And the hard starting continues

[Mitchs07explorer]

So I had my fuel pump replaced a few weeks back under warranty which was definitely the problem. I had for a week and it was running just fine. Then after I had been driving it for a couple hours straight, I went home shut it off for a couple of hours before I tried to start it again. To my surprise it was hard starting again. I took it back to the shop to have them check the pump again and the pump checks out fine. They delved a little further into my car and they came up with a recall/TSB for my Ex. Apparently what happens after my engine bay has been heat soaked and the vehicle has been turned off us the heat makes the battery voltage drop a bit and this deactivated my fuel injectors. It takes a couple of times cranking it to get it started again and once started the idle kind of wanders a bit as well as giving the feeling that it’s running a little rough. They printed out the TSB for me so I can take it to ford. The earliest appointment I could get was this upcoming Monday the 17th. According to the shop I had it at, they said Ford should just have to re-flash my pcm and should solve my issue.

The thing that I’m a little thrown by is that last year I had my computer re-flashed because I thought I might be missing updates for my transmission. It would do a funny shift even after a new transmission was installed.The Ford dealer said I was missing 1 update was all. So I thought everything was up to date from the last time I took it in but this tsb pretty much describes to a T what my car is doing.

I did install new injectors and a new fuel rail pressure sensor before I came to the conclusion that it was the fuel pump. I wonder if those new components are part of what needs to be reset when they do a re-flash. I figured they were just plug and play... perhaps not.

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone had ever heard of this issue/recall before?

 

[Gmctyphoon]

You replaced ALOT of fuel components. How about the fuel filter?

Injectors, regulator, or the pump do not need to be programmed in the computer.

And if this is a new problem I doubt a TSB reflash will fix it.

 

[Mitchs07explorer]

You replaced ALOT of fuel components. How about the fuel filter?

Injectors, regulator, or the pump do not need to be programmed in the computer.

And if this is a new problem I doubt a TSB reflash will fix it.

Yep, did the filter too. Not sure what to do at this point, just going to have to see what the dealer says.

 

[Didionkh]

Yep, did the filter too. Not sure what to do at this point, just going to have to see what the dealer says.

Sorry for the incredibly old bump, but did you ever narrow down your hard start issues?

 

[Mitchs07explorer]

Sorry for the incredibly old bump, but did you ever narrow down your hard start issues?

It ended up being defective Delphi fuel pumps. I had a shop near where it broke down replace the pump and that was the brand they used. I’d only had the repair done something like 8 months prior before the hard starting first started. That shop replaced the pump again under warranty, then about 10 days later it started again. I took it back to them and they refused to believe it was anything with the fuel pump. I ended up taking it to Ford who ran several diagnostics and everything led them back to the fuel pump. I called the shop back that originally replaced the pump and told them Ford believed it was the fuel pump. I spoke to the owner and he agreed to replace the pump again but this time I offered to buy my own pump if he would install it at no charge and he agreed to that. I didn’t want him to use another Delphi fuel pump and I didn’t want to argue with him about tracking down a different pump. He tried to tell me that was the best pump on the market for my Explorer. Well low and behold I found a Motorcraft fuel pump at Rockauto.com for $280, I bought it and they replaced the pump and I haven’t had any issues since. After doing some research on the Delphi fuel pumps i found it was common for their built in check valves to fail quite frequently even though the pump motor worked just fine. It was causing vapor lock in the fuel line. You need to see if your fuel line is bleeding pressure and if it is it’s more than likely leaky injectors or your fuel pump.

 

[Didionkh]

It ended up being defective Delphi fuel pumps. I had a shop near where it broke down replace the pump and that was the brand they used. I’d only had the repair done something like 8 months prior before the hard starting first started. That shop replaced the pump again under warranty, then about 10 days later it started again. I took it back to them and they refused to believe it was anything with the fuel pump. I ended up taking it to Ford who ran several diagnostics and everything led them back to the fuel pump. I called the shop back that originally replaced the pump and told them Ford believed it was the fuel pump. I spoke to the owner and he agreed to replace the pump again but this time I offered to buy my own pump if he would install it at no charge and he agreed to that. I didn’t want him to use another Delphi fuel pump and I didn’t want to argue with him about tracking down a different pump. He tried to tell me that was the best pump on the market for my Explorer. Well low and behold I found a Motorcraft fuel pump at Rockauto.com for $280, I bought it and they replaced the pump and I haven’t had any issues since. After doing some research on the Delphi fuel pumps i found it was common for their built in check valves to fail quite frequently even though the pump motor worked just fine. It was causing vapor lock in the fuel line. You need to see if your fuel line is bleeding pressure and if it is it’s more than likely leaky injectors or your fuel pump.

Thanks. I had the pump replaced about, oh, 6 months ago. If I followed your path correctly, we've been somewhat down the same... Pump, coils, plugs, fuel pressure regulator, etc. All to no avail. Luckily, these were spaced out over a few months and didn't cost us our first born (the pump wasn't cheap, but...)

Timing is everything, I guess. We actually bought a new (to us) Explorer on Sunday. 2018 Platinum with 23k on it. We plan on passing the 09 down to our daughter, but the hard start issue started to rear its head again. 165k, still runs like a top and it pretty well appointed for an 09.... if it would just start correctly.

Thanks again, I'll research the pump to see if we got a bad one.

 

[Mitchs07explorer]

Thanks. I had the pump replaced about, oh, 6 months ago. If I followed your path correctly, we've been somewhat down the same... Pump, coils, plugs, fuel pressure regulator, etc. All to no avail. Luckily, these were spaced out over a few months and didn't cost us our first born (the pump wasn't cheap, but...)

Timing is everything, I guess. We actually bought a new (to us) Explorer on Sunday. 2018 Platinum with 23k on it. We plan on passing the 09 down to our daughter, but the hard start issue started to rear its head again. 165k, still runs like a top and it pretty well appointed for an 09.... if it would just start correctly.

Thanks again, I'll research the pump to see if we got a bad one.

That’s a tough call, if it’s under warranty still I go and ask about it, I would not be surprised if they used a Delphi pump, seems to be the common aftermarket replacement.