• Welcome to the Contour Enthusiasts Group, the best resource for the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique.

    You can register to join the community.

did I kill my 3L?

M

mtxcontourSVT

New CEG'er
Joined
Jun 4, 2003
Messages
26
Location
Raleigh, NC
I was on a slight left hand turn, redlined it and the fuel shutoff kicked in, then it seemed like it stalled, it was struggling to stay around 500 rpm. So I shut it off and tried to start again but no luck. There were no odd noises, my gas gauge was just above E. When I try to start, it cranks over fine and starts then dies really quick, I don't even get a chance to rev it. No fluids leaking. I added more gas in hope that was it, but no change.

3L has just over 2000 miles, I run 6.5qt of mobil 1 syn 5w30. Car has 170k on it, original fuel pump. I haven't pulled anything yet, did I spin a bearing?
 
Last edited:
well if your really worried about spinning a bearing, drain the oil and see if their is a ton of metal shavings in your oil. to me it sounds like you coulda killed your fuel pump though.
 
yeah I'm hoping you're right, though when I turn they key I can hear the pump come on...

I was near my friends apartment complex so its parked over there now, just trying to get some ideas before I pull anything or have it towed back to my house.

update-
I checked the fuses, they're all good, relay looked good but I swapped it with one next to it just to try. I couldn't press the fuel cutoff switch down anymore. I checked for any codes with my laptop but there weren't any. I don't have anything to test the fuel pressure with, but I pushed the valve in anyway and some fuel basically just trickled out...shouldn't there be more pressure than that? I went and turned the key on again to prime the pump, and same thing. Also when I tried to start it now it wouldn't even try to start, just kept turning over. Please move this to the troubleshooting forum if necessary.

Does this seem pretty straight forward, should I get a fuel pump?
 
Last edited:
its definitely worth a try. i know on my fuel pump i have a tear in the hose before it goes outta my tank, as long as my stuff is above a quarter im usually good though.
 
I agree with Stazi. It's never good to run a fuel pump out of fuel. It doesn't take much heat to kill them and running them out of fuel during a turn can stress it to the point of failure. I have a feeling this is what happened, but before you yank the pump out, check the CPS (crank position sensor). The two items are not related, but it could be a wierd coincidence and the problem may be there instead. Go out and wiggle the wires to the CPS and check for broken insulation on the CPS wires. If that doesn't get you going, the next bit of cash out of my wallet would go to the pump.
 
Thanks for the replies, I'll check the CPS again, I did take a look the cam/crank sensors before and they seemed ok.

The return style pump uses wide terminals right? (as opposed to thin)

update: fyi mine used the thin terminals.

mods could we move this to troubleshooting forum?

I replaced the fuel pump and still no go. Then I fiddled with the CPS some more and after a few cranks it started! Drove it for 10 mins and died again... looks like wire rot on the CPS harness, I cut open the harness some more and the wires were touching. I tried seperating them and even spliced in some new wire - no luck.

Is there a fuse that could have blown or could the sensor have died if the 2 wires shorted, I checked any they all looked good. Still no codes from the pcm. Going to do some searching to see if its possible to replace that portion of the harness (injectors, cam, crank, o2, oil pressure).
 
Last edited:
wires going bad

wires going bad

I checked the crank and cam wires with a multimeter, I tested between the wires/ground

white/red-- Cam Sensor
brown/red--

white/purple--Crank Sensor
brown/white--

black/blue--Cam ground
black/white-- Crank ground

nothing on the crank sensor, then for the cam I get some random readings between any 2 of the wires... I cut back the harness some more and the wires are cracking but couldn't see anything touching...though they could be further down the harness. I shouldn't get any continuity between any wires for cam sensor right? looks like they both go right to the pcm, wiring diagram here (http://www.autozone.com/images/cds/gif/large/0900823d801eb336.gif)

I did try another cam and crank sensor I had, no change. I also heard the fuel pump humming while I was cranking (a sign the crank sensor is getting signal). check engine light stays on with key on, then goes out when I crank the engine (shows its getting signal from both sensors) but I'm thinking the cam sensor wiring is shorting out?
 
well I got it running, but I'm still not sure what the issue was. Here's what I did

-added gas, was at 1/4 tank, now 3/4
-reseated coil connector
-reseated maf connector
-reseated relays/fuses related to fuel pump
-double checked wiring to cam/crank sensors

since then it has started cold/warm at least 10 times. I moved around the wiring harness and also the distribution box, still ran fine.

I noticed when I was cranking prior to adding gas the gas light would come on, not sure if this is because the battery was dead and I was using another car to jump it or if there is some fuel delivery issue (I did replace the fuel pump with one from advance auto, its loud...sounds like a vacuum :rolleyes:. There were no codes from the pcm.

any thoughts?
 
Last edited:
well, since you were in the turn, enough gas may have been pushed away from the pump just long enough to burn it up. Or, the fuel cut off switch could have been triggered.

But my money is on the fuel pump going dry and burning up.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top