bus not starting below 32f

[pbeggs]

hey all
i have a 2010 ford e350 bus
above 32 f it starts right up,.
anything below 32 it cranks and will not start.

the first thing i should look at is?.....

it is currently -5 here,.. im about to start a fire under the thing,...

[BlackJohn]

Originally Posted by pbeggs

hey all
i have a 2010 ford e350 bus
above 32 f it starts right up,.
anything below 32 it cranks and will not start.

the first thing i should look at is?.....

it is currently -5 here,.. im about to start a fire under the thing,...

1. frozen gas line, add a touch of methyl hydrate to the tank
2. Tune up, plugs, dist cap, wires, rotor
3. Disconnect the fire underneath! Use the block heater to thaw that thing out for an hour or so.

John

[pbeggs]

the items listed for a tune up (other than plugs) are not present on my E350 it has coil on plugs type of ignition,..

[cadillackid]

if the coolant temp sensor or Intake air temp sensor is no good it may not be fueling enough to cold start. have you ever had any issues with the dash temp gauge acting wierd? or is the CHeck engine light illuminating at all (other than the couple second bulb check)..
-Christopher

[BlackJohn]

Originally Posted by pbeggs

the items listed for a tune up (other than plugs) are not present on my E350 it has coil on plugs type of ignition,..

I did not know the setup, sorry.
Here water freezes at 32*f, so could be iced up, changed fuel filter lately?
Gas line antifreeze takes a while to work thru but plug that sucker in too.

Charge batteries also.

John

[pbeggs]

Originally Posted by BlackJohn

I did not know the setup, sorry.
Here water freezes at 32*f, so could be iced up, changed fuel filter lately?
Gas line antifreeze takes a while to work thru but plug that sucker in too.

Charge batteries also.

John

just got the vehicle recently ,.. fuel filter is high on my list,.. hopefully it will be towed to garage soon and be put inside to thaw to see if it will start then(im not rolling my wheelchair out and crawling under in this weather) i put a bunch of drygas in but if it is the filter it wont get to it till spring. the other trouble is finding someone to tow the thing it's too tall for a flat bed and too much ass overhang for most wreckers,.. AAA said "sorry yer screwed,...."

[BlackJohn]

Originally Posted by pbeggs

just got the vehicle recently ,.. fuel filter is high on my list,.. hopefully it will be towed to garage soon and be put inside to thaw to see if it will start then(im not rolling my wheelchair out and crawling under in this weather) i put a bunch of drygas in but if it is the filter it wont get to it till spring. the other trouble is finding someone to tow the thing it's too tall for a flat bed and too much ass overhang for most wreckers,.. AAA said "sorry yer screwed,...."

Sorry to hear you are in a chair bud. Any help nearby for you? dry gas might work quicker than you think. Sometimes I lay a trouble light in the engine beside the fuel injectors and it does help by heating a bit more. Keep trying but keep the batteries charged and be easy on the starter. Not too many tries and let it cool between tries.
It might fire with a shot of stating fluid then will thaw itself out. Just one shot at a time and a small one at that.
You should be able to get this going with those mild temps.

John

[joeblack5]

May be try a 1000 watt electric heater with fan and put it under the hood. Let it blow warm overnight, charge the batteries at the same time. With the heater on they will be warmer as well and give more Amp.
If it starts then you can add the drygass to clean the filter out or drive it to a mechanic and have it looked over. It is a shame to pay a lot for tow truck.

Good luck.
later J

[Mr4btTahoe]

Stab in the dark here... but I'm gonna say its either an issue with the intake air temp sensor or the idle air control valve.

Is it throwing any codes (check engine light on)? If so, rent the scan tool from a local parts store if you don't have one and see what it says. Probably wouldn't be a bad idea anyways to see if it has any stored codes.

I doubt its fuel or fuel pressure related as it starts fine when warm out. If the filter was icing, the entire filter surface area would have to ice over which would mean heavy water contamination.. probably enough to make it run terrible no matter the weather conditions. Fuel pressure is high enough for it to start when warm so the pump itself is doing it's job.

[cadillackid]

Originally Posted by Mr4btTahoe

Stab in the dark here... but I'm gonna say its either an issue with the intake air temp sensor or the idle air control valve.

Is it throwing any codes (check engine light on)? If so, rent the scan tool from a local parts store if you don't have one and see what it says. Probably wouldn't be a bad idea anyways to see if it has any stored codes.

I doubt its fuel or fuel pressure related as it starts fine when warm out. If the filter was icing, the entire filter surface area would have to ice over which would mean heavy water contamination.. probably enough to make it run terrible no matter the weather conditions. Fuel pressure is high enough for it to start when warm so the pump itself is doing it's job.

I did have an old cadillac Deville (4.5 litre) that would start and run easy when it was warm out. but would crank and crank when cold... I had forgotten about that.. it was in fact a fuel pump issue on that car. when it was warm out the volume of fuel flowing was low enough that it would start. and idle rough for a couple minutes.. and wanted to hesitate but once warmed up unless you stabbed it hard would seemingly drive pretty good...

I put a gauge on the rail schraeder and found instead of 40 PSI at the rail. it would drop to about 17 when cold cranking.. not hardly enough to over-fuel the injectors like needed in cold start for a gas motor..

combination of lower voltage to the pump during cold hard cranking and higher fuel requirements the colder the engine compound into harder starts somewhat exponentially.. once started the pump gets 14 volts instead of 10 or 11. and that was enough to allow the engine to run pretty good out driving around.

changing the filter helped a little.. with a fresh filter the pump has an easier job..

dropped the tank, changed the pump and never looked back..
-Christopher

[pbeggs]

crank position sensor

[Rusty]

Check the Crank Position Sensor. They can fail.

Here is how to check for anyone who has a crank and cares where it's position is.

[pbeggs]

Originally Posted by Rusty

Check the Crank Position Sensor. They can fail.

Here is how to check for anyone who has a crank and cares where it's position is.

great ill send this to myself last week it'll help!