Jas5

Thanks for any advice you can give, I worked on cars for 4 years through high school and am hesitant as to what my issue is... maybe someone here had same symptoms.

Cliffs:

-2007 mustang GT with 93k miles. Has had a Paxton NOVI2200SL supercharger since 2008-2009 (bought the car used, it came with s/c). Bought it in late 2011, never changed spark plugs.


-in winter months when under 30 degrees outside, once every 1-2 weeks, my car would take 2-4 times to start. Sometimes would almost start (rev up to 500 rpm for a few seconds) then die. Sometimes it would hover around 500 rpm, very rough idle, then I keep giving it gas and it would eventually start and rev to 1,500rpm, white smoke coming from exhaust

-now it's 90+ degrees, and I have a similar issue
-Was driving last night @ 40 mph (giving it lots of gas)
-Accelerating heavily in 2nd, shift to 3rd, car bucks and dies, all the lights come on, able to coast into parking lot
-Try to start it after resting for a minute, after about 5-6 cranks (more than normal) it will start for a few seconds, rev to 1k rpm, then dies.
-Sometimes when I try to start it, it wont start so I let it rest for a bit
-When It does rev up to 1k rpm, lots of white smoke comes from the exhaust, smells like lots of fuel.


first i'm going to see if the spark plugs are soaked in fuel.. if not, then try to start the car with spark plug (still on coil) resting on top of the motor, to see if there's spark

if that checks out, its probably my fuel pump (that's what a couple guys said when I had my winter starting troubles). Would I just hook up a 12volt meter to see if fuel pump works?

If that's goods, then it perhaps is my ECU, and lastly cylinder compression

Thank you.


edit: I was pushing the gas pedal down the entire time while trying to start

stephen1371

First I think its your alternator, had similar problems with mine when the alternator was going out, 2nd why push the gas when trying to start a fuel injected car?

808muscle

The stock alternators fail on these cars famously.......all kinds of weird sh#t happens that doesnt make sense. Any CEL's? Have you changed the fuel filter, cleaned the throttle body? I havnt read about fuel pump failures too much myself, not saying it couldnt be that though.

Any chance we are gonna see your car on an episode of Street Outlaws? LOL

Jas5

Havnt changed the fuel filter, nor cleaned the throttle body. I looked at the TB before and it wasn't too bad, I have TB cleaner though

How could it be the alternator when my battery is fully charged, engine cranks quickly and even starts for a couple seconds? In my experience, bad alternator = battery always dying and needing jump start.. definitely not my symptoms.

The CEL came on but then again it was when the car died and so all the dash lights come on. So not sure.

Using a test light and ignition "ON", I found that 3 fuses were bad near the passenger kickpanel (interior) and going to replace tomorrow. If that doesn't fix it, I will try to remove the spring loaded mechanism to get the fuel line off and see if its supplying pressure (bought a kit today to remove the spring loaded connector)

If it still doesn't run, I will then check to see if the spark plugs are fouled and see if they are delivering a spark when trying to start.

Surprised nobody here has had similar issue.. could be related to supercharged and a very rich tune.



edit: being supercharged I imagine the previous owner put a GT500 fuel pump or some other larger fuel pump

stephen1371

At 5 pnds of boost you wouldn't need a new fuel pump so that's not always the case, when my alternator was going bad my battery was also fully chargered and started up just fine, It would actually run and only die at one point when I turned the headlights on, chased the problem for a week before I was left on the side of the road. Not saying this is it, just something else to look at. Pulling the spark plugs isn't a bad idea, I would think if it was so rich it was causing you to surge and stall you would smell it at that point.

JThor

Change the plugs. With 90k Miles, those plugs are pretty much shot anyway. Worn spark plugs can cause all kinds of gremlins - especially starting problems. Won't hurt, the fix is cheap, and will get rid of one common problem.

Look elsewhere on the forum about changing out spark plugs on early S197's. They tend to seize. I haven't personally dealt with the issue, but I know it's there.