Ford van will not start

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1995 FORD E-SERIES VAN
V8
2WD
AUTOMATIC
76,100 MILES

I have a 1995 E-350 Club Wagon 5.8L engine that is used as a church van. It had been having problems with variable idle speed from high idle speed 2800-3000 to slow idle and stall intermittantly since the summer. Now it will not start unless you prime the intake with a tablespoonful of gas then it will start and stay running at high idle 2800-3000 rpm. I took to a local mechanic in August and they replaced the Idle air solenoid but that did not change anything. I was thinking it might be the throttle position sensor that was causing the high idle, but that should not cause the no start should it? I have a cheap Actron CP9150 diagnostic tool. While I was checking the engine controller data it reported a change of mode from CT to PT while the idle speed varied. The Actron instructions do not mention what these abbreviations mean. I asked the Actron technical hotline if that was a change from Closed throttle to Part throttle and they said they did not know but that was probably it. Any ideas where I should look?

5 Replies

JACOBANDNICKOLAS

MECHANIC
109,747 POSTS

Have you checked general things such as fuel pressure, for vacuum leaks? As far as the CT / PT that is what it stands for. My first guess was the IAC, but you replaced that. As far as the starting technique, that could be caused by a temp sensor. Have any other codes come up? Also, let me know the things you checked.

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Sunday, November 21st, 2010 AT 4:35 AM

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No codes have come up at all that is why I have no direction. I checked for vacuum leaks and poor grounds or loose connectors and found none. I have not checked fuel pressure yet because I can not see a place to check it. Spark is not nice and blue as I would like to see. It is more a yellow color but it will jump 1/4 inch so it seems okay. Plus when you add fuel it starts fine.

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Sunday, November 21st, 2010 AT 4:45 AM

JACOBANDNICKOLAS

MECHANIC
109,747 POSTS

It has to be a fuel related issue. Check fuel pressure and let me know what you find. The schrader valve to check fuel pressure from should be on the fuel rail.

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Sunday, November 21st, 2010 AT 5:33 AM

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The valve is on the front of the driver side fuel rail. The fuel pressure is good. I found the real problem and it is the Throttle Position Switch. It had finally died as a short so the engine controller was reading it as wide open throttle. Apparently there is an algorithm in the engine controller that senses wide open throttle during cranking and shuts off the fuel to clear a flooded engine. I unplugged the TPS and the engine controller senses closed throttle and it started right up. Of course now it set a fault code because of the open circuit in the TPS. Thanks for the help, I am now on my way.

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Wednesday, November 24th, 2010 AT 4:47 AM

JACOBANDNICKOLAS