I have a 2000 F150 Extended Cab Lifted 4x4 5.4L V8 Triton. I bought it off the showroom floor with 7 miles on it. I take very good care of it. It now has 139,??? miles on it. Haven't had any trouble with it until I had to replace the alternator about 3 months ago. Then I replaced the battery cable ends. Last month I had to replace both front lower ball joints. It does not smoke, cutout, hesitate, misfire or leak anything. NEVER been a puddle of anything under it. It's perfect......until it won't start. 90% of the time it fires right up. Sometimes it will crank and crank but not start. When it won't start, I hear a faint thud coming from somewhere on the truck. If I turn the key on 4 or 5 times, sometimes it will go ahead and start. After it starts again, it does NOT cutout or try to shut down or die. It went 2 weeks without starting so I had it towed to the dealership (first time ever) They did a $90 diagnostic on it but didn't find anything wrong. IT STARTED FOR THEM EVERY TIME! Went to pick it up, paid for diagnostic and $75 tow and still don't know what's wrong. Help! I'm the daughter, of a retired mechanic, who paid attention when her dad worked in the garage. I change my own oil and tires and do most minor repairs myself. I'm not your typical "stupid woman" I know my way around under the hood. I'm also smart enough to admit when I need help. I welcome all opinions and ideas. Thanks......Deborah

 

Fuel pump on its way out?

Next time it won't start, turn the key off and go under the hood and depress the Schrader valve on the fuel rail, gas should spray out.

 

Ok I'll try that next. If it doesn't spray out? Bad fuel pump?
Gonna replace the fuel filter and the fuel pump relay this weekend.
Then I'll know that they're not the problem.
They've never been replaced so it can't hurt. Can it?

 

Possible relay, possible inertia switch. Have you changed the fuel filter?

 

Not yet. Replacing fuel filter and fuel pump relay this weekend.

 

Deb, how about testing for fuel pressure with a gage first to confirm the issue is fuel.
The squirt method is not very reliable trying to tell how much pressure there is. It should build to between 35 to 50 psi at the test port on the fuel rail.
Did you know that turning the igntion to run several times is the way you would recover from running out of gas and having to re-prime the fuel system after putting gas in the tank? Otherwise the crank time might be longer.
Good luck.

 

You can at least try the squirt method first - if it doesn't squirt there's no point in getting a gauge yet. Parts stores should have a gauge kit in their loaner tools.

 

No Bluegrass, I didn't know that was how to re-prime the fuel pump. Thank you for the info. Does that mean the fuel pump is probably the problem? I'll do the Schrader test first. but I would like to know what the fuel pressure is also. Thanks glc, I didn't know part stores loaned gauges. I'm glad I won't have to buy one.

 

Reading back - you have a 13 year old vehicle with 139k on it and you have NEVER changed the fuel filter? I bet that's it - fuel filters should be changed every 30k. I'm surprised the dealership didn't try to sell you one.

 

Also when you floor the gas pedal it cuts out the injectors. Natural reaction when it is hard starting is to floor the pedal.

I agree with the others, fuel filter then fuel pressure test.

 

I've never had to touch the gas pedal when starting my truck. Flooring it would not be a natural reaction to me. I will change the fuel filter this weekend. If fuel pump relay is cheap enough I'll change it too, simply because it's 13 years old also. Hopefully we don't get hit with the 9 inches of snow they're predicting.

 

Fuel pump relay shouldn't be more than 10 bucks.

 

Ok, Got the new fuel filter on and the new relay in, starting fine for now........we'll see. If it fails to start again I'll get the gauge and test the fuel pressure. Waiting......

 

Holy MoLy 140k on a fuel filter.
Glad it's working so far. Should be the issue.

 

Did you get it done before the storm hit? Looks like you have a sloppy mess up there now.