2001 Marquis hard starting - Ford Forums - Mustang Forum, Ford Trucks, Ford Focus and Ford Cars

Alfer · 09-21-2007, 06:43

Hello...just found your site and it looks like the perfect spot to get some help with the "Grandma Marquis" as my daughter calls it...

The car has 28,000 original miles ...it's the LS Premier version.

A few months ago I had the fuel filter replaced and other than that the car has had standard maint. done to it.

However over the last couple of months I've had random hard start problems.

It only happens when the car has been sitting for several hours....it cranks fine (newer battery btw) but I have to pump the gas peddle while turning the key to get the darn thing to stay running...once it gets running, it runs fine..no hesitations, no stumbling etc.

One morning when I started it, the engine rev'd much fasater than normal, then it kicked back down to normal sounding idle.

Anyone have ideas as to what might be up?

A little research led me to think that the idle air control valve might be messed up? ...If that were the case, is it a pricey fix?

Thanks for any help you all can offer.

Alfer · 09-26-2007, 06:43

Well my luck ran out....I couldn't even get the car to stay started this morning. If I kept my foot on the gas it would run, but died the minute I let off the gas. :(

I'm gonna try again this afternoon to start it up and if it does, straight to the repair shop it will go.

Argggggggh.

Nathan in MN · 09-26-2007, 15:22

I'm no 4.6 expert, but from what I do know, your problem definitely sounds like an idle air control problem. Evidently they have a tendency to get carboned up and not work right. I know there are a few guys on here with more expertise about the newer engines than I have; hopefully they can be of greater help to you than I can.

Alfer · 09-27-2007, 05:06

Well it got fixed yesterday and yes it was the idle air...

Pisses me off though..we realy had no choice but go to the dealer since we don't know many reliable mechanics and the car BARELY made it out of the garage..so we pointed it towards the nearest dealer for repair...it literally died right there in their garage as we pulled in.

We paid double what a mechanic would have charged though....ugh.

Workin great now though.