Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting intermittant death

I have an odd problem at idle, haven't checked it out (put it off the first few times, now it's too damn cold to be playing underhood where I am). My CSVT dies at idle, in traffic, with no warning, every blue moon. Died last night coming to a stop, and that was not too safe. The problem is very intermittant but very annoying. I know the stock ECU hunts a bit, but it appears to have flatlined more than once. I don't intend on replacing that puppy if it's just getting a bad input. Any suggestions? No excessive mod's or accessories running at any time, BTW, and using good gas. This has happened since day one, and as you all know, the unexplained is progressively maddening. I'm sure this could be obvious to someone, I just don't see it.

Do you have a check engine light (MIL)???

Just a guess but it could be the IAC valve.

If I do, it never came on. My car's paid off and out of warranty, so replacing the 'puter/O2 sensors would be a no-no. If it's something dumb and chronic, like a plugged valve, leaky hose....y'know, something that 'all SVT's have' I'd like to fix it and keep this thing. Otherwise I'm waiting for the Marauder.

I'd scan for codes even if the CEL isn't coming on. It's the only way to even begin to diagnose the problem. I'd also keep track of conditions when the engine dies, like night or day, hot or cold air temperature, just anything that could establish some kind of pattern. Right now the only pattern I see is that it happens at idle. What engine controls are active at idle (foot off the gas)? IAIS? IAC? Have you done the throttle hang mod? Anything else you can think of?

Karl

I'd start with the IAC....

Get the dealership to loan you a computer monitoring device. It will have a button on it that you push when you encounter the problem. It will record the 15sec before and the 15sec after the event. It will keep a record of any pertinent info including codes.

Just a thought.

I have never herd of one before. Do I just go to ford when I am having problems that they can't find, and ask?

I had the same problem on my Zetec when I bought it. Just like your SVT, my Zetec would only die once in a while. My conditions were as follows:

clutch was always in
always rolling to a stop
RPMs always in idle range

It would act just like you turned it off, but the key was still in the "on" position.

I had the dealership put on the 15 sec. before/15 sec. after recorder. I must've gotten 6 records for them before I took it back. Guess what they told me..."looks like you just shut if off". Yeah, thanks, dickwad :rolleyes:

Anyway, the last time I took it in for this, I was told they found nothing, but the car never did it again. My guess is something involving the ignition system (loose wiring, perhaps) was noticed and they didn't wanna fess up. No amount of inquiries landed me an answer; they'd always just say nothing was ever found. Must've been one of those "under the table" repairs to save face.

My point is it almost has to be something the Zetec and SVT have in common. Doubtful it's mechanical because very little is shared between the two other than electronics (and chassis, of course). Good luck...hopefully you get an answer so I'll know what they did

I still have this problem since new once in a blue moon with my 99 SE Sport (2.5L DOHC/MTX). It hasn't happened any time that I've had my monitor hooked up. I'm still scratching my head over it since there doesn't seem to be a weather, driving style, or cruising speed correlation.

There are at least three devices that the dealer may have available for customer driving: Next Generation Star (NGS) tester (grey T-shaped many-purpose Ford scan tool), flight recorder (blue and white box with 'Intelligent Controls' or 'Cosworth Technologies' label and a remote switch), or Customer Data Recorder (?) (Red box with a small grey T-shaped inset control--looks like it was designed 20 years ago). They are all configurable wrt which parameters to monitor. If I'm lazy, I use the NGS for my troubleshooting. If I'm inspired, I'll code something up special.

Please remind me what IAC is. D Davis seems to have the same thing (clutch in, rolling@idle)- perhaps it is a loose conn. This only occurs every few days, actually it went several weeks w/o anything happening. I wouldn't be concerned, as it is so infrequent, but in heavy traffic it could cause an accident. In the meantime, I'm checking all the conn's. This is my winter car so things underhood get grungy. Thanks for the input.