Questions and Answers

Ford Taurus Won't Start On Hot Days Q. Hi Vincent, I have a 2000 Ford Taurus. Recently, it can't start when the weather is very hot. When the weather cools down like in the night, it could start again. I sent my car to a Ford dealer, and they found the anti-theft led flashing rapidly when the problem happened. They changed the PATS transceiver, made the new keys and reprogrammed the computer.

The problem was still existed when they parked the car under the sun. The error code they got indicated "Partial code only received". The code flashed "1:4". The next step the dealer planned to do was to change the PCM. I asked the technician if this would solve the problem and he was not sure.

I wonder what else could cause the problem except PCM. I plan to do some troubleshooting by myself before changing PCM. Could you please give me some suggestions?

• 2000 Ford Taurus SE
• 3.0 liter V-6 Flex Fuel
• Automatic transmission
• 45,000 miles
• ABS brakes
• P/S, A/C, Cruise control
• Replaced the battery two days ago

Thanks in advance,
Rich

A. At this point I would think the problem could be in the Powertrain Control Module (PCM) or the Generic Electronic Module (GEM). I assume they tried to get the codes out of the GEM.

The dealer should have test modules they use to either confirm or deny both the PCM and GEM. If they put in a test unit, and the problem is fixed, then you can go ahead and replace it with confidence.