2000 Explorer Limited V8 AWD - Random No Start

[dinanm3atl]

It has 100,000mi on the truck. It is has been DEAD reliable towing and driving. It is my wife's car.

Starts fine 95% of the time. Randomly(a lot when it has or is raining) it simply will not start. It turns over and simply will not fire.

Wife has now been stranded and work(school teacher so she can get ride home). Last time this happened I am thinking dead battery. No biggie. Grab a battery(optima) and head over with wife. Car fires right up on the battery in the car. Check battery date and replace with new battery just in case.

Same thing today. Just won't fire. I tell Jenny that it is a starting issue. Try starting and giving it some gas. It finally fires and 'smells like gas' she says but it is running like a champ now and it was driven home.

Where to start on this? I am a certified BMW technician and build BMW racecars so I can get in there and find it out myself but I am guessing this is something common.

 

[budwich]

My friend has a BMW that had a similar problem, it took the BMW tech's 6 weeks to find a bad fuel pump... guess this type of problem is a scurge for BMW Tech's...

Not saying yours is a pump problem but you need to determine when you have a "no start" condition IF you have fuel pressure... IF not, then you need to determine IF your fuel pump is energized and running... IF not, then you need to find out why ... fuel pump relay (or inertia switch ... doubtful), or fuel pump wiring or fuel pump ..... good luck... now you can work on ford's as there are "100's" of posts about this....

 

[dinanm3atl]

I haven't even looked into what is going bad...

It never doesn't start when I am here

So I looked up some fuel pump info on the forums. I hope to god Ford didn't actually make it so the 'easy' way to swap a pump is cut a hole under the back seat... God help me. BMW you yank up on the back seat. Take out 4 screws, twist the fuel pop top off and extract the pump... Geesh

 

[joeward87]

I just woke up so ...here i go if read your post right you said it does it primarily in rain? i would check and see id the distributor cap was cracked and letting moister get in. Good luck also make sure its tight and just as an idea try pulling the 2 screws and putting a little bit of grease around the bottom of it.

 

[11lariat]

there'd be no distributor on a '00, but I'd look into plug wires or the coil pack given that it seems to happen mostly when its damp/raining

 

[dinanm3atl]

there'd be no distributor on a '00, but I'd look into plug wires or the coil pack given that it seems to happen mostly when its damp/raining

Will do.

Started up fine this morning... Even work up with the wife to see if it would do it. I would guess it won't do it for another month now.

 

[dinanm3atl]

Ok the anti theft is flashing... So how to fix?

 

[MustangP51]

If the theft light is blinking then there is a fault in the PATS system, I had a similar no start issue with my Expedition. The theft light was blinking rapidly and the engine would only crank and not start. I spent days trying to find what the problem was. I ended up trailing it to the dealer. They had to replace the computer, and gauge cluster (the gauge cluster is where the PATS is on the Expeditions) I'm not sure where it is on the Explorer, but I would recommend taking it to the dealer to get the computer checked.

 

[dinanm3atl]

Ok thanks.

I went up to wife's work and I try to start and tap the gas pedal and it fires right up...

What was the cost on all those pieces?

 

[MustangP51]

Ok thanks.

I went up to wife's work and I try to start and tap the gas pedal and it fires right up...

What was the cost on all those pieces?

That's weird. If it starts when you press on the gas, then I would lean more toward the fuel pump going and not the PATS. If the PATS system has failed there will be no spark and wouldn't start at all, regardless of the position of the gas pedal. When you turn the key to the On position you should hear the fuel pump prime for about 3 seconds. Listen for it. If you don't hear it, and the inertia switch hasn't been tripped, and the fuse isn't blown then its probably the fuel pump itself. You need to drop the fuel tank to change it.

 

[dinanm3atl]

That's weird. If it starts when you press on the gas, then I would lean more toward the fuel pump going and not the PATS. If the PATS system has failed there will be no spark and wouldn't start at all, regardless of the position of the gas pedal. When you turn the key to the On position you should hear the fuel pump prime for about 3 seconds. Listen for it. If you don't hear it, and the inertia switch hasn't been tripped, and the fuse isn't blown then its probably the fuel pump itself. You need to drop the fuel tank to change it.

I will listen for it tomorrow. 100,000mi to lose a fuel pump is pretty weak AND have to drop the tank... What a horrible design.

 

[Exothermicus]

Ok thanks.

I went up to wife's work and I try to start and tap the gas pedal and it fires right up...

What was the cost on all those pieces?

This sounds like the problem I had when my Idle Air Control Solenoid started sticking. But as I recall, mine would not stay running unless I held the pedal until it could warm up. If by tapping the pedal, you mean you just pressed and released it such that it thumps the throttle, this may be your problem. I found tapping on things would get mine started and I eventually narrowed it down to tapping a wrench on the rear neck of the IAC. Replacing it solved my problem.

Another possible source of the problem could be that your Throttle Position Sensor is not reading zero causing the computer to miscompute the fuel air mixture. Usually this will throw a code. and can be monitored using a code tester. It should read 0.0 when the pedal is not being pressed and shold smoothly increase as you press down.

To rule out the PATS; on a system using the contactless keys, you can see how the system behaves during an actual PATS authentication failure by wrapping the plastic key head with aluminum foil and attempt to start the vehicle. This way you can see how the anti-theft light behaves for such a failure. On my Expedition, the light normally flashes at a slow rate. I don't remember if it flashed fast or just lit steady when I tried this one time I was having problems.

Another thing to watch for; You said this seems to occur on cool or rainy days. Watch for leaks in the windshield gasket. I had PATS related problems due to water getting into my dash wiring after a heavy rain storm. Rain would leak from the roof gutter through the gasket and run down the inside of the windshield into the dash wiring. Everything was flaky until It dried out.

This could still be related to the fuel pump. I found your post while looking for info on solving my intermittent fuel pump problems which also seem to occur more frequently when the weather gets cool. Replacing the fuel filter and relays solved the problem for the better part of a year, but now it seems to have completely failed.

Exo

 

[bt93]

If the pats system is activated the light will flash at a rapid rate. The next time try either flipping the key of using a spare key. I have seen an instance where a key lost it's program but the other would work.

 

[dinanm3atl]

Have to wait till it doesn't want to start again to continue.

I really hope it is not the pump itself. What a cluster*$&( that looks to be.

 

[outdoorman99]

did you ever fix this problem? I have a 2000 explorer with the exact same problem.

 

[dinanm3atl]

Put a battery in it. Did it once more and hasn't done it since...