99 Taurus Not Starting

OK, I'm stuck. 99 Taurus 3.0 24V. 150K Miles.

The other morning the temperature dropped below freezing and we started the car to let it warm up and defrost the windows. Came out of the house 5 minutes later and it had salled. The first thought, frozen fuel line even thought it wasn't that far below freezing. Tried all the possible thawing techniques, no joy. Left it for a day and the temperature down here in the south came up to the mid-50s and still no joy. So I started with the basic troubleshooting. Turn the key on and listen for the fuel pump. Sounds good. Check the fuel pressure relief valve and gas is flowing freely. Just in case the battery was running low (new last year) put it on a charger to top it off. Pulled a spark plug and check the spark. Gap looks a little wide, but sparks OK. Try shooting some ether in the intake, starts right up and runs great as long as I keep the ether flowing. Checked the voltage to the fuel injectors, OK. Checked continuity to groud while cranking (the pulse is on the ground side) while my meter dosen't register that fast, it did register change while cranking. Checked the OBD-II system and everything is OK. All the vacuum hose look good and connected. Where can I look next?

I have spark and fuel. While it possible all 6 injectors crapped out simultaneously, I doubt it. Starts OK on alternate fuel source (ether). Vacuum shouldn't keep it from starting but can keep it from running after starting. The engine doesn't catch at all and it cranks strongly. Bottom line, I'm lost. :banghead:

I have seen on a Saturn before where one bad fuel injector caused all of them to stop working. The injector went low in resistance and loaded the supply line enough to limit the current to any of the injectors. Once we unplugged the bad injector, we were able to keep it running on 3 cylinders long enough to get it from the work parking lot to my garage where we verified it was in fact a bad injector. It was a co-worker's car, and he decided to drive it home that way and get an injector the next day.

Before buying new injectors, I'd suggest you get/borrow a fuel pressure guage and check the fuel pressure. It could be pretty low and still spray out the shreader valve.

Key on, engine off pressure should be 37-43 psi.

-Rod

Thanks Rod. I'll go and get a fuel pressure guage today and then pull the cover and measure resistance on the injectors. Even if they look good I'll try unplugging one at a time anyway.

No joy. Time to tow it to the pros. I haven't been able to find a fuel pressure tester (I asked a couple of shops, AutoZone, Advanced, O'Reilly and none of them had a clue) so it off to the shop. I'll let you know what they find.

Odd, it seems most shops have them. Advance shows them on their site, http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductDetail.aspx?MfrCode=EQU&MfrPartNumber=3640&CategoryCode=3390

You can also pick one up at Sears. http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00902169000P?keyword=fuel+pressure

-Rod