2004 Explorer V6 XLT does not start now...

[usa1]

My 2004 Explorer XLT V6 with 95K miles refused to start this morning. I'd appreciate the forum's advice on what step to take next. I've had this car for about 4 months now.

It cranks just fine and I've confirmed that I have spark by taking off a spark plug wire and checking for spark. When I crank it, NOTHING catches or happens. Not stuttering, nothing, so I think I have a fuel problem. I've reset/pressed the fuel cut off switch by the glove box. I can hear the fuel pump work when I first turn the key.

The only symptom prior to this failure was last night the car kind of idled roughly for about 2-3 second last night in a parking lot after starting it in cold weather ~20 degree, but it has started fine in colder weather -- I live in Minnesota. I got home just fine last night and even had the car off one additional time after this incident before we got home.

We filled up the tank about 50 miles ago with E85 ethanol. This is the second batch of ethanol I've put in it from the same gas station. I'm not sure if previous owners used E85. The car failed to start in my garage which is in the mid 30's for temperature.

I'm thinking of changing the fuel filter, but I'm a bit concerned about the abrupt failure I've seen here. I would expect a fuel filter to stutter and be less abrupt in how it fails.

Any advice? Thanks in advance!

 

[David Marquez]

Did or have you verified that your Explorer is a flex fuel vehicle? I don't recall off hand which position in the VIN denotes flex fuel, but you should be looking for a 'K' in the VIN. The 'K' denotes flex fuel. There is a posting here that deciphers the VIN code.

 

[usa1]

Yes. It's a 4.0 FFV. I carefully verified it by VIN and there's a sticker on the gas door saying E85 is OK.

 

[usa1]

New news. After reading some of the other forum threads, I went outside and tried it again and let it turn over a long time, like 10-15 seconds and it started to catch. I feathered the throttle a bit during this and it finally fired up. After letting it run for 15 seconds, I turned it off and on and it works fine now.

Kind of baffling. I seen this once in a great while on my wife's Odyssey minivan where it acts like the engine is flooded. Odd.

Is this a possible symptom of a larger issue?

My reading of the other threads points me to think replacing the fuel filter and cleaning the IAC is a good thing to do regardless. Any other items I should consider doing this weekend?

 

[skeeter123]

Check your ECT sensor to make sure its in spec. Bad ECT reading makes for hard cold-starts.
Hope this helps.

 

[jakedrew]

what is a ect sensor?

E85, probably more like e70 is known for hard starting. I bet if you ran a regular tank of gas in there you wouldnt have a issue.

Also do you have a block heater on it? Maybe plug that in for a few hours before you start it ?

 

[imp]

Check your ECT sensor to make sure its in spec. Bad ECT reading makes for hard cold-starts.
Hope this helps.

This makes sense, especially with E-85 (less volatile) since the computer is looking at engine coolant temperature, and if it mistakenly "sees" a hot engine, it will not "richen-up" the fuel/air mix for starting--like having a stuck-open choke in the dinosaur days!

 

[usa1]

After 5 minutes looking for the IAC and then 15 minutes researching where to find it online, I found out that 2004+ Explorers with the V6 do NOT have one.

I cleaned the MAF with electrical cleaner and plan to do the fuel filter when the temps get warmer around here. Too cold in the garage to work on the fuel filter!

Thank you for the advice from the forums!

For the ECT, I imagine I'll need a diagnostic tool to read the sensor reading, correct?

 

[waskly]

e85 does not like cold weather.

if you want to run e85 try doing a 50% e85 and 50% regular gas mixtures in cold weather.

 

[imp]

After 5 minutes looking for the IAC and then 15 minutes researching where to find it online, I found out that 2004+ Explorers with the V6 do NOT have one.

I cleaned the MAF with electrical cleaner and plan to do the fuel filter when the temps get warmer around here. Too cold in the garage to work on the fuel filter!

Thank you for the advice from the forums!

For the ECT, I imagine I'll need a diagnostic tool to read the sensor reading, correct?

I believe waskly is right. However, the ECT is not an all-that-expensive part, and it could do no harm to replace it. Checking the sensor's output could be done following procedures outlined using an ohmmeter while raising temp. with it submersed in water on your stove. You would need to find the calibration specs., and simply replaciong the damn thing is lots easier......imp

 

[waskly]

its due to e85 flash point, its lower then gas and it flood the engine in cold weather.