2001 Ford Explore starts with throtel applied and dies/doesn't start with no throtel.

[Guest sphen02]

This is Neo btw, just didn't want to log Steve off.

 

I'm up here visiting my school and a friend that graduated is down here from Cleveland and his car won't start. So needless to say it'd be good if we could get something done pretty soon.

 

I believe it's a 2001, it's the new body clading.

 

If you just start the car it will crank over but not start.

 

If you applie the throtel a little it will start.

 

If you keep on the throtel after it starts and keep the revs up a little (a little above 1krpm or so) it will stay on, but if you let the throtel off it will die.

 

It could be a ton of things, I know. I'm thinking something with the fuel system. Another guy in the house that doesn't know a ton about cars wanted to just throw a fuel filter in it, so the guy who owns the car's g/f went to a close dealer and got a fuel filter. He found the fuel filter and it has two retainer clip type and he released thoes but he couldn't get it off. I didn't really try to remove it though, I hate throwing parts at problems.

 

I'm gona go out and disconect the battery to reset the ECU and see if it works allright then. That might help him limp it home.

 

Any help would be greatly appericated.

 

Thanks in advance all.

[Guest nevarmore]

IAC valve, air filter, or MAF.

 

Unplug the MAF, if it runs you have a bad/dirty MAF. Take out the air filter, if it runs you have a dirty filter.

 

Otherwise its not getting air at idle which means the IAC (idle air controller) is out of whack and not letting enough air in. The air filter may be clogged but when you push on the gas it opens the throttle body a bit more and allows the engine to suck in more air. The MAF could be dirty/broken, it could be sending out a bad signal and making things run too lean/rich to start.

[Dave1647545494]

I'll put a dollar on an out of range coolant temp sensor with no service engine light.

[slow4now]

Is this thing out of warranty? If it's not he needs to take it to a dealership.

[Guest sphen02]

Originally posted by bigbabyjesus:

Is this thing out of warranty? If it's not he needs to take it to a dealership.

We are in ada ohio right now (20 minutes east of lima). He lives in Cleveland about two and a half hours away. He tried to drive it around the parking lot to see if he could limp it home, and even at 15mph as soon as he lets off of the gas it dies. There is a ford dealer in this little shit hole, but they won't be open until monday, in which case even if it got fixed on monday he's still missing a day of law school. I'm not sure if it's under warnty, but being a 2001, I would assume so. If memory serves me right he got it right at the begining of our junior year. Which would have only been around two years ago.

 

Thanks for all the suggestings guys. I'll try a few of the non-parts fixes here in a little bit and post back when I get a chance.

 

There's another little mechanics shop that's not a dealer that might be open on sundays.

 

Could I put a resistor across the coolant temp sensor input voltage to the output to trick the ECU? If it's out of range is it just a problem on warm up or all the time (the car did sit overnight, so it would have been cold).

 

Oh, if it was the coolant temp sensor or MAF or air filter would any of thoes be soft ECU codes, and if so, how do you get the car to display the ECU codes? I'll prob. just do a serach for the ECU codes later, so if noone knows, no big deal.

 

I could get it to sit around where idel should be with just a tiny bit of gas last night, it just wants to idel too low. I like the dirty air filter or dirty/broken MAF idea, gona go try thoes.

[stolen 5.0]

those clips are a pain in the ass to get off if they are like the mustangs. u need a special tool. little round plastic thing that will slide over the line and push into the fitting unlocking the tab.

[Trouble Maker]

Originally posted by Stolen 5.0:

those clips are a pain in the ass to get off if they are like the mustangs. u need a special tool. little round plastic thing that will slide over the line and push into the fitting unlocking the tab.

I thought I rememberd someone on here saying something about a ford having that before and was thinking it must be the same thing (it was a mustang in particular at the time). I 'uncliped' the longer part of it and it didn't do shit to losen up the part that was actually clamping the fuel line. redface.gif I looked at the fuel filter for about two seconds to satisify the few other peopel out there who know much less about cars than I do. I was thinking sensor or vacume leak (major if that) so I said I wasn't gona mess with it anymore and come post on here till I get some decent info, I just hate wasting the time and money throwing parts at cars. Even if it's as 'simple' as a fuel filter.

 

Thanks for the help everyone. Before I even talked to him sunday morning he took it to that local ford dealership and parked it for them to look at it monday, had his mom drive all the way from cleveland to pick him and his girlfriend up so oh well, thanks anyways. He's gona get a ride back up whatever weekend after it's finished. What a pain in the ass, he drives it all over cleveland fine and it breaks down when he's 2.5hr's away from home.

[Akula]

this happened to a friend of mine...same deal, same car, it was a bad throttle position sensor.

[Science Abuse]

IAC sensor, find it, clean it, or replace it.

Idle

Air

Control

 

Car wont idle, first stop = MAF sensor (cuz its easy)

Second stop = IAC.