I bought this truck. 1997 F150 with 210,000 miles on it. I'm trying to get it up to speed.

The engine cranks, but will not start. I put starter fluid in and it runs for a second and stops.

I replaced the fuel pump. When I turn the ignition, I do not hear the pump whirring or priming. I checked the inertia switch, it is already down, pushed it down to make sure it was all the way down.

I swapped the fuel relay and pump relay with different ones. I've checked the fuses and they are good. There is power at the high power fuse box in the engine. I'm going to check the relay tonight.

Since the PCM is suppose to ground and provide power to the fuel pump when the ignition is turned, how do I check if the PCM is good? Is there anyway to test the PCM?

 

You can back probe the appropriate PCM connections and see if they have power and ground when they are supposed to. Also have you made sure you have spark? I'm not sure but I don't believe the fuel pump will operate unless you have spark. It's a safety feature on most cars designed to protect the catalytic converter from raw gas.

 

Is the fuel pump relay pulling in?

Did you probe the fuel pump connector to see if your getting voltage to the pump?

 

The fuel pump will power on for 2 seconds to prime the fuel system. It will not turn the pump back on until the pcm receives a crank signal from the crank position sensor. More than likely the PCM has lost the ground internally for the fuel pump. You really need a high end scanner or Ford IDS to see if the PCM has an internal memory error.

 

Okay, after doing more intensive research. I replaced my instrument cluster with one that had a tachometer. It turns that this has be programmed by the dealership. I swapped back my old instrument cluster and the truck started right up.

 

If your fuel is low try filling it up the tank.

Check if the fuel injectors are working. You should hear apit clicking using a stethoscope. You can use screwdriver with a hose as alternative to stethoscope

 

Try if it will start when the MAF sensor is disconnected.

 

What?! The original poster already figured out the issue. This is a case closed pats issue. As he discovered you can't just swap in a new gauge cluster. If it were that easy people would swap there gauge cluster with one w/ lower miles

The stock cluster is married to the computer to prevent mileage fraud. The new cluster he put in was not married and the computer won't let him start due to failed pre checks

 

I have an 06 with similar problem that someone mentioned in this thread.im new here and any help would be appreciated. Truck wont start. found out by testing i have voltage to the pump but wont kick on. Last thing that we found is that the pump wasnt grounded. We gave it a ground with my friends testing device and it kicked right on. What is my issue?

 

Wait, what?

I feel like you just answered your own question. It has a bad ground. Find and replace.