04 explorer crank AND start problems

[williamrobert]

Hello folks, glad you,re here!

I bought an 04 explorer 4.0 for my college age son a few weeks ago. On day at school, he had trouble starting, but not cranking the car. After trying for a little while, the car got to the point where it wouldn't crank the engine. He called and I told him I'd be right up with the jumper cables. That didn't work. Had the car towed to my house.

Here's what I've found in no particular order using info from all the kind folks here:

• charged battery fully, still no crank. everything else works.
• able to get engine to crank by jumping starter relay pin 86 to ground. takes pcm out of circuit i think.
• engine will fire and run with starter fluid sprayed into pvc socket
• disconnected fuel line from fuel rail. fuel pump runs and pumps gas for about a second when ign. is turned on. fuel pump does not pump gas (or run I suppose) while cranking. can't find schrader valve on fuel rail to test pressure
• fuel pump does not run with ign. on and fuel pump relay socket 3 and 5 jumpered.
• disconnected one injector and have +12 to ground. not sure about closed ground circuit while cranking.
• engine seems to want to kick around ever so slightly when i cycle the ign switch a few times and then crank.

I'm speculating the pcm is bad since i have (in addition to fuel troubles) a no crank condition without the starter relay pin jumpered to ground.

Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much for reading.

 

[Tech By Trade]

04 have PATS? I would start in that direction if that's the case. By chance is your key a walmart style clone?

 

[williamrobert]

04 have PATS? I would start in that direction if that's the case. By chance is your key a walmart style clone?

Thanks for the reply.

It has the slow blinking red light (every 4-5 secs) with key out. No rapid blinking while cranking. Dealer said he had to have a new key made/programmed or whatever it is they do.

Will PATS disable cranking? Will it disable fuel pump while cranking but not for 2 second "prime"? Does it disable injectors?

Thanks again.

 

[Tech By Trade]

Do you have an OEM key? or a clone key?
Yes, PATS is anti theft, if the Key is a clone, or not quite right, or if the PATS sensor is on the way out it will disable the ignition.
Do you by chance have a remote starter installed with an aftermarket bypass?

 

[williamrobert]

Do you have an OEM key? or a clone key?
Yes, PATS is anti theft, if the Key is a clone, or not quite right, or if the PATS sensor is on the way out it will disable the ignition.
Do you by chance have a remote starter installed with an aftermarket bypass?

No remote starter transmitter came with the key. I don't see a remote receiver under the dash anywhere.

The key the dealer gave me is an "ilco" h92-pt

Thanks again!

 

[williamrobert]

Originally Posted by Tech By Trade
04 have PATS? I would start in that direction if that's the case. By chance is your key a walmart style clone?

At your suggestion I have paid more attention to the theft light and followed a procedure i found on this site.

• disconnected battery neg term for 15 min. then reconnected.
• theft light flashes every 2 sec
• inserted key into switch, turned ignition to "on".
• Theft light on steady. waited 3 sec (edit, originally I typed 30) , theft light did not turn off as procedure said would indicate a "happy" pat system.
• after 60 sec, theft light turned off, then flashed the following sequence:
• on 1 sec, off 1 sec; on 1 sec, off 2 sec; on 1 sec, off 3 sec
• above sequence a total of 7 or 8 times, then theft light goes out altogether.

Also pcm diode reads short both directions.

All input greatly appreciated!!

 

[williamrobert]

Got the car running and just wanted to wrap this thread up and especially wanted to thank Tech by Trade for the help.

The problem was with the PATS system. The symptoms were:

• no crank
• no fuel being pumped during cranking
• key out: quick flash every 2 sec (normal)
• key on: anti-theft light steady for 60 sec (should go off after 3 sec if system is "happy")
• anti-theft light fault (code) 21 (blink, blink, pause, blink, longer pause) sequence will repeat 10x. Code 21 is for less than two keys being programmed to the PATS. There is a TSB from Ford on this.

Called locksmith. He "reset" the 21 fault and reprogrammed another oem key. Fired right up. $80.

Thanks again to Tech by Trade!!

 

[Tech By Trade]

Your welcome. Glad to help.