Cleaned engine bay-wont start

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Jun 20, 2005 | 04:15 PM

90xlt4x4

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Cleaned engine bay-wont start

I sprayed off my engine yesterday and now it wont start. Dried all electrical connections and under dist. cap and it still wont fire.Cranks fine. What do you guys think it could be?

Jun 20, 2005 | 08:46 PM

Lou Braun

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From: West Cornwall, CT

You proabably still have water (or moisture) somewhere that is causing a ground. The quick fix is to remove the distributor cap, dry it out and spray it with something like WD-40. Do the same for your coil wires. Check for a spark at a plug wire when you are done.

If there is any sort of spark, your ignition system is OK and the truck will start when things are dried out. If there is no spark at all, you will have to do some detailed troubleshooting to see what ignition system component did not survive the washdown.

Lou Braun

Jun 20, 2005 | 08:58 PM

90xlt4x4

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We did all of the above, including pulling a few plugs...there is spark. I dried most of the connectors with a blow drier and made sure nothing was wet.It will run for a few seconds with a spray of starting fluid, so I'm guessing it's not getting fuel. The fuels pumps both prime and the regulator makes the ticking noise under the hood, so Im stumped. I was thinking fuel filter but that seems too coincidental. One thing I did notice is that on the driver's side next to the upper intake, there are vacuum lines leading to small black plastic pieces next to the coil. The plastic piece closest to the front of the truck had a small hole in the cap, and it caused the small brown filterish thing inside to get wet. Could that be causing all of these problems?

Jun 20, 2005 | 09:32 PM

quicklook2

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From: Lakewood, Ohio

check the fuel pump relay, also the wires under it they are probably wet.

Jun 21, 2005 | 04:37 PM

90xlt4x4

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I dried out both the fuel pump and eec relays with no luck. I'm going to try replacing them. Hopefully this works. Any other ideas?

Jun 21, 2005 | 04:44 PM

RR4E

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From: Winnipeg, Manitoba

Check the tube running from the front of the truck to the air breather. Some Ford's have a bad habit of collecting water inside them, and that will cause the truck not to start.