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Won't run after boost

dickb

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#1
I have a 2002 Focus that only gets used rarely. It has a new battery. The battery has run down because of the time since it was last started. I used a portable booster and it starts OK but then dies after a few seconds. The alternater has few miles on it and fuel supply should be fine as it was running OK before. I suspect it is something to do with electrical (computer) setting so how do I correct this?
 

Handy Andy

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#2
Do any "codes" show up from a code scanner?

Else the Fuel pump if the engine starts, but does not run, usually sets a code for the reason, but if no reason is given, then the obvious answer would be related to the fuel supply rail and two sensors or at least one - used to check for Fuel pressure and if too high shuts it down - if the "Start" works - that means it overrides the pressure sense until the engine is started.

So, my guess would be to "place engine" into "run mode" and let the fuel pump run, and find the fuse to it, - just let it sit in "run mode for a few minutes and see if the fuel pump will wake up - then pull that fuse or relay and hit start - let the engine catch and drain off the fuel in the rail and do this several times. This helps purge the rail from some of the debris and see if the fuel pump can dilute the now varnished fuels - see if you can prime or loosen the starvation problems it has by letting the fuel pressure and fresh fuel do the work.

For the engine to start indicates the system thinks it is in good health so this then seems to be a fuel delivery problem and can be caused by one or two injectors are able to dump their fuel into the intake - just enough to start the motor but the other injectors are still too plugged or frozen to work.

Else the engine fuel rail may be plugged by old fuel that needs to be cleaned out.

So, you'll have to repeat the purge and refill until you can get more injectors to loosen the old, varnished fuel still stuck in them or have frozen their solenoids so they can't open.

Next time this gets stored, use a fogger oil or more sea foam than gas to starve the engine then drain the tank so it can prevent the varnish from plugging your investment.
 
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dickb

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Thread Starter #3
Thanks for your reply. Too much for me as I was hoping for a quick fix so I will haul it in for the repair.
 
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dickb

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Thread Starter #4
PS I can't find my scanner as I haven't used it in ages.
 

Handy Andy

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#5
Well, hold on, if you are going to have to have it dragged to a shop - then doing some simple things to help the shop know what is going on, goes a long way in reducing labor costs. They don't have to tear it apart as much if you can provide a more specific description of the problem.

Right now, you have a car that starts - but doesn't want to run.

In the realm of this type of repair - and having to take it to a shop, is a Negotiation-process more so than a simple "Help me to Get this thing to run - repair it" - kind of moment.

They can fix a lot of things and even rebuild the fuel system, but is that what you want?

It is also a considerable age - about 20 years old. So if the engine turns over, catches, but just doesn't run - they will be looking at several directions of approach - so if the problem is with fuel - that represents a specific problem and requires a lot of labor to figure out what, if anything, is in the tank preventing it to run - they will be looking at the fuel system along with running diagnostics using their scanner tools - so if you can locate yours you can find the I/M (Information / Messaging) Monitors that are from your cars DTC connector as the DTCs' may not set a check engine light right now, but if something is not running right - it will show up the I/M monitors portion of your scanner as NOT READY - that system is affected by this so it does help give you a direction, and them (Mechanics) some ideas as to how far to go to fix the problem versus tearing it all apart only to find a connector was chewed thru while in storage.
 
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