Please help. I can't figure this out. 1998 2wd reg cab ranger with 2.5 4 cyl engine.

My truck won't start after sitting for a few hours. Just cranks and cranks. I then pop start it from a roll and its fine. I can shut it off directly after the pop start and it starts fine with the key. It only does this if it has been sitting a couple hours. It started by only doing this when it sat over night and has gotten progressively worse. My truck always used to start fine, then the original starter died and i replaced it with a cheap one from ebay. That starter worked fine for a couple weeks, then it went bad. I got a re manned one from advance and still had the starting problems. I replaced the battery and starter cables and fuel filter. Then engine was recently replaced (20k miles ago) and it had all new plugs, wires, timing belt, ect.. What could cause this. I do have a cel that I needed to get checked. The only other symptom is that the idle drops real low sometimes. Please help me.

 

Might not be the same thing but sure worth thought:

One of my other trucks is an F350 Crew Cab Dulley.
While going to start it one day I got slow turns then nothing like the battery was dead. I put it on a charger all night, checked the volts which appeared to be fine, went to start it and the same thing then the weird happened. I left it alone for two hours and volts were back up in the normal range but exact same results.

I picked up a battery load tester (even cheaper on e-Bay) checked the volts, perfect. Ran the load tester and discovered the battery had all of 8.5 CCA. The battery was rated at 950 so 8.5? HUH?

In my case something had gone very bad inside the battery. Volts always read fine and it would start everytime jumping it. Alt was doing it's job but no love on CCA (Cold Cranking Amps) Eventhough 4 years old Autozone replaced it free. Seems that a huge batch of these went out and had this very issue. Autozone is nothing more than a branded company. They do not make their own batteries so take it somewhere and ask to have the CCA test specifically tested or buy one of the testers.

BTW, no more problems now that the new battery is in

 

just got back from advance. checked the battery and its fine. alternator is fine. I got my cel cheked and it came back as an 02 sensor and a bad cat. Neither of which would cause my starting problems.

It got even worse today. Now it wont start at all with the key. Even after a pop start of driving around a little. I can hardly hear my fuel pump prime. The noise I hear is faint and I'm not even sure if it's the pump. I hear the relays also. I pushed down the shraeder valve on the fuel rail and gas just trickles out. I turn the key off and on again and check it and it sprays out for a half second then trickles. This is the same result everytime I turned the key off and on.

I am taking it to my mechanic on tuesday. over the phone he said he thinks its a fuel pressure regulator. Please help me figure this out. I can't park on hills forever,.

 

Just for giggles, ensure you have a good ground from the battery. That caused a ton of issues with one of my previous Rangers

 

i just replaced my battery cables actually. maybe i messed up a ground somewhere. any ground in particular that you are talking about

 

For me, the frame mount was impossible to get to with the F350 unless I pulled the motor.
I found another frame location, made sure all grounding straps were fine and in-tact that went back up and it worked.
A Frame ground is NOT the same as any metal ground as far as Ford is concerned!
I tried a few others but until I got as close as possible to the original, no love

 

still no luck and the problem has gotten progressively worse. now the only way to start it is by pop starting it from a roll. I used to be able to start it with the key for a few hours after I pop started it but now I can't start it with the key at all. My mechanic checked the fuel pressure and said it was fine. So I have ruled out the fuel pump. It has to have somthing to do with spark. anyone have any suggestions. my next idea is to replace both coil packs. At $50 each it is a little expensive to not really know if it is the problem.

Thanks in advance for ANY advice

 

still having the same problem. I really can't figure this out. please help

I changed the ignition coils, no luck
changed the ignition switch, no luck
put another re manned starter in, no luck
all my relays, fuses, and grounds are fine

its like the coils aren't getting any power
she still starts right up when I pop start it but not with the key
the starter spins, engages and turns the engine but will not fire.

I'm not sure what the part is called on the driver side fender well. Its black plastic and has a round cap on it that spins. It has the evap purge valve on it. It has a vacumn line attached to it that goes into the intake. the hose is bad and I am going to replace it tomorrow. It has a stain all around the part that looks like it is leaking. The broken hose is just air but I think the lower one may be a gas line. It goes to the evap canister under the bed. Could this have somthing to do with it.

my buddy put it on a computer and said a code came up that said somthing like fuel regulator stuck open. somthing like that. I know the pressure regulator is in the tank though.

only other ideas are

clean egr
flywheel problems
crank sensor?
maybe a 3rd bad re manned starter?

I dont know and any ideas would be greatly appreciated

 

I would check the fuel rail pressure with a gauge. (should be around 65 psi)

You do have a fuel pressure pulse dampener. It has a short vacuum line that comes from the intake manifold straight down to it (on the fuel rail). Make sure that line is not bad.

See if you can get the actual P-code number from your friend that scanned it.

 

my mechanic checked the fuel pressure with a gauge and said it was fine.

changed the vacumn line on the purge valve and no difference

I re checked the cel today and only 1 code came up and it was a different one from yesterday

its p0232 fuel pump secondary circuit high

I have no idea what that means. anyone have any ideas

 

What that means is that the computer has been changing the duty cycle of the fuel pump to create more or lessen fuel pressure, and that duty cycle is outside of a specific range.

From another post, it seems the inertia fuel switch was going bad/resetting itself. Try pushing the reset button and see if that works. Check the ground at the switch and see if you have continuity across the switches pins. BTW its located at the bottom right of the dash. right where the carpet meets the dash.

 

ten minutes before I checked the codes i tripped and then reset the inertia switch. could that have thrown the code

 

Maybe

 

I am starting to lean towards the crank position sensor. It's a pita to get to but its cheap enough to try. anyone have any experience with them

 

I replied this in your other thread.
If the crank sensor is bad the engine would not run at all.
Need to see a diagram of the ignition switch wiring. If there is a wire that is hot-in-start position other than the one for the starter. If so it must have a bad connection.

 

I have seen a bad ground reset damn near everything.

 

IT WAS THE CRANK SENSOR!!! didn't have a cel and it still started ocasionally and I could always roll start it. replaced the crank sensor and it starts and runs perfect

couple tips

you have to remove the serp belt, fan and shroud, any tensioner pulley, unless you do what I did which is:

be carefull not to breeak the top of the old sensor off when removing it. my sensor was basically welded into the hole in the block. I had to drill it out piece by piece. so be carefull

I also snapped off the head of the single mounting bolt. after that I had to remove my accessory bracket, alternator, drain the coolant system and remove the radiator hoses. all so i could get in a drill in there and drill that bolt out. pain in the ***. so dont' do that either

but to summarize, 20 bucks for that stupid little sensor, pain in the butt to put it in but cured my problem. don't underestimate the importance of that little sensor.

thank god i finally figured this one out, too bad it wasn't before i replaced every other ignition part on my truck, oh well
holla

 

Just My opinion but....working as a parts counter specialist for dealers for quite a few years,I have found that very few "aftermarket" starters have the same moxie as a factory replacements (even though 99% are re-manufactured).I have had many customers in the past purchase a factory re-man with the "I bought one from Auto Zone and it didn't cut it" story. I'm not promoting dealers......just My experience.The ground suggestions are very much worth looking into for sure.

 

dude, read the post above you. i did solve it. i did it the old fashion way, replace everything you can think of till you get it