1999 Ford Taurus 1999 Ford Taurus No Start

11B_Combat_Vet · Posted at Tue Nov 03, 2009 7:15 pm

1999 Ford Taurus 6 cyl Front Wheel Drive Automatic 120000 miles

To avoid any confusion, I posted this under a different user name earlier today and as I checked for any updates I realized my email address was what I entered for my user name and was showing on the post. I deleted the post and will now be using this account.

Ive read through the communication that began

Title: Ford Taurus No Start

Posted at Tue Mar 24, 2009 10:33 am
By michael w., Have Donated
Give Feedback | Votes: 0

Engine Performance problem
1999 Ford Taurus 6 cyl Front Wheel Drive Automatic 11,000 miles

I am having a very similar problem to this posting and was frustrated when the end source of the problem and fix wasnt updated.

Ill start from the beginning and giving a bit more information. I have a 1999 ford taurus lx with a vulcan v6 in it. The car has run perfect for the 1st 115000 miles. I was recently deployed to afghanistan for a year and while I was gone the car wasnt driven very much, because a bad coolant cap my wife thought it was "unreliable." I have since taken care of the coolant issue and am now having problems with fuel system.

The problem began when I was flushing the coolant. I shut the car off and went to restart it after I drained and refilled it and it would crank and not start. I waited until the next morning and it started without hesitation. The car ran fine for a week then I was going golfing and stopped by a gas station and came out to start and same thing. I went and golfed and came back and it started again without hesitation. The 3rd time happened was 2 days after that. I started reading up and troubleshooting. I changed the fuel filter first thing. I noticed when I was doing it that no fuel came out of the schrader valve. I attempted to start and again crank and no start. I started reading more about fuel pump. I then noticed that I wasnt hearing an audible hum from the fuel pump when I turned the key to the on position. I then thought the relay might be bad. I tested the relay and thought it was bad. I changed the ac clutch relay and fuel pump relay and I heard the fuel pump and it started. I went to advance and got a new relay and it ran good for a week. Then it happened again. I waited an hour and went to start it again and it started up. I drove home and as soon as I shut the car off I turned the key over and i noticed the fuel pump was working. The car sat 2 days and started fine the next time and I drove to my sons school and back and after that Im back to no starting.

Im kind of at a loss on where to go now. I guess it might be the fuel pump, but when the car is running I have no other symptoms such as stalling, spurting, or loss of power. I havent had a check engine light on at any time during this problem. Do any of the any of the sensors, i.e. coolant, crankcase, etc. tell the computer not to send power to the fuel pump?

Any suggestions.

BMRFIXIT · Posted at Wed Nov 04, 2009 3:53 am

When you 1st turn ignition key on, fuel pump should come on to prime the system
PCM ground the relay and pump should come on
if that is not happening at every time
1st test I would do is that to check if I have power at the pump (when 1st key on and or when engine cranking )trying to find if its a wiring issue or fuel pump module it self that is bad
if you have power and good ground at the fuel pump and no fuel pressure
assume that the pump need replacement

(or try this quick test next time it fail to start have a helper crank it for you ,go under the fuel tank and hit the middle of the tank if that get you starter for sure assume the fuel pump need replacement )
let me know

11B_Combat_Vet · Posted at Thu Nov 05, 2009 10:17 am

A quick update. I checked the relay with it plugged in and when the car is cranking it is clicking. The wires going to the fuel pump are completely covered so I have no way to test and see if the pump has good voltage. I did a test at the fuel pump inertia switch. I was getting a reading of approximately 11 volts. Am I correct to assume that this means that the fuel pump is getting that same voltage? If so fuel pump it is

JW

BMRFIXIT · Posted at Thu Nov 05, 2009 3:18 pm

I m thinking its the fuel pump too
as if you have volts at the switch indicate that the system all ok before it switch relay and wiring
you may have to drop the tank
good luck

11B_Combat_Vet · Posted at Tue Nov 10, 2009 6:11 am

replaced the fuel pump 3 days ago. So far so good. Im glad I did it myself. It was a pretty straight forward job. 2 bolts, 5 fuel lines and 1 electrical connection to get the tank off. Fairly easy even for an amateur like me. Thanks for the info and this will be my last post on this subject (unless something goes wrong)

Jeff