4.0 Random Start issues ???

[UCRED]

Hello, I haven’t posted in a while. There is great information on this board and I search for answers often. I have searched the board and have found numerous posting but no resolution. If someone has solved this please help me out.

I have 2002 Mountaineer 4.0 AWD with 185K on it. Other than the A/C, I have not had any issues. Last week at on vacation the truck would not start. It turned over but would not fire. I continued to try to start the truck at various times but – no joy! Of course this all happened on a Sunday.

The battery was drained and AAA tried to jump it. I had the truck towed to the Ford dealership. We rented a car and drove home. The next morning at the dealership they charged the battery and she fired right up. There were no codes and they could not repeat. I have to give the dealership credit. They could have, but DID NOT take advantage of me. They charged me $50 for the diagnostic test. The fuel pressure was fine - I believe they said 50- 60#. I drove back and picked it up after they had it for 2 days. Drove 150 miles turned it off and it would not fire. This time I waited 20 min and it fired up.

Since then it has done this 5 times in the last week.

The truck runs great when running. I have had it since new.

Within 10 K
I cleaned the MAS,
Air filter is clean
Fuel filter

Can anyone help?

 

[vipersinu2]

next time it happens check for spark, wow 185,000 miles thats a bunch. kinda hard to guess your problem with that many miles. could be bad coil,crank sensor,intake leak,mass air flow sensor. or worst case timing chains problems but you would of heard the rattle of the chains.

 

[UCRED]

OK here is an update.

Today the issue happened 3 times.

The first time I sat in the parking lot for 10 minutes and then tried it. It fired up.

The next time I was running late and could not wait. I cycled the key on and off without engaging the starter 5 times. On the last time I turned it the whole way and it started.

Each time I could hear the fuel pump operating. This seems to me like I am loosing fuel pressure.

How do I check where it would be leaking pressure?

Please help!

 

[Geeshik]

Do you have little electronic tags for a gas station or lots of keys on your key chain? I was just surfing through the owner's manual and I found that these can interefere with the module that reads the chip in your key and cause a no start problem. The dealer might not have been able to find an issue because lots of times you take the key off the chain and give it to the service department all by its lonesome. Just a thought.

 

[vipersinu2]

autozone will test your fuel presure for free, on the right side of intake there is a valve that looks like an air tire valve put the fuel presure guage there.

try a different key may be going into theft, is there a theft light on dash?

 

[Mr. Truckles]

I have a 2002 Explorer 4.0 with exactly the same mileage and every now and then it will take a lot longer than normal to start, but runs 100% when it does, not quite as bad as your issue but I will do some digging and come back if I find anything. Maybe the issues are related. That's a good idea to check for spark when it's having the problem. Does it happen starting the engine cold? or if it's already warm?

 

[UCRED]

I appreciate the feed back.

Friday it stopped again and the cycling key trick did not work. I had to have it towed again to a dealership.

At least this time I was realitively close to home.

I will post what they come up with.

Please continue to offer ideas so I can at least double check what the dealer is saying.

 

[vipersinu2]

UCRED lets us know what the stealership comes up with!

 

[kc38230]

I have an 03 model doin similar.my just doesn't start.doesn't try to turn over or anything.all my lights,gages,radio,door dings all work.play with it for a little while or just let it set and suddenly she will start right up.??????let us know what dealer says.due to take mine in soon and tey and fix.key tag mentioned is new tk me
hugh.
.

 

[BigRondo]

I have an 03 model doin similar.my just doesn't start.doesn't try to turn over or anything.all my lights,gages,radio,door dings all work.play with it for a little while or just let it set and suddenly she will start right up.??????let us know what dealer says.due to take mine in soon and tey and fix.key tag mentioned is new tk me
hugh.
.

I recently had a similar issue. All the electrics worked fine but the truck wouldn't turn over, absolutely nothing when I turned the key.

I went through a whole bunch of troubleshooting steps only to find out it was dirty/corroded battery terminals. The first thing I should've checked.

Worth a try. It's quick and doesn't cost anything. :biggthump

 

[kc38230]

Thanks.i did check battery first and clean it but no help.i have read where the gear selector not engaging has been a major problem on these models and checked the sensor next to transmission.called Auto trans gear position sensor. I will be replacing it today and then i guess wait and see.may be worth looking into on aome others.

 

[Mr. Truckles]

As for the primary issue here I haven't found anything yet, but one common thing that causes a no crank situation is the shifter alignment. This happened with mine as well, even though I was in park it still would not crank but all the electronics would be working. However, when I shifted it into neutral it would start. Very typical problem if you are one of those people who slap the shifter into gear like I used to.

 

[BigRondo]

The transmission range sensor was the next thing I was going to check when I discovered the battery terminals.

 

[stonedraider]

try opening the hood and tap on the fuse relay box by the drivers side window in the hood compartment. i had the same issues and just had to tap to free the stuck fuel pump relay. it sounds stupid but it worked and still does for me. i changed the relay with minimal noticable difference try that and let me know if im a genius

 

[UCRED]

Update

Well is has been almost 2 months since the last dealership trip with the Mountaineer. I wanted to give everyone an update. Since it was expensive I wanted to make certain it worked before I posted.

They replaced the fuel pump and the filter. It was an expensive fix -- $900.00, but I have not had an issue since. I have drove almost 6K miles without a problem.

I would attempted to replace the fuel pump myself but I would have to tow the truck back to my home and that would have ate up most of the savings.

It was very frustrating with multiple tows. After all the years I finally spent more money for AAA than I paid!!!

I hope this helps others with the same issue.

 

[BigRondo]

Glad you got it fixed and thanks for the update. :biggthump