Hard to start if its cold only

[superjtrdr]

I have a 99 Mustang 3.8 liter manual,transmission 92,000 miles

If I haven't started it in 4 hours or more I have to crank it about 4-5 times to get it started. Once its started it runs perfect and it startes back up just fine so long as it's has only been parked for a few hours. At first this would just happen every once and a while but no every moring I have to crank 4-5 times.

A friend told me it had to be the electronic choke scensor. this part cost me around $19 and it didn't fix the problem.

Anybody out there have any theories?

thanks you

[neatofrito1618]

Sounds like the fuel pump to me.

Edit- The weather wouldent really have a effect on that, but its the best I can come up with.

[superjtrdr]

Originally Posted by neatofrito1618

Sounds like the fuel pump to me.

Edit- The weather wouldent really have a effect on that, but its the best I can come up with.

I sorry I didn't clarify that

It's not when cold just when I haven't started it in a while. I guess I associated that with cold.I am in south texas. Thier is no cold


thanks for the reply
I am told that a fuel pump means major surgery

[neatofrito1618]

Originally Posted by superjtrdr

I sorry I didn't clarify that

It's not when cold just when I haven't started it in a while. I guess I associated that with cold.I am in south texas. Thier is no cold


thanks for the reply
I am told that a fuel pump means major surgery

Oh, that makes sence. Its probaly the fuel pump then.

[HiFlow5 0]

Originally Posted by superjtrdr

I have a 99 Mustang 3.8 liter manual,transmission 92,000 miles

If I haven't started it in 4 hours or more I have to crank it about 4-5 times to get it started. Once its started it runs perfect and it startes back up just fine so long as it's has only been parked for a few hours. At first this would just happen every once and a while but no every moring I have to crank 4-5 times.

A friend told me it had to be the electronic choke scensor. this part cost me around $19 and it didn't fix the problem.

Anybody out there have any theories?

thanks you

Could be a few different things, Such as bad fuel pump as stated before, but it could also be a clogged fuel filter or a weak starter. Best way to determine if it's fuel related is to hook a fuel pressure gauge to the line and see how many pounds it's pushing upon start up.

[superjtrdr]

Originally Posted by HiFlow5 0

Could be a few different things, Such as bad fuel pump as stated before, but it could also be a clogged fuel filter or a weak starter. Best way to determine if it's fuel related is to hook a fuel pressure gauge to the line and see how many pounds it's pushing upon start up.

but if it was the fuel filter wouldn't do it all the time? It only does this if I haven't started it for hours.

[HiFlow5 0]

Originally Posted by superjtrdr

but if it was the fuel filter wouldn't do it all the time? It only does this if I haven't started it for hours.

Not necessarily, I've seen bad fuel filters cause hard starts and excessive cranking. It's just cheap reasurance to a good running system, even if it isn't bad.

[superjtrdr]

Originally Posted by HiFlow5 0

Not necessarily, I've seen bad fuel filters cause hard starts and excessive cranking. It's just cheap reasurance to a good running system, even if it isn't bad.

What's the life on a fuel filter? I think this one has about 30,000 miles on it.

thanks for all the help

[HiFlow5 0]

Originally Posted by superjtrdr

What's the life on a fuel filter? I think this one has about 30,000 miles on it.

thanks for all the help

Life can be determined by many things. Type of fuel, running your gas tank low and sucking sludge, debris in the take from being old. Either way, 30k miles is way too much life for a fuel filter, I change mine once a year for good measure, and I only put about 8k miles on my car a year.

[superjtrdr]

i replaced the fuel filter. That wasn't the problem. I guess everything points to the fuel pump