[mont304]

Hello, I currently work for a police department and we recently just purchased this 2018 Explorer with 40k miles on it.

As I entered my patrol unit to begin my shift the car was cranking but not starting. So we took the steps to try and troubleshoot the problem.

We tried jumping it, checked all fuses and relays (even replaced some), and listened to the fuel pump to see if it was working (it was)

Battery was just replaced a couple months back and while cranking, it was like it almost turned over a couple times but would not.

Also not sure if this is normal but while trying to start it multiple times, a gas smell would sorta come about but never noticed anything leaking. Arrangements are being made for it to go see the mechanic today, but Im just curious as to what may be the problem.

Thank you! - Officer Montgomery

 

[Jht426]

Hello, I currently work for a police department and we recently just purchased this 2018 Explorer with 40k miles on it.

As I entered my patrol unit to begin my shift the car was cranking but not starting. So we took the steps to try and troubleshoot the problem.

We tried jumping it, checked all fuses and relays (even replaced some), and listened to the fuel pump to see if it was working (it was)

Battery was just replaced a couple months back and while cranking, it was like it almost turned over a couple times but would not.

Also not sure if this is normal but while trying to start it multiple times, a gas smell would sorta come about but never noticed anything leaking. Arrangements are being made for it to go see the mechanic today, but Im just curious as to what may be the problem.

Thank you! - Officer Montgomery

could possibly be the spark plugs or harness depending if you had checked that or not. There are multiple ways to check spark but the easiest for me is shocking my self

 

[Bernie]

My 08' suffered a similar issue. Turns out it was the Crank Position Sensor.

 

[Multidriver]

Your description is confusing— it is cranking but not starting, but you tried jumping it — why jump it if it is cranking? But then you said “it almost turned over” — doesn’t “cranking” mean it was turning over?

Modern combustion engines are extremely complicated, but still have simple needs in order to run: air, gas, and a spark at the right time. The starter needs enough juice from the battery to overcome the compression in the cylinders as the engine turns over.

 

[jaw323]

you have to put a scan on the ford to see if has cranking rpms if it dose not have cranking rpm there is something wrong with the crank sensor they are plastic and crack from the heat of the engine i have sceen alot of them crack

 

[J_C]

It would be normal to smell the fuel due to it being unburnt when pushed out the exhaust.

Is it cranking at full/normal speed or slowly? One thing I would do is hook up a scan tool and look for both the OBD2 and Ford specific trouble codes, and see if it is registering a crank sensor signal.

You stated recently purchased, is it possible it had been sitting around a long time and has bad fuel? Sometimes, you can get it to run a while on bad fuel but then the concentration of varnish and low volatility fuel rises and it needs a fuel system cleaner (like Techron) and the tank drained if pretty full of old fuel, or just top it off with fresh fuel.

If it went to see the mechanic that day, surely by now you should have a diagnosis, I mean a police dept can't use a shop that keeps the vehicles out of commission this long, so have you come here to use our time but you aren't going to even update the topic in a timely manner? I can appreciate, that life and especially family around the holidays will tax one's time, but if you start a topic then it's a commitment to finish it, right?

Regardless, Thank You For Your Service!