Dirtybird
New Member
- Joined
- December 19, 2010
- Messages
- 3
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- Bristol, Tennessee
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 1998
I recently found a used (1998 Ford Explorer) so that I could park my Twin Turbo Mustang GT for the winter. The Explorer started acting funny and would just stall for no apparent reason. I decided to throw a bunch of parts at it since I got it so cheap.
I changed the obvious parts first and started with the fuel and air filters. This didn't remotely help. I then went with a lot of fuel treatment for about a week. The thing finally got worse and if you had it running and were to cut it off it woud be "hell" getting it to start again. Letting it sit for 30 mins usually worked.
It finally quit on me all-together out town one day and I was stranded in the middle of the road. I had the car towed home and my brother has helped me work on it for about two weeks. I could not hear the fuel pump buzz when the car had stopped on me, so I located the fuel pump "cuttoff switch" under the passenger-side dash. It was fine, so I decided this thing needed a fuel pump. This was no easy task to yank that tank, but we did and still had the same issues with the car refusing to start after initial crank up. It was if that thing was "flooding".
Next step for me was to replace the camshaft sensor (since it was convinently located on the top of the driver's side valve cover). This proved to be in vein. So, I decided to go with the Crankshaft Sensor next and that didnt solve anything. Running out of ideas I thought about the coil pack, but talked myself out of that possibility since the car ran so smoothly when it cranked.
A friend of mine (who is a mechanic) came by and took a look at it. He advised us to replace the main fuseable link-looking thing (before the fuse box). He claimed that those were notorious for going bad and causing computer issues in the Exploder. I changed that $10 fuse and the car would still crank, but it would seem "flooded" if cut off when trying to start it again.
Finally I was standing at O'Reilly auto parts (about to purchase a throttle position sensor) and bumped into a man that looked like Santa Clause. He had the beard and all that stuff going on. I was talking to the computer jockey behind the counter, and the old man started to ask me and my brother questions. I told him everything, and I could tell the guy behind the counter just wanted us to move the heck on, so he could get to the next customer. Finally the old man suggested a "coolant temp sensor". I thought this sounded C R A Z Y, but what the hell. I bought that sensor and it was hell to install. When my brother and i finally located it tucked in behind the thermostat and under part of the intake it was actually BROKEN IN HALF!
We replaced that thing today and the damn thing fired up nicely and now you can turn it off and back on. Runs fine!
Now I know some of you think I should not have spent all that money on parts and just ran some codes on the car. While this is true, I don't feel bad about replacing all these parts on a car with 200K miles on it. Especially not since winter is upon us.
I am sorta shocked that a $12 coolant temp sensor did the trick. Apparently that sensor on this vehicle reports to computer and helps to manage the fuel pressure on the injectors. I would have never guessed hadn't it been for Santa Claus.
I am new to the forum, and my primary reason for posting this was to "share" the information of my dillema. I hope this helps someone sooner or later.
Frank
I changed the obvious parts first and started with the fuel and air filters. This didn't remotely help. I then went with a lot of fuel treatment for about a week. The thing finally got worse and if you had it running and were to cut it off it woud be "hell" getting it to start again. Letting it sit for 30 mins usually worked.
It finally quit on me all-together out town one day and I was stranded in the middle of the road. I had the car towed home and my brother has helped me work on it for about two weeks. I could not hear the fuel pump buzz when the car had stopped on me, so I located the fuel pump "cuttoff switch" under the passenger-side dash. It was fine, so I decided this thing needed a fuel pump. This was no easy task to yank that tank, but we did and still had the same issues with the car refusing to start after initial crank up. It was if that thing was "flooding".
Next step for me was to replace the camshaft sensor (since it was convinently located on the top of the driver's side valve cover). This proved to be in vein. So, I decided to go with the Crankshaft Sensor next and that didnt solve anything. Running out of ideas I thought about the coil pack, but talked myself out of that possibility since the car ran so smoothly when it cranked.
A friend of mine (who is a mechanic) came by and took a look at it. He advised us to replace the main fuseable link-looking thing (before the fuse box). He claimed that those were notorious for going bad and causing computer issues in the Exploder. I changed that $10 fuse and the car would still crank, but it would seem "flooded" if cut off when trying to start it again.
Finally I was standing at O'Reilly auto parts (about to purchase a throttle position sensor) and bumped into a man that looked like Santa Clause. He had the beard and all that stuff going on. I was talking to the computer jockey behind the counter, and the old man started to ask me and my brother questions. I told him everything, and I could tell the guy behind the counter just wanted us to move the heck on, so he could get to the next customer. Finally the old man suggested a "coolant temp sensor". I thought this sounded C R A Z Y, but what the hell. I bought that sensor and it was hell to install. When my brother and i finally located it tucked in behind the thermostat and under part of the intake it was actually BROKEN IN HALF!
We replaced that thing today and the damn thing fired up nicely and now you can turn it off and back on. Runs fine!
Now I know some of you think I should not have spent all that money on parts and just ran some codes on the car. While this is true, I don't feel bad about replacing all these parts on a car with 200K miles on it. Especially not since winter is upon us.
I am sorta shocked that a $12 coolant temp sensor did the trick. Apparently that sensor on this vehicle reports to computer and helps to manage the fuel pressure on the injectors. I would have never guessed hadn't it been for Santa Claus.
I am new to the forum, and my primary reason for posting this was to "share" the information of my dillema. I hope this helps someone sooner or later.
Frank
