Question QUESTION: My 3.0L 2001 Taurus will not start. On a cold wet morning my car starts, runs very ruff for 10 seconds and dies. Then will not restart. Sounds like it's only firing a 1 cylinder. Turns over fine. Someone suggested I replace the air intake control valve. I did and it started right up. Thought I fixed it, but then happened again the same way on a cold wet morning. I could remove the air control valve and cover it with my hand and it would start ruff, but run good after I replaced the air control valve. Ran good for weeks until I had another cold wet morning. Now it won't start at all even if I try my previous tricks. Any ideas? I have confirmed I have spark to the plugs and fuel pump pressure. I also replaced the inline fuel filter. IMAGE: Idle Air Control Valve
ANSWER: There are a couple of suggestions I have. First, most important, we need to retrieve the trouble codes. If you have to buy and return an OBD-2 scanner and return it, do what you have to do. I need those trouble codes. They are there. That is a first for me, to have heard that an IAC prevented a vehicle from running. I have a friend that had similar problems, but in order to know if you are having the same problem, I need those codes.
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QUESTION: The only code is P0304 - Cylinder 4 misfire detected. I did finally get the car started by pushing the gas pedal hard into the floor. It started rough, but then smoothed out. It has started well for 2 days except one afternoon that it started for 5 seconds and died and would not re-start. Again I pressed the pedal into the floor and it barely started. It has started fine for the past 24 hours multiple times.
Answer That is the code I was looking for. It is the same problem my friend experienced. Somehow, water is leaking down onto the spark plug and wire shorting it out. You will need to replace the plugs, and more importantly, the wires. We never did figure out where the water comes in at, but seeing the same problem, I must now assume that there is some manufacturing defect. A new set of plug wires should get you set up. Also, look at the bottom side of the coil pack for a coil pack, as his ha da hairline crack.
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