the exact same problem and never reported back on what the fix was! UG!
thanks
Austin
