Dead short, then no fuel. ecm?

[Jimfrommarketing]

4.0 2000 ranger xlt extended cab

Alright, alright, I screwed up, I was wiring an amp under my drivers seat and long story short I shorted to ground right under the seat, near the C309 Conncector under there.

it killed the in line fuse, i figured whatever, and the next day went to work.

2 miles later, it dies on the side of the road.

its been over a week now and im losing my mind. I didnt have any fuel pressure in the line when I pushed the schrader, but i have spark, so i took the bed off, and behold! the pump IS running!

It turns out, when i turn the truck on (without starting it) the pump energizes for a few seconds, but the fuel pressure is miserable, barely anything. so it could be fuel filter. but isnt there a pressure switch? shouldnt it keep pumping until pressure builds? and shorting it to ground, cant be a coincidence.

then when i try and turn it over, it fires for a millisecond with the small amount of fuel it has, then dies immediately. starving, clearly. Sprayed some start-up stuff in the intake, and it fires. it WANTS to run, but starved for fuel.

so im going to tackel the pump and the filter, but should i be thinking about the ECM?

 

[adsm08]

No, there is no pressure switch. It gets a 2 or 3 second prime and then shuts down until you crank the engine.

Cycle the key a few times to build pressure, then try to start it again.

 

[enjr44]

Sounds like the fuel pump or its check valve is going out. I just went through this. The pressure was great once it started; but, would drop off while it set for a couple of hours and would start hard again. It finally just died and would not start.

Do like adsm08 suggested. Each time you cycle the key from off to run, the fuel pump runs for a couple of seconds and then shuts down and waits until engine rpm exceeds 500 rpm before coming back on.

So each key cycle increases the fuel pressure about 10 psi, it takes about 40 psi to get it to run. So if it cold starts after cycling the key it could be the pump assembly (the check valve is in the pump) going bad.

It could also be a leaking injector; but, if it was that you should be seeing a decrease in gas mileage and other symptoms. Look up how to do a "WOT" test and what the results indicate. That should eliminate or indicate an injector.