Questions and Answers

Mustang Craps Out Q. I have read through the posts on your site and seen several posts of Ford owners who have problems with the car just stalling out for no apparent reason and then running fine again after waiting about 10 or 15 minutes. I have had this happen to me twice in one week and it's got me afraid to drive my car. 1992 Mustang LX 5.0 302 V-8 Manual Transmission 138,000 kilometers (82,000 miles) EFI P/S, A/C, Cruise

I have had this car for about a year now. It is winter stored and usually runs perfect. It is very strong and has never been difficult to start.

However, this week while driving to enjoy the nice weather, the car after about an hour or so on the road will just up and quit like its out of gas. (I've had this happen for real and it feels exactly the same.) The first time it happened just after taking it out of storage and I thought it was just fouled gas from sitting. This time it happened with a full tank of high test in it. I tried like crazy to start it and it would fire for a second or two and just die.

There is no overheating condition or any other visible defect. When the engine runs, it runs excellent. After pushing the car to the side of the road and waiting about 20 minutes or so, it started and ran fine all the way home just like nothing was ever wrong. Now I'm completely confused. I have been playing with cars for a long time and consider myself quite knowledgable but this one's got me stumped. Usually when parts break, they stay broke. Ha, welcome to the joy of Ford ownership. (this is my first one.)

From reading the other posts I figure its probably narrowed down to the:

• Wiggle test (this does not install confidence in Ford!)
• Fuel pump (my condition seems very much like the old vapor lock I used to get in Chevy's with a mechanical fuel pump. I assumed this was a thing of the past. Perhaps not.)
• Distributor pickup (doesn't explain why it runs perfect after a short time.)
• Mass air flow sensor contaminated (but this still wouldn't explain why the car runs fine afterward.)

As you can see I'm thoroughly confused and mystified about this problem. Any ideas you may have are greatly appreciated. I now have a very nice clean car for summer that I'm paranoid to drive anywhere because of this.

Thanks,
Paul

A. The most common cause of this on your car, and lots of other makes and models, is the Ignition Module. When they start to go bad, the first symptom is they quit working when the get hot. After they cool off, typically 20 to 30 minutes, they will start working again.

The next time it dies on you, quick pop open the hood, pull a plug wire and see if you get spark. No spark means the module crapped out on you.

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