Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting SVT Died While Driving At 60mph

I posted recently about how my '98.5 SVT had "stalled" a couple of times, like the engine died and then immediately started back up.

Today on the way home from work it died totally (worst time of day, worst traffic of day, nowhere to pull over, nursed it to a turn lane )

Engine turned over fine but no start. I checked the schraeder valve and there was fuel pressure. Bled off the pressure and it came back.

After nosing around under the hood, re-seating connectors on the coil and checking for blown fuses, it started right back up. This was after being dead for about 10 mins. Seemed perfectly normal at first. Drove it the rest of the way home (30 miles) and noticed that the engine seemed to have trouble revving. This was maybe 45 mins to an hour later. 1st and 2nd gear were slow to rev.

After it sat for about 30 mins, started up and now power is normal again.

Fuel pump? It has a brand new fuel filter.

Any other ideas?

Thanks in advance!

Could be the IAC, mine did that and i had to clean it out, and finally had to switch it. try looking into that, did the car make a funny noise when it shut down, kinda like an air horn ? and is the idle high or low most of the time mine died while i was doing well over the posted speed limit, usally the iac gets stuck so theres plunty of air and no fuel , or vise versa

Any CELs? Maybe fuel pump.

u could try cleaning teh IAC , but it could be alot of issues

sounds like teh problem i had with my car when the fuel pump was dieing, it would show good pressure, the only way to tell is to check ur pressure when the car is haveing a problem

also if ur fuel pressure bleeds off quickly its also a sign of the pump,

Wow, almost the exact same thing happened to me. I was just around the corner from my house when I was a red light. The light turned green and some kid was crossing the street so I let him by. I started to accelerate and about 100 feet later the engine bucked, I put it in N and it seemed normal, then I started again when it bucked again. I put it N again and then into 2nd when something was wrong. The engine was running but when I pressed on the gas nothing. The rev's just kept dropping until the engine stalled. I tried to start it several time over the next 20 min. and nothing. So I had the wife come by and I towed it home.

So I tried several more times that night to start it and nothing. This morning I go out there and it starts on the 1st crank. This problem did happen about a week or 2 ago and I just waited about 10-15 mintues and it would start up again.

So I will go grab an NGS fro work today to check the CEL that is on now. Hopefully just the IAC like you guys said. I will also check the pump if possible.

IAC, or fuel pump. Try changing the fuel filter first, see what happens.

Bill:At least you can get a good price on the parts

MAF
http://www.contour.org/mods/mods.php?s=howto&displayid=36

IAC cleaning
from Ray's UIM/LIM how to in Duratec Maintenance how to.

"Replacing the IAC gasket:
(From IAC faq)
Over time, the IAC (Idle Air Control) valve becomes sticky due to buildup from the EGR and PCV systems. It can stick partially open such that idle quality is adversely affected, and engine RPM's will not drop below 1500. For a while, blipping the throttle will restore normal idle, but this only works for so long.

The fix is to remove the IAC valve by unbolting the two 8mm bolts that hold it on and disconnected the wiring plug. If you are careful enough, replacement of the gasket will not be necessary. The gasket costs less than US $1.00, so it is no tragedy if you destroy it. Once the valve is off, spray it out with some carb/intake cleaner and make sure any gunky residue is gone. Reattach, and you are done. It is a lot cheaper than a new IAC, which runs around US $70. Note: Ford claims the IAC cannot be cleaned, but this is not true in my experience." Ray.

4th picture for location of IAC valve.
http://www.contour.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=v6maint&Number=931756&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=186&fpart=1

Took apart and cleaned the IAC tonight (and broke the vacuum line to the power brake booster on top of the UIM )

The IAC didn't look too bad actually. I cleaned it and some black gunk came out but not much. Also, if the IAC were the issue, wouldn't just opening the throttle allow air in to run the engine?

Anyway, I jury-rigged the vacuum line until I can get another one. The black plastic piece that inserts into the UIM is what broke. What is the proper way to remove it?

I'm going to clean the MAF meter as well.

I've got to go on a road trip Tuesday so I hope it doesn't die again

Just what I need, to be stranded 100 miles from home.

After working under the hood of this car a few times, I'm ready to show up at Ford engineering with torches and pitchforks. And I thought my Rx7 Turbo was hard to work on under the hood.