[SR96]

I've got a '96 Taurus Wagon GL, 100k miles with a 3.0 V6 that has a weird hard starting problem. I've read the previous posts on hard starting problems, but they didn't seem to help out my situation.

The Problem: First thing in the morning, the car starts up beautifully on the first crank. Idles fine and runs well. If I let the car sit for 1/2 hour to a couple of hours and then try to start it, it will crank and crank away, but not start. If I depress the accelerator to the floor and release while the engine is cranking, the car will start up, sputter a little and then run fine.

What I've done:
Ford said fuel pressure was OK, as was charging system and battery. They recommended replacing the IAC. Also, they recommended changing spark plugs and spark plug wires. When they quoted 1 hour labor for the IAC, I decided to do the job myself.

So, I've replaced the IAC, the spark plugs and the spark plug wires. The battery was disconnected long enough for the PCM to forget the old IAC settings.

Now, I've still got the exact original symptoms. Cold engine starts great, warm engine cranks and cranks until I press down on the accelerator.

I've tried the "turn on ignition, wait for fuel pump to prime the lines" trick. No help. I've also tried the "turn on, turn off, repeat four times" trick. Also no help.

Should I buy an ODB-II scanner or are there other things to try?

 

[93 sable]

In my experiences with Volvo's, that sounds like 1 or more leaky fuel injectors. The fuel injector will not fully close, and when the car is sitting, it will drip a few drops of fuel into the intake, enough to keep the car from starting for a second, depressing the accelerator will let more air in and clear out the overly rich condition and let combustion take place.

The reason the car starts later on is that the fuel has had a chance to evaporate.

 

[viper]

Almost didn't reply to this because of the pressing the gas and it starting part of your post but I will just throw this out there.

I had a Ranger and when the battery needed replaced it started up fine on cold starts like you mentioned, but when it was hot it was acting up. I would stop to get gas, for example, turn the perfectly running truck off and fill up then go to start and it would crank some, stop and then fire up. One day it just wouldn't start back up and it ended up being the battery. My friend who I ended up taking it to, he is a mechanic, told me that if a battery gets a bad cell he's seen them do some unusual things. Like pass a charging system test and so on.

Like I said, I almost didn't post but man was I happy it was just the battery when I had my trouble.

Good Luck