Merry Christmas all,

I just recently picked up a 90 F-150 4x4 for $300 from my company for an around town truck and parts chaser- my good truck gets too many miles as it is!. It developed a problem hard starting when cold (all ambient temps) just like that. You really have to crank on a long time to get it to start. It seems to start better when you crank in short spurts, sometimes 5 short spurts of 3 seconds. It takes longer when it is colder and is impossible to start when it gets -10 F or colder as the battery will run out. The fuel pump sounds like it is running when it should. Keep in mind the problem just showed up out of the blue. I had a problem similar on a Pontiac Sunbird one time-I just took the IAC out and cleaned it based on buddies advice, and it worked like a charm. Does anyone think I could have a similar problem? Once the truck is running the check engine light does not come on.

I realize that the motor is wore and has lots of blowby (a quick lube joint stripped the screws in the air box and left them-then the truck sat at an iron ore mine and climbed ore piles all day hauling survey equipment up and down the piles for 1 year before anyone decided to check the air filter. Ore dust and engines don't mix). The darn thing runs like a champ despite obvious low compression and a little lifter noise and surprisingly only uses a quart of oil every 800 miles. The old wore out motor probably has a little to do with it but why was it starting just fine before that?

 

It probably is loosing fuel pressure after the key is turned off. Try turning the key on until the fuel pump stops, then turn it off and back on again. Do this three or four times, and it should fire right up.

 

No luck trying to let the fuel pump build pressure repeatedly. Any other ideas?