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Something weird happened tonight (no start)

geosnooker2000

Well-Known Member
Joined
March 29, 2007
Messages
286
Reaction score
4
City, State
Somerville TN
Year, Model & Trim Level
'10 Eddie Bauer V8 4x4
I've had my v8 2010 4x4 for about 2 years now (?). Daily driver, distance varies. I got it with 95K on it, and it now has about 154k on it. It has always run like clockwork since I got it. Aside from normal wear and tear, like I need a new front left hub right now, I have had no issues.
Tonight I went out and jumped in the truck to head down to the store. I got in, turned the key, and the starter just kept going and going and going. After about 15 seconds I turned it off, not wanting to burn up the starter. I tried it a second time. Same thing. Third time I added a foot-full of gas. No difference. I opened the hood and for the first time in my mechanical career I realized I don't know what I'm looking at. Granted, it's nighttime right now, but I could not find the spark plugs, I couldn't identify the coil location. I definitely saw where the injectors were.... I think...

Anywho... Anybody got an idea on this? Oh, the second part of the story is, I got my wife to help me push it out of the center of the drive so I could take the car instead. I turned the key to "on", put it in neutral, she sat and steered, I pushed. When we got to the stopping spot, She just tried it again, and it fired right up like it always does. I scratched my head... jumped in and went to the store. When I came out, I held my breath and cranked it. It started right up. I backed out of the parking spot, and before I got it shifted into drive, it had died. I turned the key again. This time it sounded a little iffy, but it cranked up and I drove it home. On the way, I watched the Tach. It was steady at 800 or 1000 unless I was on the gas peddle. When I let up it didn't drop and recover, it just nestled down to 800 or 1000 like it always has.
Any ideas?
 



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Electrical connection loose somewhere.

Have a beer, sleep on it and check everything during good daylight.
 






Alright... Same thing this morning. Something tells me this is going to be expensive. I got on YouTube this morning and found out those round black things are the coils - 8 individual ones over all the plugs. I don't have my tools at home (office renovation project), so I'm gonna have to get this thing to an indy shop and pay someone to fix this thing. Could this be coil failure? I mean, it doesn't seem logical that all 8 would fail at the same time. What is up-stream of the coils? The computer? Let's see.... fuel, air and spark. That's what you need. I think I will go check the air filter.
 






Air filter was clean. I have determined that it is definitely a fuel problem. I removed the duct to the throttle body, opened the butterfly a little bit, and squirted a little carb cleaner into the intake mani. It fired up, idled for about 2 or 3 seconds, and then died. I repeated the process 4 or 5 times, even tried to gently give it gas to keep it going. No luck. At this point, I'ma have to wait until Monday morning to have it towed. MAN that burns me up paying for a tow. But, I guess tow drivers have to put food on the table too.
Imma go with Fuel Pump.
 






Before you do, check the fuel cut-off switch. I believe it is in the front passenger side foot-well area. It would be embarrassing to get a tow over that!
 






LOL!!! Yeah, I checked that during the carb cleaner starts. No effect. I assume all you do is push the button, correct?
 






Tow truck showed up (friend of mine from Bible study class), he went through a WHOLE bunch of trouble backing into my tight driveway, got in position, I get in the truck to put it in neutral, and out of habit I put the key in and turn..... YOU know what happened....

I followed him back to his indy shop. He's gonna look at it Monday.
 






Just reporting back to close the case. If you have my symptoms, probably a fuel pump. I paid somebody to do it. It's too hot out here to get dirty AND sweat. $633 for comparison's sake. That includes a new fuel filter and labor.
 






Just reporting back to close the case. If you have my symptoms, probably a fuel pump. I paid somebody to do it. It's too hot out here to get dirty AND sweat. $633 for comparison's sake. That includes a new fuel filter and labor.

Looking back, do you see anything that might have given heads up that it was going bad? I've considered replacing mine preemptively, given the age.
 






Sometimes they just die, leaving you stranded. Other times they develop internal leaks where they may for example only show symptoms when the fuel level is low.
Here is a good explanation of the later:
 






You can rent a fuel pressure tester from most parts stores these days.

On my '97 Mounty, I was headed to work one day, had a blowout on my gravel road. As I'm dropping the spare, the engine RPM steadily dropped and then the engine died. (it was winter, had my kids, headed to the sitter to drop 'em off before work).

Turns out my fuel pump gave up the ole ghost. After I got a new in, it had a good deal more oomph.

Anymore, testing fuel pressure ought to be up there with once-a-year maintenance, especially on a 5-6-7 year old or older vehicle, IMO.

Anywho, glad you got it fixed. Fuel pumps ain't that easy to do in an 3rd, or 4th gen, but then again, they're not as bad a a trans or engine swap. ;)
 






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