no start 03 mountaineer

[antmans]

I am helping my friend with his mountaineer 03 automatic 4.0 awd. In the winter there was a no start issue. The car would not crank over after sitting for a few days in the cold weather, probably around freezing or a little below. It was not the battery or starter, and I also had a jump starter on the good battery and it would still not crank over. I could see the starter jump when the key was turned to start the car. Maybe there was not enough amps because of a bad ground somewhere? The car sat over night and the next moring it would not start. A little later in the morning the car started just fine.

Now the other day, in warm weather, his daughter was pulling off the highway and the car died. It was a somewhat similar situation, in that the car would not start again, but later on, in the same day, it started just fine. I wasn't there to see it this time, but I'm thinking it may be the same issue.

What might cause something like this? What can I try to diagnose it. Also, there were no stored codes either time, checking with a simple obd app.

 

[Fix4Dirt]

I am helping my friend with his mountaineer 03 automatic 4.0 awd. In the winter there was a no start issue. The car would not crank over after sitting for a few days in the cold weather, probably around freezing or a little below. It was not the battery or starter, and I also had a jump starter on the good battery and it would still not crank over. I could see the starter jump when the key was turned to start the car. Maybe there was not enough amps because of a bad ground somewhere? The car sat over night and the next moring it would not start. A little later in the morning the car started just fine.

Now the other day, in warm weather, his daughter was pulling off the highway and the car died. It was a somewhat similar situation, in that the car would not start again, but later on, in the same day, it started just fine. I wasn't there to see it this time, but I'm thinking it may be the same issue.

What might cause something like this? What can I try to diagnose it. Also, there were no stored codes either time, checking with a simple obd app.

the warm one sounds like a fuel pump thats starting to die, as they first fail when hot. can you get pressure? i wonder if the no crank is a bad connection on the starter? wonder if next time you can give the starter a few whacks to see if it will work. when i pulled my start out last year (oe) found lots of loose connections that somehow still survived and started everytime, so I wouldn't be surprised if its a connection.