Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting My Beater Keeps Dying...

I've been forced to drive my baby to work and school the last three weeks, putting over 1200mi. in that period. This is all thanks to my beater letting me down. I have a 1988 Merkur XR4Ti, and the car keeps dying when it idles. The more the car is operated the worse it gets. Eventually, the car can't even work, as it won't go past a 1000RPM on the highway. I hear a lot of backfiring sometimes. When I drive it for longer than 30min, if the car dies, it will not start up for at least 15min. When it does, it's like nothing ever happened. I tried putting better fuel, put fuel treatment, and even wacked off the cat, thinking that it was clogged. No change. I am loosing my mind, as no mechanic wants to work on these beasts. Could it be the Ignition Module? OMFG, I am losing it!!!

I can't help, but I can tell a story that might make you feel better:

I've been planning to take my car for annual inspection this week. Last week, the wife calls from her mom's to tell me that the car died in her driveway and her mom thinks it is the water pump. But why would a bad WP make the car cut out? Nah, can't be it. I tell her to call AAA and get towed home. First time in the 2-1/2 years since we paid $1500 for the car that it broke down. Exactly during the one day a year I depend on it running.

She calls a few hours later to inform me that the car started and ran, seemingly fine. Says she wants to drive home. I tell her sure, but the second something acts wrong to pull over and call AAA to get her the rest of the way. Gets home fine, but when she parks out front, there is a huge puddle of coolant under the car.

So now I have to get the car running by the end of the weekend so I can drive it while my car is at inspection. I check the car and there isn't a drop of coolant in it. I decide to replace the t-stat, WP, and hoses to be sure I get the problem. Figured the stat stuck closed or something. Take the WP off and get my first look at the weep hole, which is hidden when mounted. Sure enough, its wet. WP was the culprit after all. Stat was fine, but for $5 a new one gets put in.

Worst part was that I had to do it outside on Sunday, since I was taking the car to inspection on Monday. It was cold and raining. Miserable working like that. But, GM was nice enough to put the WP, stat, and hoses in very easy to access places on the 1988 Olds Cutlass Ciera 2.8L V6. And the parts cost a grand total of $45 plus coolant and the cost of a new Haynes manual.

Of course, my mechanic story wouldn't be finished without a big screw up. We drop the SVT off for inspection and I am driving home. Temp light comes on. I pull over and go to pop the hood, only to notice a river of coolant at my feet. Turns out that the hose I put on in the dark wasn't clamped all the way (shoulda double checked it) and it decided to come loose. Lower rad hose, so almost all the coolant is gone now. So AAA to the rescue until I can get home to my tools. I'm not a mechanic, but I play one on the internet!

Not exactly sure what the problem is but sounds like ignition or possibly fuel. Have you tried a general tune up "plugs, wires, filters, etc" Could possibly be something as simple as a clogged fuel filter.

Rick

Also check for vacuum leaks. They play havoc with the efi.

Well, I installed a new rotor, distributor and plugs a couple of months ago... Haven'f had the chance to look at it the last couple of days...

Man I was so sure that it was the cat gone bad, that when I wacked it off, I was so fricking happy. But sure enough, that wasn't the problem...

I'll keep you posted on this...

3L PA SVT:

They always seem to go, when you need them the most, don't they? Yet another proof that cars and women go hand in hand... :p

Are you getting any trouble codes from the computer? Is the check engine light on? Does it run hotter than normal? I could probably help out more if I knew this information.

Can't answer any of these man. Mo MIL on the car, don't know if you can hook it up to a diagnostic machine (1988), temp gauge was always irratic...

Sounds like ignition module symptoms. Also, there should be a port to hook up a diagnostic scanner. My '86 truck has one and even though it has a different motor than your car, the ignition module/stator was the culprit when it starting making the same fuss. There's a recall on the module covering about every Ford model over a 10 or 12 year period. If you don't have 100K miles on your car, you might get it replaced for free.

Karl

Now that I'm home and have the list with me, the models effected list shows '85 - '89 Merkurs so you fall into that catagory. However, if you've got a lot of miles on the engine, I'd suggest replacing the TFI module AND the distributor. The module hooks up to the stator which is inside the distributor and if the stator is bad, you've got to remove the distributor anyway to replace that. The recall is for the TFI module which is effected by high heat under the hood but the stator could also be bad which is what was wrong in my case. Still, I got 340K miles and 16 years out of it so I'm ahead of the game.

Karl

I had the same problem on an 84 olds calis(sp). I could drive it for 15 to 20 minutes and then it would die, only to start back up 15 minutes later. Everybody told me it was the coil pack(or ignition module), so I replaced it. And wouldnt you know it, the damn thing wouldnt start back up. It turned out to be a fuel filter and fuel pump. I dont know if it had any connetion with the ignition module, but anyways, good luck.