Quit while driving, now will crank but weakly and won't start.

[Zachary McDivitt]

Last night I got a call from my mother saying our 2006 Ford Explorer v6 Eddie Bauer quiit on her while driving normally on the interstate. She tried to restart it while pulled over and it cranks but too weakly to start. My father is a decent mechanic and he checked it last night and found some odd occurrences. The first is there was some oil around the air filter somehow, some of the plugs (he did not say which) were dry, and to him it sounds like when an old vehicle he had was not getting proper compression. When it quit there was no real noticeable sound just of the engine getting weaker until it died. Also, when checking the antifreeze before this happened someone noticed offhand that there was what looked like yellow foam in the antifreeze reservoir (we use green anti-freeze.)

We do have a catalytic converter build-up issue we tried to fix about a week ago with a not very cheap fuel additive to help with cleaning converters and general fuel emission issues and from what my mother said (she drives it much more than me) it regained and has more power than when we initially bought it at the car dealership.

We're kind of at a standstill at the moment since we can't really get it to a garage (towed to my father's house by himself where his own stateroad pickup died again.)

 

[Mbrooks420]

My first guess would be fuel pump. Turn the key and listen if the pump primes for a few seconds.

If so, I’d pull all the plugs and have someone turn it over and verify both banks were getting compression.

 

[imp]

My first guess would be fuel pump. Turn the key and listen if the pump primes for a few seconds.

If so, I’d pull all the plugs and have someone turn it over and verify both banks were getting compression.

@Mbrooks420

"Cranks too weakly to start" Wonder if anything's been done about that first? imp

 

[Zachary McDivitt]

My first guess would be fuel pump. Turn the key and listen if the pump primes for a few seconds.

If so, I’d pull all the plugs and have someone turn it over and verify both banks were getting compression.

After playing with it a bit its giving an engine damaging fault misfire, and my dad said its firing yellow. Not really sure what would cause that but from what he's told me the engine has not been super taken care of before we bought it (bought it january of 2018.)

 

[Zachary McDivitt]

@Mbrooks420

"Cranks too weakly to start" Wonder if anything's been done about that first? imp

After playing with it a bit its giving an engine damaging fault misfire, and my dad said its firing yellow. Not really sure what would cause that but from what he's told me the engine has not been super taken care of before we bought it (bought it january of 2018.)

 

[Mbrooks420]

You are having an electrical miss. I’d pull the plugs and check if any are damaged. After that, I’d replace the plugs, and wires. After that, the coil pack(s).

Did the motor ever make a rattling sound when cold?

 

[Zachary McDivitt]

You are having an electrical miss. I’d pull the plugs and check if any are damaged. After that, I’d replace the plugs, and wires. After that, the coil pack(s).

Did the motor ever make a rattling sound when cold?

Yes actually, it has all winter but stops after about 10-20 seconds of being started. To me it sounded almost like a knock like something metal hitting something metal in a consistent timing. My mother has told its not an actual knocking engine though being that's she's had one and its not what it is.

 

[Mbrooks420]

It’s your timing chain slapping. Your motor has probably jumped time and bent the valves. Unfortunately, if that’s the case, your motor is junk. If your motor hasn’t jumped time and ruined itself, the motor still has to come out of the vehicle. If you can’t do it yourself expect a 2,000+ bill.

Sorry, man. The SOHC strikes again.

 

[Zachary McDivitt]

It’s your timing chain slapping. Your motor has probably jumped time and bent the valves. Unfortunately, if that’s the case, your motor is junk. If your motor hasn’t jumped time and ruined itself, the motor still has to come out of the vehicle. If you can’t do it yourself expect a 2,000+ bill.

Sorry, man. The SOHC strikes again.

Would that have allowed it to run for the past 3 months without problem? Also I just found out tonight it looked like someone tried to break into it the night it was left beside the road would that mess with it any?

 

[Mbrooks420]

The timing chain slap can happen for weeks or months. Breaking in wouldn’t make a motor run poorly unless they damaged wiring to something. If it’s making the chain rattle your motor is toast, or likely will be in the very near future. If you search 4.0 SOHC timing chain you will find a ton of information about how this is a common thing for the 4.0. It’s been known about for over 15 years.

 

[Zachary McDivitt]

The timing chain slap can happen for weeks or months. Breaking in wouldn’t make a motor run poorly unless they damaged wiring to something. If it’s making the chain rattle your motor is toast, or likely will be in the very near future. If you search 4.0 SOHC timing chain you will find a ton of information about how this is a common thing for the 4.0. It’s been known about for over 15 years.

Ah, this is the first time I have owned a Ford. The only reason I questioned it is because my mom and dad who has been around and worked on Chevy and Ford most of his life said they are just typical cold engine noises.