My engine doesn't want to start up?

DAKOTAHARE

MEMBER
1986 FORD F-150
5.0L
V8
2WD
AUTOMATIC
250,000 MILES

It will crank, it sounds good, but never wants to start, it's not the fuel, its a spark problem. I notice the Harmonic balancer is not balanced (lol.) I think it might be worn out I don't know. I was also thinking it could be a bad crankshaft sensor. I'm 15 this is my first truck that I inherited from My PawPaw. I'm wanting to restore it. Ps: The Truck was sitting for almost a year. We got it to crank and start the first time we cranked it, we drove it, but then It just started shutting off and now we're having no luck with it. It's not wanting to start, could it be the distributor or coil? I really need help.

2 Replies

CATAFINA

MECHANIC
167 POSTS

This sounds like a fuel pump or the fuel pump has gone out. When you turn the key to the on position without cranking the engine over can you hear the fuel pump run in the tank for 5 seconds?

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/car-cranks-but-wont-start

and

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-check-an-electrical-relay-and-wiring-control-circuit

Check out the diagrams (Below). Let us know what happens and please upload pictures or videos of the problem.

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Monday, May 31st, 2021 AT 12:47 PM

KASEKENNY

MECHANIC
18,907 POSTS

I think you are on the right path. We need to find out if the injectors are firing. here is a guide on how to do that:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-test-a-fuel-injector

If you have fuel, spark, and compression then the engine should start. So I suspect we either don't have fuel pressure or we are missing something else.

https://youtu.be/dCjmRL3p4Cs

So when you ran a wire direct to the pump are you assuming you have fuel because you are hearing the pump run? If so, this is not exactly what we need to do. We need to check the pressure and go from there.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-check-fuel-system-pressure-and-regulator

Let us know this info and we can go from there. Thanks

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Monday, May 31st, 2021 AT 12:47 PM