My father-in-law bought a 99 with 5.4 a couple of months ago to use as a spare truck. This truck was perfect, and ran like a top when we test drove it. He drove the truck home and parked it. Not needing the truck it just sat in his driveway for two months. Last week he went out to move it and the battery was dead. No problem, he thought, used truck probably needed a battery. He put the battery charger on it for a couple of hours (on low). When he tried to start it everything worked fine but the fuel pump. It was not running and therefore would not start. We both thought it was a little odd for a fuel pump to go bad just from being parked for two months, so he did some calling around. Everyone he called told him the same thing that we were thinking.

Can anyone think of something that we may be overlooking? He really doesn't want to spend $165 for a new pump if it is something else. BTW...He has already replaced the fuel pump relay at $10 and it didn't work.

Please help He was a Ford tech for 19 years before his retirement in the early 90s and this is diving him crazy.

 

did you check the pump fuse?

 

Guess I should have added that in there. Yes, the fuse was the first thing he checked. Thanks for the reply.

 

hmm... this is odd. Does it just crank and crank and wont hit? you cant hear the pump running at all when you turn the ignition on?

 

I haven't personally checked it out at all. He says that it just cranks and cranks. It will not fire at all, and says he can not hear the pump running. I guess I should go up tomorrow night and check it over myself. I seem to have a little better luck with the newer trucks than he does. I fear he is going to need a new pump, but I have never heard of one going bad from being parked for a couple of months.

 

Huh, If it crank and cranks, the battery should be strong enough aayy . Check out the inertia switch , that may need a reset.

If that's not it - reset the KAM - pull the negative , touch the positive then reconnect. Zaps your parameters ,not yours lol, the trucks - don't worry you won't blow up lol. Just do it.

Sometimes the comps just get a little buggy. If you fear touching the too, then your going tp have to disconnect the battery and wait about 15 minutes, then reconnect.

Good Luck

 

I don't see any mention of the inertia switch, I assume this has been checked?

 

Funny you should mention the inertia switch.I just got off the phone with him telling him to check that. Still didn't work. I'll give him a call back and tell him to do the battery cable thing. Better yet. I will go do it myself. This way I can listen to it myself.

 

Just to be sure it really is the fuel pump, you should check the fuel pressure at the fuel rail before replacing the fuel pump.

 

The fuse pump relay fuse #19 on a 98 -

 

Well,I just got back. We did the battery cable thing with no sucess so I started chrcking things with a test light following the wiring diagram he had. We tested everything we could and everything was getting power. I looked at him and said " Are you up for taking the box off?" 20 minutes later the box was on the floor where we could get at everything. The pump will not run and it too is getting power so I came to the conclusion that it just has to be the pump. It can't be anything else. I didn't even bother to check the pressure because it will not run therefore it will not have any pressure at the rail. He is going to get a pump tomorrow and we will put it back together tomorrow night.

This is the oddest thing I think I have seen in a long time. I have never seen a pump go bad just from being parked for a short time.

Thanks to everyone who chipped in with help. It doesn't go unnoticed.

BTW: the pics of the 98 fuse and relay box looks nothing like the one on this 99. The relays are in two rows across the front of the box as well as everything else being different. Kinda funny how they would change something like this from year to year.

 

Yeah , I herd they a little different , but don't know how much .

Mannn, that is strange how it went - It must have been on it's way out , mine went at 150,000 and it blew the fuse on the way out.

 

get a little happy with the coolant there?