Won't start

[gschmoyer]

For the last week or so I my poor SHO has been very tempermental. It would always start in the morning but after sitting in hot parking lot all day at work it would not start until it cooled down in the evening when I returned with my truck to give it a jump. Several times I would drive home from work (20 miles) stop at a store quick and hop back in to only have my baby not start up on me. If it did restart it sputtered right out after running for 10-15 seconds. It seemed as if heat was causing my problem which sounded like my fuel pump relay. When this problem occurred I did not hear my fuel pump pressurizing as usual, but when the car starts I always hear the hum of my fuel pump for a few seconds so I know it is a fuel problem but what is causing this problem? Today after work again my car would not start so I waited for 45 minutes with he hood up hoping to cool off the engine compartment until my wife arrived to give my car another jump. This time no success. Prior to this jump I tapped on the black relay box above the fan shroud thinking I could get it to reset if this was starting to become faulty. Is this where the fuel pump relay is located? If you are facing the engine from the front it is on the right side of the plastic cover over the fan shroud. According to my local Ford dealership the fuel pump relay is a small cube relay and not this black box. I tend to disagree with him but what is the actual part name for this black box(has a red M on it)? I returned later to retry after the engine had really cooled down and again no success. I am thinking tapping this black box was not the best of ideas.

I am down to two conclusions this black box is bad causing the fuel pump relay to prevent my fuel pump from kicking in or the fuel pump needs replaced again (had it replaced 8 months ago by local shop). However, I thought the oil sending unit acts as a backup for the fuel pump relay. Once oil pressure reaches a certain threshold voltage is sent to the fuel pump kicking. I know this is true with some cars but what about our SHO's? I tried changing the oil and using 20w50 hoping thicker oil would build pressure faster and hopefully bypass a faulty fuel pump relay. This was unfortunately not the case.

Any thought out there guys. I would appreciate all the help I can get. I am a 29 year old married man with 6 children (4 from my wife's previous marriage and 2 of ours together). My SHO makes the extra stresses in my life seem not so bad.

Thanks guys,

Greg S.
Michigan

 

[bradman]

The IRCM (integrated relay control module - I think), is above the right side of the radiator and has a fairly large wire harness connector going into it. Yes, the fuel pump relay is in there, among other things. If you don't hear the fuel pump priming when you turn the key to the ON position, then this could be your problem. I doubt that you tapping on it did any additional damage. I would first try to remove it and make sure that all the pins are making positive contact with the wire harness. If that doesn't help, then I would look for another IRCM to try, and also check all the grounds and connectors. I think if the extra wire off the positive battery terminal is not connected it will short the relay and the fuel pump will not prime. After that, I would suspect the fuel pump. Good luck.

<small>[ June 20, 2002, 02:04 AM: Message edited by: bradman ]</small>

 

[gschmoyer]

Here is a most likely stupid question. If I get a new ICRM from the dealer and it does not fix the problem, will most dealers let you return the damn thing since obviously it was designed to rip the consumer off instead of having a simple fuel pump relay like the regular Taurus for $14.00.

 

[bradman]

That's a question for the dealer. I would guess that some might, but in most cases not. Once a part is installed, you usually cannot return it. I've seen several owners posting here from Michigan. There might be someone in your area that would help you out with a used IRCM or would swap with you just to test. I have one I could send you, but that would take days and I'm not 100% sure it is good.
BTW, what makes you say the regular Taurus has a different relay? All that I've seen have the same black box as the SHO. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the internals are the same. I mean, why would the relays that control the fuel pump and fan, etc... need to be different?

<small>[ June 20, 2002, 02:47 AM: Message edited by: bradman ]</small>