Discovered something interesting today.

[wtd]

My next door neighbor is a Police Officer with the local county department. He has a take home car which is a later model Crown Vic.

I was outside when he was leaving for work and I could hear that his car wasn't starting. It would crank but not start. Myself and another neighbor went over to see if we could help. He popped the hood and I saw that the engine had a K&N cold air intake system on it. My neighbor said all of the patrol cars had them. He thought maybe the MAF sensor might be contaminated with oil from the K&N. Neither of us had any MAF cleaner.

I eventually got it to start and kept it running by continuously giving it gas until the RPMs stayed up without having my foot on the accelerator. No CEL was on. He decided to drive it to the local Ford dealership that they use to have it looked at.

I just thought it was interesting to see a CAI on a patrol car. Both the neighbor and I figured the department went to these thinking they were going to save money on not having to replace air filters. I was not impressed with the quality of the K&N air filter housing as it was warped where the tabs on the upper cover fitted into the openings on the lower housing.

Wayne

 

[daves87rs]

Interesting...

 

[rjacket]

I'll never understand why people want to use those. Whether I'm looking at home or automotive filters, my research always tells me that reusable filters are a bad idea, and putting oil on them just seems to be crazy.

 

[Klutch9]

Originally Posted By: rjacket
I'll never understand why people want to use those. Whether I'm looking at home or automotive filters, my research always tells me that reusable filters are a bad idea, and putting oil on them just seems to be crazy.


I've got a cheap $20 "re-oilable" air filter, but I don't re-oil it. I just run it for a long time, then replace it. Filters start to work more efficiently the more dirt they've trapped - so long as they don't become restrictive. And knowing myself, if I did try to re-oil, I'd WAY over do it

The only reason I use a "re-oilable" filter in the first place is because I run a modified stock intake with a cone-style clamp-on filter, and the vast majority of them are not the dry type, including all of the reasonably priced ones. If I did buy a dry cone filter, I'd probably get the AEM one. I've heard good things about it.

 

[bdcardinal]

What year was the Vic? Sounds like a possible bad IAC or if its a fly-by-wire model a new throttle body.

 

[MNgopher]

I would guess bad IAC based on the symptoms described. Had to do the IAC on both my '97 and '99 F150s with the 4.6 - same deal - wouldn't start cold unless you gave it throttle, and after a little bit would be fine.

 

[hardcore302]

I think that's kinda cool. Wish my job would do that to my Vic, lol. I don't get to take mine home, though.

 

[dwcopple]

I guarantee its the IAC. Very very common on those. Happened to my Merc GM.

 

[wtd]

I'm not sure what year it was but it was fairly new. It had about 107,000 miles on it. I will have to ask him what they found out when he gets it back.

He actually just got this car which replaced an older Crown Vic he was driving.

I just found it interesting that they would use anything aftermarket on a police car.

Wayne

 

[mechtech2]

It should start up fine with a bad IAC if you give it a little throttle to open it.
There may be multiple problems.
Cleaning the MAF is always a good idea with a K+N type filter.
Not just oil, but dirt.

 

[kevinf]

So, is this the new Bluesmobile or what?......


..."Fix the lighter"

 

[wtd]

The car would not start at all initially, but would just crank over. It finally got to the point where it would almost start and finally it started but you had to keep giving it gas. It finally stayed running with your foot off of the gas and the idle went higher and smoothed out to normal. The CEL was not on so I don't know what was wrong. Yesterday it looked like he had the car back but since most of the cars are badged the same way, it could have been a different one. I have not gotten a chance to talk to him yet. He doesn't think they have ever cleaned the MAF.

Wayne

 

[JTK]

Could be a fuel pump or contaminated fuel too.

Like said, a MAF cleaning wouldn't hurt, but a soiled MAF isn't going to cause a no-start condition.

I don't think the computer even uses the MAF until the engine gets closer to normal operating temps.

Joel

 

[sciphi]

Originally Posted By: JTK
Could be a fuel pump or contaminated fuel too.

Like said, a MAF cleaning wouldn't hurt, but a soiled MAF isn't going to cause a no-start condition.

I don't think the computer even uses the MAF until the engine gets closer to normal operating temps.

Joel


My old 1999 Buick LeSabre would be in open loop for 30 seconds to a minute on a true cold start. It wouldn't look at MAF input until switching to closed loop. It would test the MAF, but wouldn't use its input to operate the engine.

If other posters have said the IAC is bad, likely that's the cause. Replace it, and it should go back to normal. Cleaning the MAF won't hurt anything.