98 Towncar won't start away from home??

[Eric Chen]

Hi! I have 3 Lincolns and love each one of them. Yesterday, the youngest Lincoln (98 TC / 42K miles) failed to start right after I drove from one parking space to another while the engine is warm, but not hot(outdoor temp is 55F, gas tank 1/2 full). I was ready to drive my family home which is about 11 miles away.

The engine will crank and all the lights are working. It's like no iginition and fuel. So I checked all the relays and fuses, and swap the fuel relay with A/C relay. Still it only cranks but won't start. I also check the fuel pump reset switch in the trunk. It is "On" position. It was windy and I could not hear the fuel pump at all. The symptom is like the secure key is not coded or the crank sensor is totally gone. I finally gave up trying after 2 hours. Battery was still good before I left at 6PM. From 8PM to 12AM, I research this forum and the web to find some clues.

Here is the strange thing: The next day I arranged to tow the car to my house. The tow guy told me he was able to start the car and drove it to his flat bed. How did this happen? He brought the car back to my driveway and started the car to back into my garage. No winch needed. He just made the easiest money for the day. I can tell the engine and the battery were a bit shaking/weak upon start.

Anyway, maybe some of you can figure this one out for me. Here is what I did after the car got home.

1. Start the engine, plug in OBDII scanner - No Code Found
2. Check Batt Volt at 12.47 Volts. Charge the battery at 6AMP/12Volt for 2.5 hours to juice it backup. Plus clean both +/- terminals. The battery is Motorcraft and may have been the 1998 original component.
3. Replaced the old fuel filter that was insatlled around 24k miles. Upon blowing air to the old filter, I can feel 50% restriction compared to the new one. (Can this be my root cause?)
4. The car starts fine with good fuel and voltage.
5. I also unplugged the Crank Position Sensor harness that sits between/under the A/C compressor and the lower engine front. The Plug looks good. No corrosions. But I gave it a shot of electrical contact cleaner just to be sure.
6. IAC valve was not checked, I had the valve broken on my 98 Mercury Marquis before. It will slowly die and still allow start up by pressing the gas pedal to provide air for starting. However, this is just my experience.
7. CAM sensor was not checked. Well, I could not find it!

Since this happened right after I started the engine and parked the car, I think it should be electrical, but now it is running just fine. The other possibility is the fuel filter. It was clogged during that 2 hours, but the pressure was relieved after 12 hours, a recharge may have unclogged the filter? What do you think? What about IAC, the Crank sensor or the secure key just lost its memory? Do I have a bad battery?

Any suggestion is welcome! As alway, Thank You in Advance.

Eric Chen

[Newave Dave]

Don't know how much this will help, but, I had a similar problem.
see http://www.lincolnsonline.com/forum/...ad.php?t=50536.
Twice now. I rattled around in the engine fuse block. Maybe a dirty connection on the Fuel pump fuse. I don't know. I also popped in a new fuel filter just to be safe. Hasn't failed since Easter.
Good Luck.

[Sysanalyst]

I had a 2000 Ford Escape that would not start at the fuel station. Turned out it was the Mobil "Speed Pass" on my keychain interfering with the PAS system. Did you happen to have one of those, or perhaps another "chip key" on your keychain when you attempted to start your vehicle?

[v8_dave]

I bet working the CPS did the job. The cam position sensor is on the pass engine head, the crank position sensor is more under the car. Only time will tell with these intermittent problems!

[Eric Chen]

Thanks for your quick replies.

1. I cleaned the CPS harness after it arrived and had started with no problem. BTW, It was very clean.

2. The engine failed to start while I was in a school parking lot. I don't have Speed-Pass. And no one was near me when I tried to start the car at the end before I gave up.

3. New information, I went to the garbage and tried to blow the old fuel filter again and found it to be very restricted. I had to blow hard to get 10% to 20% air come out of the other side. This could very well be the root cause.

4. I did not rule out the CAM or Crank sensors yet. I will let you know if this is the case in the future.

If the fuel filter is the cause, then my lesson learned is to replace the fuel filter at least once a year or 15,000 miles max. It was overdue by about 5000 miles. A very expensive mistake. I hope the pump did not get burned out due to the extended clog in the filter. Well, my mistake is now documented for eveyone!!! I will continue the smooth silky ride of my Lincolns....

[Eric Chen]

Guys, I thought we had this issue figured out. It should be the clogged fuel filter. After the car ran good for 3 days, I decided to seafoam the intake via the PCV valve. It produced a lot of smoke. Yes, I was driving hard to get the white smoke out. As soon as I parked the car and shut the engine. The engine won't start anymore just like last time. It cranks but won't start. I pressed the gas pressure valve and it had some pesssure. Unplug/plug the Crank Sensor did not do anything for it. Do I have a bad tank of gas that it clogged the filter so quickly? Or do you think this was caused by something else?

I will do 2 things tomorrow just to be sure. 1.) restart the car again in the morning to check the fuel pump noise to make sure the pump is working. 2.) If no start, then I will check / replcace the fuel filter again. Note that this is still the same tank of gas.

If crank sensor, cam sensor or IAC valve, shouldn't I get a code?

Please share your ideas if you had any similar experience. Thanks.

Eric

[1989LSC]

If the pump runs, Get a fuel pressure gauge and make sure it has enough pressure.

[Eric Chen]

Here is the latest: no fuel pressure, no pump noise. Checked the filter and it is good. So not a bad gas issue.

Looks like the pump had burnt out due to the clogged filter. The new filter allows the pump to run so much faster and actually speeds up the death of the pump.

I am in the process of getting new parts and search for remove/install fuel pump procedures. I am letting my wife drive the new 1978 Continental so she can still go to work.

I will keep you guys posted.

[Eric Chen]

Update: Fuel pump replaced. Car starts right up.
Root Cause: clogged fuel filter for more than 15k miles.
Preventive measure: Replace filter a year in spring or every 15K miles
Repair Parts: Fuel Pump & in tank Sock $110
Repair Labor: 2+ hours without dropping the tank. Must diconnect the pressure sensor and pump wiring harnesses to do this job.

Thanks for everyone's assistance.

Eric

[Sysanalyst]

Awesome work Mr. Chen! Those fuel pumps are very picky. They like you to keep that fuel tank 1/2 full or better to keep them cool. You may want to find an alternate fueling station (or consistently use a good one) as you seem to be getting some bad fuel.

Thanks for posting the solution, so often, folks post problems, use solutions, and never post what actually fixed the problem. Great job again Mr. Chen!

PS. Naperville; you must be a Bell-Labs propeller-head.