Starting

[guest]

My 2001 Continental would not start. It cranked good. I put the pedal to the floor, it started and smoked for a few seconds. After the smoked cleared, it idled good and ran good. I drove it locally and at highway speeds. It ran fine. I drove it daily with no problems. Should I be concerned?

[carriedi]

holding the gas pedal to the floor tells the computer to withhold fuel. (clear flood) since it started after that tells me that the engine might have been flooded. A cold engine tells the computer to run a little rich to get things started. If you haven't had a tune up in a long time, the spark plugs may be worn. The spark plug gap gets larger as the electrodes burn away. Do you know how long your plugs have been in your engine?

You might also look at your throttle body for coking. If the airway gets closed up from debris it will reduce the air to the engine. reduced air will also make the engine run rich when you first start up. The computer will richen the fuel mixture to start a cold engine. It cannot know if the air coming into the engine is reduced by coking until after the engine starts and the computer can see how the O2 sensor works. So, before it can see the O2 sensor the computer will richen the fuel mixture as if the throttle body is clean and clear as if were new. Only after it starts will the computer make the mixture match running conditions.

If you have had a tune up for a while I would change the spark plugs (properly gapped) Clean the throttle body or at least check it.

It doesn't sound like a serious problem since you got it to start with a clear flood procedure. You could wait and see if it happens again. It may be fine for a while

[GUEST]

I have a 2013 Ford Edge 6 cylinder with 224,000 miles. I was driving yesterday, and it quit. I mean, it went COMPLETELY DEAD. ALL POWER WAS GONE!!! Couldn't even unlock doors with unlock button. The ONLY thing that worked was the horn. PERIOD!!! NOTHING WORKED OR LIT UP OR ANYTHING!!! Once I put it in Park, it wouldn't even shift out of park.
20 min later, the power came back and i started it and it ran fine. Until about 20 min. later when it did it again. Again, after about 15 min, it came back on, and I drove 2 miles to my house.
(You know how when you disconnect your battery the radio goes to a preset station? This did NOT do that. everything was exactly like I had it. Which makes me think it WASN'T the battery.)

[carriedi]

Wow, that is strange. At first thought I would look at the ignition switch. However the door locks should work even though the ignition switch is off. The door locks work through the BCM. The part that is strange is: so does the horn. You need to hook up to a scanner and see if you have any codes for loss of battery power.

Looking at the battery junction box on the left side of the engine compartment would be the place to check for power at all the fuses. But, you have to check it when you have the power loss. jiggle the wires that go to the box. See if there might be a loose connection or wire somewhere.

Also, check the ground connections. make sure you have a good ground for the engine and body.

[GUEST]

Ford 2.5 contour, does not start when hot and wamred up, starts when cold

[carriedi]

what year is your contour?

when it doesn't start warm, try holding the gas pedal to the floor after it doesn't start at first. Holding the pedal to the floor will tell the computer to shut off the fuel. (wide open throttle (WOT)) If it starts to get running then take your foot off the gas. If it starts this way then your engine is flooding when it is warm. Too much fuel. I would check the coolant temp sensor. If it isn't getting the correct signal to the computer like an open circuit it will read as freezing cold and dump fuel.

have the car scanned to verify the coolant temperature.
.
.if that isn't it let me know and we will go from there

[Robert]

2002 Grand Marquis. Car had a damaged output shaft from the steering box. It was twisted and cracked. Ford offers 2 boxes and tried both of them. Steering wheel is now upside down. Car was in a collision before I got it and suspension pieces of the right side were replaced.

[carriedi]

How many turns does the steering wheel have to the left and right? If you count from lock to lock and then turn the wheel to the half way mark, is that when the steering wheel is up side down? Or do you have more turn on way or the other.

when installing a new steering gear: (With the gear out of the car) Put the pitman arm on the box by hand. put the nut on the sector shaft by hand. turn the pitman arm all the way to one side, then all the way to the other side. Once you see how far it went put the gear on the middle of that movement. Is the pitman arm in the correct position if you line it up with how it goes on the car? It should be straight to the front or to the back (depending on the position or the steering linkage). If that is all lined up then look at the steering column shaft coupler. With the steering wheel in the straight ahead position, is the coupler position look like it matching the steering gear? The flat spots should match up. If they don't match up the gear is wrong or the column is damaged. you didn't take apart the slip portion of the column did you? In some makes the slip portion can be taken out and put back up side down so the coupler would only hook up with the steering wheel up side down. But to do a steering gear you unhook from the coupler to the box and you don't touch the slip section other than to push it up to get it off the gear box.

By the way, if the car has ABS be very careful that you don't turn the steering wheel while the gearbox is not hooked up. If the steering wheel is not centered and locked in place before you go to do the steering gear, you could put the column coupler in the wrong alignment and when you turn the wheel you could break the clockspring in the steering wheel. It only has so many turns each way. wrong alignment could rip the wires out on a turn.