97 4L ohv trouble starting

[kyk96]

Hope someone can help with this issue. About one time out of 15-20 starts, my 97 Ex will crank and crank an not turn over. Most of the time it starts with no issues. Fuel pressure seems OK, recently replaced coil pack, fuel filter, cleaned MAF, new plugs soon. Any suggestions? Could it be a relay sticking once an a while or something? Thanks!

 

[96eb96]

Hope someone can help with this issue. About one time out of 15-20 starts, my 97 Ex will crank and crank an not turn over. Most of the time it starts with no issues. Fuel pressure seems OK, recently replaced coil pack, fuel filter, cleaned MAF, new plugs soon. Any suggestions? Could it be a relay sticking once an a while or something? Thanks!

Intermittant no start is likely to be an Idle air control motor. I bet its probably going bad after 11 years. Very common issue for these years... Its metal cylinder held on by 2 screws, attached to the black intake manifold.

You can clean it but its advisable to replace.

 

[kyk96]

Thanks for te reply.
Sounds like something I will have to check out. Can the IAC cause this kind of thing? It acts like it's not getting fuel or spark when it does this, but I am not even sure what the IAC does!

 

[kyk96]

A little more info, I checked the fuel pressure as well. It was 30 at idle, and jumped to 40 with the vac tube pulled off. I thionk my book says it should be 30-40 psi at idle and 40-50 with vac line pulled. Could the fuel pump be going if it's at the low end of the range? Could this cause my intermittent no-start issue? Thanks for the help. I love this site!

 

[kyk96]

Problem solved

Just an update on this. Did a lot of checks based on greta advice on this site. Truck would periodically not start, would crank but not fired. Usually it would take 2 or 3 tries and then start. Then the other night it stranded my wife at work, would not start at all. Could smell gas after trying to start it for awhile, so I figured this wasn't the issue. Replaced the crank sensor, and boom started the first try. Has been OK since.

One thing to watch for, at least on a 97... I have the OHV. SOHC uses one sensor in all the parts catalogs and the OHV uses one with a pointed metal rod on it. My truck however had the a version of the one listed for the SOHC engine. Ford must have swapped back and forth during that model year. So check before you buy, unlike me! At least the one I needed was half the price of the first one, only $15! Hope this helps someone else. Thanks.