Ford F250 Engine Will Not Start
Reader Question
Good morning,
I have a 1997 F250 HD with a 351, my problem is this. The truck started knocking and pinging and eventually stalling, at first it would start right up then it would take about twenty minutes of sitting before it would start. I changed the fuel filter it seemed to work for a while but now it starts and runs but will not start once I shut it off but if I let it sit over night it will start again. I am not sure if it is a fuel issue or electrical or what? Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you
David
Hi there David
If you don’t have a service soon light on, I would first start with checking fuel pressure at the engine with a fuel pressure gauge. You could have a weak/bad fuel pump. If you do have a service light on, I would first read your computer codes. Although, you could have a service light/code stored in memory because of the knocking and stalling issue which is a symptom not the cause. Sometimes you can bang on the bottom of the fuel tank with your fist or block of wood AS someone is cranking the engine over. this can help jump start a weak fuel pump.
Austin Davis
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David, Austin’s right about checking the fuel pressure but your truck’s fuel-injected and the fuel pressure is high and you MUST know what you’re doing and have the right fuel pressure gage. I’m a mechanical engineer and have worked on motorized stuff all my life (I’m 59). I also have a ’91 F150 with a 300 c.i. 6 and had similar problems which I solved completely the first/second time.
Your truck has a lot of fuel tank capacity…maybe 2 tanks…and a lot of chance for crap to accumulate in the tanks, perhaps beyond what replacing the filter once could solve. All is exacerbated by the fuel continuously circulating and dependent on how full you keep the tank(s) and the climate where you live; generally, the emptier you keep the tanks and the greater temperature changes, the worse the problem. And it REALLY sounds, based on the pinging/knocking and ability to restart after it sits, like it’s still running too lean (starved for fuel).
My suggestion: Try replacing the fuel filter again. After you remove the existing one and have a new one there, dump the fuel from the old one’s outlet end…take a piece of rubber tubing…NO GAS IN MOUTH…connect it to the inlet end of each filter…and blow on each to see if there’s a big difference needed to blow through each. If so, your existing one got clogged too.
Hope this helps.
Ben