First drive of the year FAIL - help?

[Mike the pastor]

Hey there! I have a completely stock 98 Mustang Cobra. 52K. It gets stored for the winter in a garage but it is not heated or insulated. I start it up every 2 weeks and let it run until fully warm. I went out for a first drive of the year yesterday. Car was running perfect as normal and I had been driving about 10 minutes when the car just died. No funny noises or anything, but engine just quit. At the moment it had about ¼ tank of gas and the gauge is accurate. A helpful passerby had some ether. Out of curiosity we pulled the plastic plenum or whatever it’s called off of the throttle body. Cranked the engine over and it would only fire when he would hit it with the ether. Seems clear that the problem is a fuel issue, not electrical. So… any slam dunk ideas out there? My first thought was if the gas “went bad” from sitting at ¼ tank over the winter. Water in there or whatever. But then why has it run perfectly in the garage over the winter and why did it run perfect for the first 10 minutes? What’s next? Fuel pump? Or are there 2 fuel pumps to check? I’m not sure where to go next and don’t just want to take it to a mechanic and say “fix it”. I've owned the car for about 2 years and it did not having any problems after sitting in the garage over the first winter. Thanks in advance.

 

[ZeroDCX]

If you can, pressure test the fuel system at the schrader valve (fuel rail). Sounds like a fuel pump issue to me. Can you hear the fuel pump prime when during KOEO?

 

[Mike the pastor]

Sorry... KOEO? Is that key on engine off? I'll check when I get home for lunch. Good question! Cause yeah, when I turn the key on I should hear the fuel shouldn't I?

 

[Revvv]

Sorry... KOEO? Is that key on engine off? I'll check when I get home for lunch. Good question! Cause yeah, when I turn the key on I should hear the fuel shouldn't I?

Welcome to the forum.

There is a switch located in the trunk on the driver's side. It shuts the fuel off in an impact. There is a possibility that the switch needs to be reset.

I would check the fuel pressure at the fuel rail before digging very far. It is likely a bad fuel pump due to age, but there are a few other things that can go wrong that will shut the fuel pump off. There's no reason to overwhelm you with a list of possible issues yet though.

...and you will not always hear the fuel pump. Mine is silent. You can hear it if you stick your head under the fuel tank, but it is quiet.

Sent from my [toilet] using the svtperformance.com mobile app

 

[DSG2003Mach1]

I doubt its bad fuel based on your description. I would say the pump or something powering it but again check the simple stuff and they can try to guide you through it.

Honestly letting the car warm up every few weeks is probably doing more harm than good. Once everything is up to operating temp it has created a decent amount of moisture in a number of places and you aren't running it long enough to dry everything back out. Park it and leave it unless you're gonna drive it imho.

 

[ZeroDCX]

Sorry... KOEO? Is that key on engine off? I'll check when I get home for lunch. Good question! Cause yeah, when I turn the key on I should hear the fuel shouldn't I?

KOEO = Key On, Engine Off. You can try to depress the schrader valve on the fuel rail shortly after doing so. If no fuel spurts out, then you've more than likely found your issue. But a fuel system pressure test is recommended rather than throwing random guesses and parts at the car.

Just to make sure, swap the fuel pump relay with another and double check all fuses to ensure you don't throw a new pump at a blown fuse/relay issue.

@Revvv Good call on the inertia switch. I completely forgot about that.

 

[Mike the pastor]

Thanks for the input folks. I checked a couple basics a bit ago when home for lunch. Fuse is good. IIRC when I turn the key I DO hear the pump energize or prime or whatever. Just now... turned the key... dead silent. I'll check some of your other fine suggestions soon, probably over the weekend. Thanks again.

 

[CobraBob]

Your last post points to either a bad fuel pump or something related to the pump, maybe something as simple as a fuse issue like @ZeroDCX said. Definitely go through all of the suggested diagnosis steps mentioned, one at a time. Take notes with each of the steps, review your notes, and hopefully along the way you'll nail the culprit. Keep us posted.

 

[03cobra#694]

When’s the last time the fuel filter was changed? I doubt that’s it though.

 

[Mike the pastor]

Unknown - the prev owner did not supply me with service records. thanks for the suggestion though

 

[1996MysticSnake]

Check all the fuses also. Pumps are easy to do in these cars. The biggest pita is the disconnects for the lines.

Go get one of those 40 trans jacks from the freight strap the tank to it makes it way easier.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

 

[98 svt]

If you have confirmed you don't hear the pump priming, it is def pump related.
I'd start with the fuse/relay and then follow any wires you can from the pump. Make sure you didn't have a rodent chewing anything.
Other than that, probably the pump.

 

[deadernie]

Sounds like your pump is bad. Mine ran fine at the end of the season and come spring time it was dead.

I ended up replacing it with a SVT Focus pump which was a lot cheaper. And if you do end up replacing the pump make sure you get a new seal for where the filler neck goes into the tank.

 

[Mike the pastor]

Good input again, thanks. After work last night I did quickly check the one other simple thing - the emergency shut off switch in the trunk. It was not that either. So yes, things so far are pointing to the fuel pump.

 

[DSG2003Mach1]

do these cars have an FPDM?

If so I'd pull the trunk panel liner on the driver side and take the plug coming out of the FPDM going to the pump and use a test light or volt meter. Have someone turn the key forward while the other person verifies it's getting power. If you have power that far down the line I think you're pretty safe to assume its the pump. I'm not sure which pin you would need for that year

 

[Helomech74]

do these cars have an FPDM?

If so I'd pull the trunk panel liner on the driver side and take the plug coming out of the FPDM going to the pump and use a test light or volt meter. Have someone turn the key forward while the other person verifies it's getting power. If you have power that far down the line I think you're pretty safe to assume its the pump. I'm not sure which pin you would need for that year

No FPDM in 98 cars.

 

[shurur]

CCRM

 

[SN95COBRALOVER]

a coincidence on the first ride of the season, but luck but fixable. its been a long winter and Ethanol is killing our older cars.

 

[Mike the pastor]

Yeah, for sure! I took it in and it was a confirmed fuel pump fail

a coincidence on the first ride of the season, but luck but fixable. its been a long winter and Ethanol is killing our older cars.

Yeah, that's what the mechanic said!

 

[Mike the pastor]

I'm getting it back today... now that it's raining!