I own a 1997 Ford Taurus GL, 3.0L Vulcan engine, 4 speed auto transmission (AX4N), 296000 KM's. We have been cold here where I am with some nice strong winds as well, high's during the day are around -10c to -15c. At home, I park in a heated parkade and at work I park outside. I will normally plug in when I get to work in the morning (around 5:45am), I go home at around 4:15pm. I have done this with all my vehicles during the winter time, especially at work because I don't have to pay for power and it means almost instant heat. I measured the power the block uses at around 625 watts or so.

Before I bought the car, it had the power steering pump replaced at it had seized, A/C was recharged when I got it and works pretty good, head gasket was replaced before I got the car as well, sparks plugs were replaced and are in decent shape and are Motorcraft AGSF32FM (1st pic is from the front and 2nd pic is from the rear). Car was owned by a mechanic who actually fixed stuff! Going to back and forth to work I get 16-20 MPG and if I am doing straight highway I can get 25-28 MPG.

The problem I am having is when I go to start the car at home time... I have tried a couple different things..... starting the car as normal, turn the key to on then off then on then off then on and then start, but it all ends the same way.... it doesn't like to start, almost liking it is flooding itself or something. It takes extra cranking time for it to start and if I push the gas pedal a little bit it sometimes helps. Heck I even had a similar thing happen over the weekend when I had gone out, coolant was at operating temp, came back home and parked in the parkade, went out 3-4 hours later and it exhibited a similar issue.

Any ideas of what could be causing this? This is the only vehicle I have owned that has had this kind of issue.

I am wanting to keep this car for a few years, so want to keep it running in tip top shape. In January I am going to be changing the transmission fluid and filter as it has been 100,000 KM's since it was last done. I want to replace the coil pack and wires as I am not sure if they are original, possibly replace the fuel injectors/do a compression test, give the car a nice waxing, install a set of LED fog/driving lights as the stock headlights are horrible, replace the O2 sensors, possibly clean/replace the EGR, do a complete brake fluid flush... all just general maintenance.

Here is a " " to me starting my car a couple of times that I took back in June of this year....



Front plug 3.0L Vulcan 1997 Ford Taurus

Rear plug 3.0L Vulcan 1997 Ford Taurus