2006 GT Came to sudden stop on frwy. Now car won’t start.

Demonik_Dave

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I had to hit the brakes pretty suddenly yesterday on the freeway. After coming to a stop, my car started misfiring horribly so I got off the freeway and pulled into the nearest parking lot and shut the engine off for a few minutes. After that, the car would crank but won’t start. I have confirmed that I have fuel and spark. I noticed my oil gauge wasn’t moving much when I turned the key on, so I unhooked the battery and computer overnight. Today I replaced the oil pressure sensor/switch. The gauge now moves about halfway then back down to zero when I turn the key on. I also reset the inertia switch. It still cranks, but still won’t start. Please help!!!! I’m about to pull my hair out!!!
 
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Midlife Crises

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When you turn the key on can you hear the fuel pump run? I hope you didn’t jump a tooth on the timing chain. Happened to me once when I hit a snow bank in a Bronco ll.
 

Dino Dino Bambino

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Scanning your ECU for codes would be useful but I fear that you've probably cleared them when you disconnected the battery. Does your engine turn over freely?
You said you have fuel. Can you be 100% sure of that? Do you hear the fuel pump prime when you turn the ignition on? The injector rail doesn't have a Shrader valve to allow you to attach a pressure gauge so you could try pulling one of the injectors from the intake manifold and with the injector harness attached, ask another person to crank the engine while you observe the spray pattern. If there's very little pressure, the culprit could be the fuel pressure sensor on the injector rail.
If the injector spray pattern looks normal, pull a spark plug and, with the coil attached, observe for spark while another person cranks the engine. If you do indeed have both fuel and spark, that leaves three other items to check: air, compression, and timing.
Air is easy. The intake system should be free of obstruction unless the throttle is jammed shut but even then, the engine should idle. With the ignition on (and engine off obviously), ask a second person to slowly depress the accelerator pedal while you observe the throttle blades for movement.
Checking for compression in all eight cylinders is also easy and will confirm there's no compression leak either past a valve that won't close properly or past a broken piston.
If there's a problem with the valve timing due to a broken chain tensioner or guide, a compression test would show low compression in at least two cylinders. A leak down test would confirm if the compression leak is occurring through an intake valve, exhaust valve, or a piston into the crankcase.
I'm sure one of these basic troubleshooting steps will show something is amiss and pinpoint the problem. Please report back your results and we'll take it from there.
 

Iceman62

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^^^Yes^^^

Any codes, after-market parts (performance), or maybe bad fuel got through...you say there's fuel, but what's the pressure reading?
 

Demonik_Dave

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Thanx for the responses y’all!! Yes I do hear the pump engage when I turn the key on. The car is bone stock and it does turn over freely. It was towed to a friend’s house and I’ll be headed there later today. I’ll try pulling an injector to make sure fuel pressure is good. The CEL did come back on when I rehooked the battery and ecu. Gonna hook up a code reader and see what it pulls up. I’ll also clean the MAF and throttle body just in case and check the throttle blades.
 

Pentalab

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You can measure fuel rail pressure via the obd port. Mine is 40 psi on my 2010..with M90 blower. It's 40 psi on idle or wot.

With key ON, eng OFF, the fuel rail pressure is 50 psi.
 

Grabber_Mike

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Auto/Manual trans? At what speed did this happen? The reason I ask is that the engine doesn't care how sudden the stop was, the transmission does. If I was faced with an emergency stop and had to get slowed down fast, I'd be on the brakes and down shifting my manual transmission. The long and short is what's engaged to the engine that can damage the engine. This is my two pennies:
Engine Won’t Start– If your Mustang’s timing chain or belt has fallen off completely, broken, or has jumped a few teeth, it is entirely possible that the engine won’t even start. You might hear it slapping around as the engine cranks over. If this is the case, the damage is already done
 

Rick Simons

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Here's another WAG:
Oil level was low and the pump starved under hard decel, the cam chain tensioners lost oil pressure and the timing chain(s) jumped a tooth or two. A scanner would help you big-time with this situation.
 

Demonik_Dave

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It’s a manual trans and I was going about 50. I popped the trans in neutral when I hit the brakes. I have a mechanic friend who’s coming out to help me this afternoon. I’ll report back with his findings.
 

Pentalab

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It’s a manual trans and I was going about 50. I popped the trans in neutral when I hit the brakes. I have a mechanic friend who’s coming out to help me this afternoon. I’ll report back with his findings.
With tranny in neutral, there should have been no issue. It will be interesting to see what you find out.
 

Michael Saul

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On my 2008 GT, we were driving down a freeway when the car it an over-sized expansion joint in the road. The engine quit immediately. I pushed the car to a nearby offramp and off the road. I then raised the hood the see if a cat had gotten into the carburetor. No cats, but, the "cold-air" manifold, which is aluminum but gets hot and is heavy, had come off the intake plenum when the factory hose clamp broke. The MAF did not like the interruption. A nearby parts house provided a long hose clamp and we were on our way. I have since added a prop to secure the BBK.
 

Demonik_Dave

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Welp……the mechanic guy showed up and left before I got to the car yesterday. My friend was here and she gave him the keys to check it out. For some reason the security light was flashing rapidly (I think he just didn’t deactivate the security system properly) and he just said to call a locksmith and have the security reflashed. When I got to the car, the I turned off alarm from the remote box (factory) and the light went out as usual. I did change the oil pressure sensor and crankshaft sensor and still same result (crank no start). I pulled the fuel pressure sensor off and there was definitely fuel in the rail, but no gas spewed out like I saw in videos replacing that sensor. The vacuum line didn’t smell like gas either.
 

Demonik_Dave

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I did clean the throttle body and MAF for shits and giggles, but no difference.
 

datmbn

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The safety switsh to the fuel pump, located at the left of the driver's footwell, may have tripped

Have you tried to reset it
 

Ryan D

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Damn, was hoping he got you fixed up quick and easy. Whole thing doesn't make a lot of sense with the car being in neutral during your event... Almost got to be something simple like a loose connection somewhere, either that, or it's one hell of a coincidence that something actually failed at the same time as your sudden stop.
 

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