I have a 2001 Mustang V6 and it won’t start. When I bought the car about 3 weeks ago I was told that the fuel pump was out. So I went ahead and bought a new one and had it installed, we primed it of course before we tried starting it, would crank but doesn’t start at all. I went ahead and also did the oil change since the one in there was really disgusting. Tried it again and it still won’t start. The battery is fine, but my oil pressure gauge is below L I’ve been reading on here that the gauge isn’t to be trusted but idk what to do. I was going to try to get some starter fluid and see if that’ll do the trick. I already scanned the car with a OBDII and it didn’t throw any codes. That relieved me but I’m still confused on why it won’t start. If anyone has a similar problem or knows what to do please let me know. Thank you.
Couple of questions:
- How did you prime the fuel pump?
- How long had the car been sitting with a bad pump? If too long, you could have bad gas in it.
- have you verified fuel pressure since replacing the pump?
- Have you checked for spark?
Was it running when you bought it? Your post sounds like it was dead when you purchased it.
A faulty crankshaft position sensor will prevent an engine from starting.
Tester
I’m curious as to why you’d expect to have oil pressure when the engine isn’t running? Did you test it while cranking?
So the car is already close to 20 years old. It wouldn’t start when you bought it (or had a bad fuel pump)…and the oil looked terrible?
No offense… but did you get a really good price on the car? Because all of these factors would make me run away from the car…
Sorry, but I wouldn’t put any more effort into this, myself.
BEFORE buying this car, you should have attempted to start it while someone sprayed starting fluid into the intake. If the seller’s claim that the only problem was a bad fuel pump was true, it would have started and stayed running while the starting spray was being applied. In fact, I have from time to time seen cars for sale on Craigslist where the seller claims the fuel pump is the problem, but most of the time, they do not say how they reached that conclusion.
Also, there is no special procedure to prime an in-tank electric fuel pump. Every time I have installed a fuel pump, the only thing I did was turn the key to “on” without starting the engine before trying to actually start it.
I think you should try the starting fluid first, to see if this is really (only) a fuel problem. If the engine does not start with starting fluid, the next thing I would try is a compression test. Perhaps the timing chain has failed, or the tensioner collapsed and the engine jumped time. Assuming decent compression, I’d test for spark, or if no way to test, then just replace the coil pack and ignition wires. The problem could, of course be a camshaft position sensor or crankshaft position sensor, and these parts are cheap if you’re buying them from Rock Auto and installing them yourself.