Just had similar intermittant non-start problems with the 2003 Ford Escape. Problem came and went over several months. Fuel pump just completely failed this week. Time to unload this train wreck of a vehilce. AC hoses went, ignition coils went, torque converter went at 50k mi, haven’t had it eat the cat converters…yet.
I had similar issue. Im a mechanic. 18 yrs. This dang phantom gremlin had me stumped too. I could never get it to act up on me, yet the customer said it would happen on could start. It ended up being the IAC valve. Although there are many other things that could cause this, that was what my fix was. I did a lot of research on common issues with this vehicle. Alternator, and throttle body. Both common fixes for this problem. I hope this helps. Good luck
This thread started 7 years ago, please just let it drift off into cyberspace.