2002 Cranks but won't start | Ford Thunderbird club group 1955-2005 T-Bird models

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2002 Cranks but won't start

J

Johng5000

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Thunderbird Year
2002
After a few months of storage on trickle charger with 3/4 tank of gas, I tried to start it but it spins but wouldn't start. I've had the issue with the passive theft kicking in, so I went through the process of resetting that. It cranked and ran, roughly, for a few seconds then died. Then wouldn't start while cranking. After looking on the forum here, I checked fuse 17, which was blown, and replaced it. Tried starting again, spun but no start. Fuse 17 was blown again.

From what else I've read here, it's probably a bad fuel pump, but are there any other things I can check? I'm not confident in replacing the pump myself, being old and with arthritis in my hands. But I'm afraid of seeing what the Ford dealer will want to replace the pump. So anything else to look at? Thanks!

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Very common for people to have fuel pump issues after letting the car sit for months, however as you can see by searching old threads it should be troubleshooted to determine the culprit.
 
If the fuse keeps blowing it's either the fuel pump or the wiring going to the pump. To find out for sure you will need to pull back the carpet behind the passenger seat, remove the round plastic access plate and unplug the connector on the fuel pump. Replace the fuse and turn the key on. If the fuse doesn't blow then it's the fuel pump. I just went through replacing mine and on a scale of 1-10 it was an 11. I'm 71 with some arthritis in my fingers but was able to get it done. The hardest parts were removing the fuel lines from the old pump and getting the plastic ring to seat correctly around the new pump. I imagine Ford will charge at least $1500 to do the job. A local shop in your area will probably charge around half that. The entire pump assembly is anywhere from $60 -$150 on Rockauto which is where I bought mine. You can replace just the electric pump module for less money if you can get the old pump out without breaking anything which I couldn't. I had to break the connectors where the lines go to get them out.
 
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