2000 explorer 5.0 not starting

[ddurfey]

My fatherinlaw has a 2000 5.0 with about 130000 miles on it. Has been running a little rough and the CEL is on. I've been telling him to get it read at autozone, but he refused. He always gets lick and stick inspections. Now, the truck has died in front of his house and will not start. Luckily, I geuss, I live next door and am trying to diagnose it. I started by listening for fuel pump, I definitely hear it kick on. He was trying to start it by pumpin the pedal and I was definitely smelling gas, so I had him stop and let the truck sit for a few hours while I did my wifes brakes and grilled some supper. I pulled a plug and hooked it up to the wire and laid it on the manifold, had my wife try and start it. Plenty of spark from the plug even though it looks beat, and its steady so I'm willing to rule out ignition problems. During this process from trying to start it for about 20-30 seconds I was definitely getting gas fumes from the open hole on the block where the plug should have been. So I am also willing to say I'm getting fuel. No, I didn't pressure test the fuel system I don't have a gauge and I didn't check each plug. I severly doubt I pulled the only good plug left out of 8. If a few other plugs were fouled or bad, it should still start just run severely bad. The only thing he mentioned was that yesterday it didn't want to start, so he took his work van out in the morning and came home later in the day and it fired right up. It did rain over night, but the truck sat the whole time. I'm hoping a friend who works at autozone can come up and read the codes on their morning break and relay to me what the computer is trying to tell me. Is there an issue with crank sensors or anything on these trucks? Just a giant shove in the right direction would be appreciated. I don't feel like spending my weekend splitting my knuckles wide open working on his truck.

 

[jlsparky7]

Welcome to the forums!

Check out videos 3 and 9 in the link below

With vid 3 if your IAC gets too dirty the vehicle wont want to idle. Spray some carb cleaner in it.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=241881

 

[marragtop]

It could be the crank sensor, but I would first try and start it by shooting starting fluid into the intake. If it fires momentarily on that, then you could have bad fuel or the plugs are fouled. Since it's been running rough and continually driven, the plugs could be fouled at this point. Also, look for vacuum leaks as they can cause a no/hard start.

 

[ddurfey]

Thanks for the tips....I would have probably tried those things if the next day my father in law hadn't driven to the local gas station and bought some gas while I was at work and poured it into his tank. Truck fired right up. I did the plugs and wires anyway, they were coroded and getting close to a point of failure. Had one break off the in the block, a little heat and penetrating oil with an ezout fixed it though. The check engine light is still on though, need to get it read and replace whatever else is wrong with it to get it running in topnotch shape again.

 

[loder]

You can get a decent code reader pretty cheap. They've certainly pointed me in the right direction more than once.

 

[marragtop]

Most Autozones will pull codes for free. Call ahead to verify.