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Alaric · 02-17-2010, 07:24

I have a 2001 Grand Marquis that has recently developed an annoying (and now bad) problem. In cold weather it will occasionally not start after a short trip (always warmed up before driving) . Today it wouldn't start at all. Eng. at operating temp. It turns over fine but catches , stumbles at low RPM for a couple seconds and dies. Gas level is low , but still has several gallons in the tank. Anybody have any experience with these issues? I'm looking at 1)water in the fuel (condensation) , 2) idle air control valve , 3) fuel pump. Any suggestions?

jsuthers · 02-17-2010, 07:45

Well to test the water in the gas tank theory - fill up and use a bottle of HEET.

To check the IAC (iv heard many things to test this) Boil it if it doesn't whistle within 20 seconds then get a new one. put it in water if it doesn't float buy a new one or you can just buy a new one - RockAuto Parts Catalog

and to test the fuel pump you could buy a pressure gauge thing...

But wait till Bert or someone with a bit more experience to make sure what im telling you is correct.

**Bert** · 02-17-2010, 07:45

Does it have fuel pressure? How many miles are on it? Have you changed the fuel filter? How about the spark plugs? Don't worry about questions, we're all nere to help each other. Welcome to the forums.

Alaric · 02-17-2010, 08:45

Thanks guys! Plugs are good , and I should still be able to get it to limp along with a bad IAC. It's happened a couple times but always started within 5 minutes till now. Same tank of gas for every incident. Right now it's in the parking lot of a Marathon station and they're a little cranky about me tearing stuff apart in a parking space. :( It has once or twice been hard to start cold (below 20 degrees) and I suspected water in the fuel icing up the injectors. A few tries always worked. I hope I don't have a plastic intake issue. That would expensively suck. I've been laid off for a few months (bike mechanic/service manager) and don't have access to most of my tools.

**Bert** · 02-17-2010, 09:00

If the plastic intake cracks, it leaks coolant out of the front usually. Mine has the plastic one at 154,000 miles.

Alaric · 02-17-2010, 09:26

Cool. Thanks for the info.

Alaric · 02-18-2010, 20:01

Update. It was the fuel pump. Unfortunately it broke down across the street from a Ford dealer so I got hit with a dealership-sized bill. I just don't have the facilities to pull the fuel tank or I would have done it myself.

**Bert** · 02-18-2010, 20:24

The Ford pump will last a long time. We've had the aftermarket pumps last a little over a year.

Thanks for the update.

Stick462 · 02-19-2010, 10:11

The fuel pump needs to be submurst in gas to keep cool .Bye running it low you are over heating the pump causing it to fail. Always keep aleast a quarter tank of gas in it at all times.

Alaric · 02-20-2010, 16:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stick462

The fuel pump needs to be submurst in gas to keep cool .Bye running it low you are over heating the pump causing it to fail. Always keep aleast a quarter tank of gas in it at all times.

Yeah , that's almost all FI cars. Pretty stupid design feature , as it effectively eliminates 25% of your range/fuel capacity. God forbid a $100 Holley fuel pump mounted to a frame rail should be used. Another case of an engineer trying to justify earning 3X what he's worth. While $900 total in repairs isn't too awful for 10 years and 93,000 miles , it wasn't necessary to cost 2 to 3 times what a sensible design would have cost to repair. Oh well.