ST will crank and not start

[David Boer]

Quick question for the SPort Trac folks out there. I have a 2001 Sport Trac with about 50k miles on it. I drove the vehicle home from the airport last night (40+ miles) and it was raining pretty hard. This morning when I went out to go to work, I cranked the truck and released the key before it was fully started since it normally turns over pretty quickly. I cranked the car over again and released it quickly not thinking and it didn't start. Then the truck would just crank and not turn over. I needed to get to work for a meeting so I just pushed it out of the driveway and took my wifes car. She went out a few hours later and the truck started fine.



I was going to begin diagnosing this evening, but figured I would see if anyone had any input. Here are a few of the places I was going to start based on some of the initial research I did online:

Idler Air Bypass Valve, loose accelerator cable, inertia switch, fuel pump.



I thought if anyone had these same symptoms in the past and had a solution then it may save some time. Any input is welcome and appreciated.

 

[Kevin Palmer]

First, it is common for the Trac to have an occasional glitch. Simply will not start for no apparent reason, especially with the 02 to 05 Tracs. Just some sort of a Gizmo issue with the ECU.



That said, you may have partially flooded it by turning it off so quickly and not allow spark to get into the cylinders. Once it sat for a while and the fuel evaporated and or passed by the rings and valves, it was able to start up as it normally does.



Unless it happens again, I would not worry about. Just know it does not like a quick release and make sure it cranks some before you let the key go....

 

[Allan Reed]

 

[Allan Reed]

My son's F150 does that ocasionly and we have tracked it to the chipped key.

When it acts like that try another key and see if it starts.

My son use his remote starter then inserts key and drives away

Sometime truck does not seem to get info from chipped key

 

[Richard L]

If the engine has been off for a number of hours or overnight, try the following:



Turn on the key, but don't try to start engine

Wait 15 seconds, then turn the key all the way off.

Now try to start it as usual.



If it starts right up, then you have a bad fuel pump that is leaking pressure



Early 2001-2002 Sport Tracs had a problem with a leaking Fuel pump, especially the 2001 models. The pump is in the Fuel tank the leak just causes the loss of fuel pressure. Turning on the key will activate the fuel pump for about 10 seconds to build the fuel pressure back up. I perfected this technique on my 2001 Sport Trac until I took it to the dealer to have the fuel pump replaced.



Oddly enough, if you just tried to crank the engine for 15 seconds without turning the key off, the engine will usually not start.



As previously stated, there are occasions where the enigne would not start or not crank. That happened to me and many others here. It turned out to be a loose connection in the steering column that was caused by insufficient slack in the wiring harness and the tilting of the steering column was pulling on the wires This problem can cause starting, cranking and other weird problems with the tail and brake lights/turn signals because they are all controlled by that wiring harness. The cure is to drop the lower steering column cover and insure that there is sufficient slack in the wiring harness to accomidate the steering wheel tilt from the minimum and maximum tiilt angles. Also, be sure that none of the wires were pulled loose from the connector.



The ECU problem cause the engine to run real rough after starting. Shutting the engine off and restarting it usually cured the problem. That only happened to me 2 over the 8 years I owned my 2 Sport Tracs.



...Rich

 

[John Wilhelmi]

Check the fuel pump fuse first. It's in the fuse box under the hood. Number 5 I believe.