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crap…… i swore i put it in the “Service and Repair Questions Answered Here” folder….
sorry!!! when an admin/mod gets a minute could you put it in the “Service and Repair Questions Answered Here” section please? sorry! i dont know how i got them mixxed upsorry its so long, just want to give as much information about the issue as i can. if you need to ask any other questions im all up for answering.
i got a 94 ford explorer, 4L engine. tuesday evening(january 28th), i was going to college, and as i was driving, my explorer acted like it was out of gas. i pull over to the side of the road and it stalls. i wait a minute or so and try starting it up again, starts like normal, and began to drive home. when i got home it did it again. i waited about 2minutes, and started it back up, and went to college, hoping it was not going to stall. it didn’t stall not one time on the way there. tuesday evening (Feb 4th) i was on my way home, and in about 1.7M (according to google maps) my explorer stalled at least 4 times. the times that it wasent stalled, it was acting like it was running out of gas. no, it was not out of gas, it had about a quarter tank left. when i tried starting it after it stalled, it would start up, and again, act like it was running out of gas, but i was able to get it running fast enough for me to get close to my house. i kept trying to feather the throttle to get it to start started, and if i didn’t do that, it would have stalled more than 4 times. i let it sit for about 20mins after i got home, and tried to start it again, it started up, and still acted like it was out of gas. i went to college and came back a couple hours later and it started up, and ran perfectly normal. exactly 7 days went by and the same thing happened again.
a few months ago it was doing the same exact thing. i had the fuel filter changed, my friends told me it was the original one that came with it, and it stopped doing it for about a month and a half.i would love to figure out what is wrong with it, cause i have no idea.
i put a new throttle positioning device on it. new fuel filter, new coil pack i think its called? the little box that the spark plug wires connect to. the fuel pressure is around 28-30, i took the suction hose off the fuel regular and it jumped to about 38, and the psi went back down to 28-30 after i connected it again. the solenoid is working fine for the fuel pump. i switched it out with the other 5 that are there and works the same way. i took the gas tank off to fix an apparent leak that was leaking gas, but i couldnt find any hole at all, and found that the tank was really clean. i put a new sock on the pump as the old one was a little dirty.if anyone could help me out a little, or point me in the direction of the problem, i would be soo ever greatly appreciated! thank you!
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If you have an OHV series engine, your fuel pressure should be 35 psi min. with key on engine off.
If you have the SOHC engine series your fuel pressure should be 64 psi min. key on engine off.
Sounds like a fuel pump failure, or a clogged line.
maybe. but when i took the fuel tank off, the tank was very clean, so i dont think there would be a clogged line. when it usually starts doing it, it just doesnt stall right after it happens, im able to keep it running for a bit of time while its doing it to get it closer to my house, then it stalls. maybe 10-15 seconds per try or so, sometimes not so lucky. i dont mind replacing the fuel pump, but i dont want to find out later that its not the fuel pump. sorry if im being thick headed.
i changed it about a month and a half ago, i put the one advance auto parts says that its supposed to have in just a couple days ago, to see if it would bring the fuel pressure up, but it didnt. the one that advance auto told me to put into it was a motorcraft one.
nope, doesnt overheat at all, i make sure it has water in it about once every couple weeks
you mean like check if there’s oil in the hole i put it in?
Hi Brett,
RogueTeddy means check for any oil or carbon buildup under your distributor cap. It’s the thing that your ignition leads are connected to.
Maybe your crank angle sensor or cam sensor? When the sensor warms up it stuffs up and then when it cools down again the car is fine…until it heats up again.oh, its got an ignition coil pack, i think its called. the guy i bought the explorer said he got a new ignition coil pack for it. but i dont know if he really did, it looks like it was there for a while. the guy at advance auto parts told me the only thing he can think of, is its the ignition coil pack is possibly going bad. if its not that, then he has no idea. i just went ahead and replaced it.
ill check them for wear and tear later today. do you have an idea how i could test them?
You could try testing for continuity if you have a multimeter.
Check that they’re plugged in properly.
Or I think that I read somewhere about unplugging each sensor to see if it changed the running of the car? But I would research that a little before trying it.You’re going to have to catch it in the act if you’re going to do a proper diagnosis. You’ll need to check the fuel psi when the issue is happening and also check for spark and injector pulse if possible. If you check when it’s running, it’s not going to do you much good. I’ve actually driven around with a fuel psi gauge taped to the windshield for problems like this. If you’re loosing fuel psi then I would suspect the fuel pump, but it could also be something else in the circuit. As for the ignition, it could be a signal that’s cutting out like a cam or crank sensor. For that, having a scan tool hooked up when it cuts out can be very beneficial as some scan tools will give you a snap shot of what the engine was doing when the problem occurred.
This article may also be helpful to you.
http://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/solving-automotive-performance-issues
Keep us posted.
@Munkee85
yeah i got a multimeter, i tested the fuel pump and when it happens, the voltage going to it, does not change enough to make an impact as big as what is happening. i have a book a friend of mine let me barrow and ill go through a fair portion of the sensors testing them and checking the wiring in the next few days. Thanks Munkee85 for ideas!
@EricTheCarGuy
i could have the fuel pressure gauge hooked up for a while without any problems. ill need some assistance or some way for me to test the spark, and injector pulse while its running if thats what you mean when that is happening.
i asked them if they could hook their scan tool up to my explorer to test for any codes or anything, and they said they couldn’t due to it being a 94, sadly. Thanks Eric for the link and ideas also!on my way to college a couple hours ago, it acted up again. before it happened, i noticed the check engine light turned on, but i didn’t notice any difference in the performance. when it usually happens, the check engine light doesn’t come on at all. when i turned it off, and went to college, i turned it back on(a couple hours went by) and the check engine light went off.
when someone has some time, would you be able to tell me some sensors that it would be worth me checking to see if they are working or not? if you let me know the names of them, i could look up how to test(if i can) and where they are located to save you some time. i don’t mind looking them up to find out where they are located at. Thank you very much in advance!
Happy to try and help, Brett 🙂
I found the information contained on this page (link below) to be very helpful:
http://www.fixya.com/support/r7995890-diagnose_engine_surges_stallsHowever, don’t take the lists of possible symptoms as gospel, it is a list of “possible” symptoms and are not always precisely what is going on. It should give you a place to start looking anyway.
I also found these pages helpful:
http://www.clarks-garage.com/shop-manual/eng-15.htmokay, awesome thank you, ill look into that here soon. would it be wise for me to try and see if the eec iv system thing would get me any codes to get a point in the right direction?
Are you talking about the ECU?
If so, yes. It’s always a good idea to get a read on what your ECU is logging.
Don’t be overly surprised though if no codes come up. Just because a car is playing up doesn’t mean there is going to be a fault code. Unfortunately, sensors run within parameters, sometimes things can be “not quite right” but still operating within these parameters and so a code will not be thrown which is why it is even better to be able to look at your live data feed on a scanner, this gives you a window into the operation of your car with information such as coolant temperature, rpms, timing and other data given by the various sensors.
But you may need to have a scanner hooked up with the car in motion in order to see it “doing it’s thing”.Anyway, I hope that makes sense…
on the connector i found it said it was the eec, but i guess either name is probably the same system. yeah it makes sense. do you know of a scanner that can do that on a 94, thats not going to cost $200? because i dont have that kind of money to blow away to use it once.
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