Engine failure at speed/normal conditions

zueslewis

x

merckurser

While I went through the steps that are given in the owners manuel of my 2002 Sport Trac, and of this posting the dealer has had my ST for 3 days and was able to duplicate the problem I experienced. The problem- while leaving a cafe after breakfast and inroute to my home 1 mile away, the engine just quit, died, shut-down, stopped running, not as though I ran out of fuel but as though a coil wire was just pulled. IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD. Waited less than 30 sec., and the vehicle started as normal and moved me ten yards and died again. ---> no fun! So towed it home. called the Costumer Service @ Ford Motor Co., Dearborn MI. Then the dealer. Had it towed to the dealer, and notified (via) the web the Consumer Affairs office, the NHTSA and 1 other website before this one. Also checked the recalls and lemons lists on various sites. Spoke with private owners I happened to see while out and about town. Found 4 others with the same engine experience. So Hopefully I will have documentation in my posession when I pick up my ST today. Yes they diagnosed the problem and replaced components in the fuel delivery system. And I was told, reprogrammed a computer fuel control. OH! happy days. I was and still am concerned about this. But that is the way these automotive things are handled. They did the job cost free to me, per warranty. So I hope the components and whom ever manufactures them are as diligent as the folks that have assisted in the process.

Be Well and Victorious (and) SAFE!!
MERCKURSER

zueslewis

but why did you call in everyone but the CIA? I'd hate to have you mad at me.

I figured from the description, that you had a fuel pump, relay or ECM problem. Glad it was no problem to repair.

merckurser

Well if I thought the CIA could help, I would have. The thing is --> obviously you never drive on freeways with traffic that at times can be flowing at a top speed of 75+ mph. What do you see in your minds eye when a occurance such as that which I discribed happens in such conditions, and very possibly with the addition of fog----bro. No Warnig, No ejection seat (nowhere to eject to)lol, no point and click back to the beginning BRO!! Informationn is the best thing we as American citizens have going for us.
Thus This Website.

zueslewis

I understand that cars malfunction and I've certainly had my car die on me while driving, just like it had run out of gas.

I'm alarmed at the litigious nature of your reactions and believe me, there is NO love lost between Ford and I - I had a lemon 1997 Thunderbird with 6 sets of brake rotors, an engine and a transmission in 13,000 miles that they wouldn't buy back. It's just that although we never want our vehicles to break, they do, because they're machines. I worked in service a long time and got tired of being attacked every time someone's car had a problem.

I apologize for my reaction.

swschrad

you didn't have to call us you can't find the phone number anyway unless we need to talk to you :-D

seriously... my sister's fuel pump died cold on an interstate barrelled down to two lanes due to construction a couple years ago. in a 1991 olds, so now we know there are either two car companies that can never do anything right.... or... we have an aging issue that can hit anything on the road. as they say after reading the Edmunds Use Policy, stuff fails.

sorry for you. had to pick her up and put her up a couple days until they got a pump to noplace, MN and got it in and the pressure and regulation tested, etc. we went apple-orchard picking and saw a show and had a decent weekend out of it.

life is what you make it, I guess.

zueslewis

the black helicopters will be here soon.

merckurser

The defective parts on my 2002 Sport Trac were the cause of the failure, those parts are *IAC valve, and a *PCM. Integral componenets along the fuel delivery system. Ladies & gent's I have learned to not throw caution to the wind, and I certainly am not giving the dealers service personnel a hard time. Just the opposite is true. I am giving my fellow citizensr a hard time. those that sit around complaining & take no action. Todays tech., that is part of our lives & vehicles can be overwhelming to most. Not for me. To casually put your life in some engineers hands ? A faulty window motor is one thing....a faulty fuel system is quite another matter.
I've givin my heart and money to Silvia (my Sport Trac) anything she needs his hers and then some. But to trust Silvia is to trust Ford. My 72 Ranchero is all mine. I can work on that car myself. I put my life in my own hands. And that little Border Hopper (72 Ranchero) I trust, cause I know what he's thinking. Silvis (silver), Border Hopper (border patrol green)...and have never had a scratch or dent...who wants that color paint on thier stuff? MERCKURSER --->

zueslewis

those components are "primary failure" components in the engine management system. It's not uncommon with the Ford EEC-IV and V systems.

Mr_Shiftright

Nothing wrong with being pro-active in a repair, you are to be commended. But I really don't see the point in complaining to NHTSA or Consumer Affairs BEFORE anyone is giving you a hard time about the repair work. You may just be clogging the machinery for someone who is really being jerked around.

You should report to NHTSA AFTER the repair and tell them what was defective, I think. In this way you can be most helpful to others.

As for Consumer Affairs, they deal with fraud or with illegal practices. I don't quite understand why you contacted them either.

But aside from all that, glad to hear they fixed your car. This is what warranties are for, to take care of the inevitable and statistically certain number of cars that will fail.

zueslewis

than I did.

backroads1

I just got my 02 Sport Trac back after almost 3 weeks @ the dealer. While driving on the freeway doing about 65, it just quit on me. Had it taken to the dealer were it was purchased, they couldn't figure it out for the first 3 days. Then they told me that the catalytic converter had come apart and created a blockage which in turn caused a back pressure that choked the engine off. The engine would turn over but it acted like it wasn't getting any gas. Has anyone experienced this sort of thing?

zueslewis

and it makes perfect sense in this situation.

Mr_Shiftright

Yes, complete or nearly complete blockage of the exhaust can be a devil to diagnose. So if you have someone with a noisy motorycle next door, you take this potato, see, and you....well,never mind....

zueslewis

and the guy dropped three cigarette butts (rubber-banded together) into his fuel tank on his old truck. It would start fine, then a mile or so down the road, it would die and wouldn't restart for 15-20 minutes. After all the usual diagnosis methods (that were available in 1973) and shotgunning parts for a week, they dropped the tank and blew the fuel lines.......

Mr_Shiftright

The problem diagnosing a blocked exhaust is that the car sorta-kinda runs, and the symptoms mimic many other similar causes. kudos to your dealer for figuring this out.

alcan

Now the only remaining question is why did the catalyst bed fail. As the converter processes hydrocarbons, the chemical reaction generates heat. An engine misfire or rich fuel mixture will introduce more hydrocarbons than the converter is designed to cope with, causing it to overheat and damaging the catalyst bed. Might be an engine driveability problem which resulted in the plugged converter.

Mr_Shiftright

Gee, can they get THAT hot? That is a good point, though.

swschrad

a few missing plugs on the original GMs in the 70s could melt the ceramic beads that were coated with catalyst. it was a noted item in my 76 skylark's manual, if you can't shake and suck out the old catalyst, fix the engine issues before putting a new converter and charge on the car. that's due to extra fuel the catalyst oxidized, and it got in the 3000-plus degree range from that... had to to melt the ceramic.

alcan

I power washed the engine compartment on my 93 SHO, thought I'd blown all electrical connections out with shop air, drove it home. On the way it started misfiring and by the time I rolled into the driveway the car was on fire. Water had gotten into 3 spark plug wells and shorted the plug wires. The converters (in the Y pipe) got so hot from the raw fuel dumped in that one melted the right inner CV joint boot, and ignited the grease from the boot which was dripping onto the converter. Ended up costing me an inner boot and 2 new converters.

caraholic1

I have had problems with both a Tarus and a Mustang, different blocks - same components?, dying on the interstate. Is Ford waking up to this problem?