Hi all,

I have a 2000 F250 with the Triton 5.4 liter engine ... the problem I am having is sometime the truck won't start ... it had this problem last year when it was warm out but over the winter the problem only recurred on two occasions. Both times the temperature outside was over 60. Now that spring has arrived the problem is back with regularity.

Now for some more details of the problem. The truck always starts the first startup of the day .... whether first thing in the morning or in the heat of the day. The engine never stalls out once running .... in fact once started it seems to run fine. The problem is with increasing regularity the truck will fail to restart once it has been driven and then shutoff for a brief period of time. Say a trip to the lumber yard. The engine will crank and even seem to make a very brief attempt to start but in the end nothing. On most occasions if I let it sit for a while (20 minutes or so) it will eventually start. On the rare occasion I had to have it towed to a garage (parked on sidewalk,wouldn't start for hours) the truck starts fine the next day.

Needless to say this sporadic problem is getting to be pretty annoying (just imagine being at one of my four kids soccer practice needing to pick up another one at baseball practice in 5 minutes and needing to take another to dance class and the truck won't start.)

Any help or thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Just need to know a few things I can look for or maybe make sure my mechanic is investigating in the right direction.

Thanks
Dan

 

The temp thing is what's weird.

I would try cleaning the MAF sensor and see before starting to throw parts at it.

If that doesn't work, maybe the CPS sensor?

 

pghdan - you have described my recent problem exactly... My truck is a 2003 5.4L 4X4 with only 62K miles. First time I was stranded was only a 5 min drive to my local corner store. Parked for 3 mins and went to start the truck with no success. Cranked fine, Had it flat bedded to my home, next morning started like a champ. About 3 weeks later without incident in between, Drove to work ~8 miles away. Parked for the full day, went to drive home and no start. Left it at work, next morning started immediately. Checked / replaced FPR, checked Inertia switch and seemed ok. Read additional postings related to FPDM, but have not checked there yet. Checked harnesses and nothing. When I checked for Codes, the engine stated immediately, so no codes, no stored codes. I now cannot rely on the truck until I can isolate the failure, but can't do that without it failing... ideally a hard failure. Had not considered CPS since I was told that this failure would post trouble codes. Didn't think a MAS would prevent even a sputter for starting, but maybe.
Really interested in where you are with isolating / fixing your (and appears mine) problem.
Thanks in advance for any advice... really frustrated...
Tom

 

Have you guys hear about engine flooding?
On FI cars that usually means an injector or 2 don't hold the static pressure and let the fuel drip into stopped engine. Than hot engine gets flooded and will not start.
Cold engine needs extra fuel, so that is just playing along.
No guarantee you might have other problem, but I would bet 75% on this one.
Try to install fuel rail gauge.

 

pghdan,
Wanted to ask if you had made any progress isolating your starting problem? I have not driven my truck much wondering when the next time it was going to strand me. Planning to install a Fuel Pressure gauge to see if it was related to the no start condition. Any updates would be appreciated.
Thanks
Tom