Car wont stay running, then wont restart

[trailblazr81]

Having problems with my 2000 GT. It starts, idles kinda bad, stumbles, misses, then dies after 3-4 minutes. Then it wont restart. It had sat for a while and had an old battery so I swapped batteries. Same thing happened. Then trying to figure out the problem I drained the battery. Re charged it then tried again, same thing. I also checked and theres no fuel pressure at the fuel rail on the motor. Ive replaced the fuel filter. YouTube - Mustang wont stay running

 

[wmburns]

Try cycling the key on/off/on/off several times without cranking. Do you hear the fuel pump running each time the key is cycled? Does this improve starting?

Confirm that the theft light goes out after a 3 second "prove out" and does not come on during cranking.

Today's car will not run well without a strong battery. Are the terminals clean and tight.

 

[trailblazr81]

I cleaned and tightened the battery terminals. And when I turn the key I hear 1 click.

 

[Night Shifter]

your sig is awesome

 

[wmburns]

I cleaned and tightened the battery terminals. And when I turn the key I hear 1 click.

Confused. Are you saying that you cleaned and tighten the battery terminals and now all you get is one click when the key is turned?

That sounds like a step backwards.

I personally have own several late model Fords. As the cars age, the negative battery terminal sometimes split. Which causes it to not grip the terminal tightly even though the bolt is as tight as it can be.

Ford doesn't give much slack to cut the cable and install a repair terminal. The fix I have used, is to buy an aftermarket terminal like this:

Lynx/Marine battery terminal with brass plated wing nut (LCS8622) | Battery Terminal End and Adapter | AutoZone.com

Cut the old terminal off about 1/2" down from outside edge of the bolt. Make sure to leave enough material to not weaken the factory crimp on. We are turning the factory connection into a large "eye" terminal. Drill out the captive nut to the same size as the bolt on the replacement terminal (this is why a single bolt style terminal is needed). Clean, grease, and install the replacement terminall. Rotate the battery cable 90 degrees and install on the replacement bolt stud. Tighten.



I like this fix because it's neat. It fixes the problem for good. In short, it looks factory.

Bottom line, if it started before, and now it just clicks and the only thing done was to tighten the battery terminals. There simply has to be a poor connection some to the battery. Or perhaps the battery picked that exact moment to go bad.

If I don't have it correct, please post more information.

 

[trinity_gt]

The car looks like it's been sitting for a while. Pine needles (?) on the cowl, even layer of dust. Has it?

The stall as soon as you touched the throttle sure looked like fuel starvation to me. You say there's no pressure at the fuel rail which supports that theory. I think you should be looking at the fuel pump, the filter, the FPDM. Try resetting the inertia shut-off switch in the trunk.

 

[wmburns]

+1 on on above. Good point trinity_gt.

To add, how old is the gas? Could this just be "skunky" gas? Or water in the gas?

To the OP, it may seem like a silly thing, but try cycling the key on/off/on/off serveral times without cranking. Each time the key is cycled, the fuel pump should run for a few seconds. This allows fuel pressure to build.

Just to confirm that the Theft lights stays off during the failed cranking attempts?

Again, if the battery and/or the alternator is weak, this can cause no starts. I personally have seen cases where a weak battery appeared to spin over fast enough to start but didn't. As soon as a jump was applied, the motor would fire up. Don't discount the problems a weak battery can cause on a computer controled car.

In the end, this may turn out to be a fuel pump. But it just seems to make good sense to rule the other possible causes in/out along the way.

FWIIW, if the fuel pressure at the rail really was ZERO, the car would never start. I suspect the OP is not pushing down the pin enough on the schrader valve. Or the tester is not pushing the pin enough to open the schrader valve.

 

[trailblazr81]

What I meant is when I turn the key to on I hear 1 click. Still just cranks when I try to start. And after a couple seconds the THEFT light goes off. I had cleaned and tightened the terminals right before I shot the video. Theres a pine tree right by the driveway and cars get dirty around here quick. The car has sat for a month in the driveway. Checked the schrader valve and nothing. Double checked everything and pushed the reset button in the trunk. Got it to start again but it did the same thing in the video. Ran for a couple minutes then died. And won't restart. Just cranks.

 

[trinity_gt]

Sounds like the fuel pump is sporadically running enough to prime the system and is then stopping or failing to re-start after the engine starts. As it's idling you're just running on prime-pressure. The engine stops when the fuel pressure drops too low (at which point pressing the Schrader valve reveals virtually no rail pressure.)

Could be the PCM, the FPDM, the pump etc.

 

[mr-mike]

sounds like the other guys gave you enough stuff to try ....skunk gas as gas goes bad quick , bad battery & maybe a bad alternator yes even a weak fuel pump ....drain & change the gas first & remove the shrader valve insert & bleed the skunk gas in a clear glass bottle to have a look see of what is in the line ..... one bad cell in the battery will cause havoc , if it runs get a volt meter on right away .... good luck all the other guys ideas are good ideas also ....how long did it sit & how many miles on this stang

 

[trailblazr81]

126,000 miles. Only sat for a month. New battery.

 

[mr-mike]

one month is not it ..... new battery so thats not it .... look for the skunk gas or someone putting something in your tank do the gasoline test see what the gas looks like , be carefull gas is like checking a gun a fire can start easy so use caution .... a clear bottle will tell you whats in the tank if the color is bad or you see water you may figure it out ... whats the fuel pressure ?