Questions and Answers
Explorer No Hot Restart
Q. Greeting Vince; First off, thanks for taking the time to provide a valuable service, I greatly enjoy reading your comments and those provided by others in the forums.
I never thought I would have a question directly for you, but I'm at my wits end...
Particulars: 1993 Ford Explorer / 6 cylinder / A/T / 118K / FI / ABS / All the goodies that are just waiting to fail; P/S, A/C, Cruise control, etc...
Recently, on a rather warm day, I took about an hours drive with said vehicle. After a short stop (about 20 minutes), I came back out and the truck wouldn't start. Actually, it would start for a second and then die. After about another 20 minutes (no cranking, just a cool down) the truck started and ran fine like it always has. Now the weird stuff; shortly after the aforementioned event, I took an extended trip and after about 200 miles of 65 mph+ driving, the infamous check engine light came on, however, the truck was running fine (temp low, oil pressure great, etc..). I stopped just to check things out, and of course when I restarted the engine/computer, the Check Engine light went out... this happened twice more during my 800 mile trip but the light usually went out on its own (20 or so minutes later-no stopping).
Now, after driving a moderate distance and short stop, I'll come back out and the vehicle won't start, same as the situation mentioned previously.
Current Specifics:
Haven't had the engine light come on since the long trip.
Always starts when cold.
Occasionally, after driving and stopping - engine won't start - I know when this is going to happen because the Check Engine light won't come on when you initially turn the key (initialization of EEC) and you don't hear the associated components come on (electronic fuel pump, etc.,)I've tried to reset the EEC (disconnect neg cable) - still happens. Ran a diag on EEC (normal). I've ran a diag on the EEC when the vehicle won't start - still shows normal.
I thought the injectors maybe leaking - causing a flooding situation... but they checked out OK.
Any thoughts???
Your time and consideration given to this matter is greatly appreciated...
Ed & LisaA. Thank you, I do try to maintain a site that is informative as well as entertaining.
There are a couple of things that may be causing the problem. The first one that comes to mind is the ignition module. Ford has been having a problem with them and there is some controversy whether they should be recalled for it. You can contact your Ford dealer for more information on this. If you check to see if you have spark when the condition presents itself, that would be a good indication of a bad module.
The other is the engine temp sensor. If there is a problem with the sensor it will turn the Check Engine light on and store a code. Disconnecting the battery will turn the light off and erase the code, but if the fault is not corrected, it will come back on and store the code again.
Injectors can be checked electrically, in fact the computer will detect an injector circuit problem, but it can not check the injectors mechanically. You may have an injector with a mechanical problem and the computer will not know it. The only way to check the injectors for a mechanical problem is by doing a fuel pressure test. So there is the possibility of an injector leaking down.
The best thing to do is to pull the codes from the computer and see what they are. This will give you a big clue as to where to look for the problem.
Additional Information provided courtesy of AllDATA
