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1992 Taurus stalls, won't start for 20-30 minutes

SpatiallyAware

SpatiallyAware

Lifer
I am stumped here.. This is a family member's car, a 1992 Taurus (OBD-1 but has the more advanced eec-iv OBD which reads many sensors, similar to OBD-II) with the 3.0

It runs fantastic, other than a slight miss here and there that can be attributed to 20k on plugs/wires. Shifts great, etc, car has ~100k miles.

However, once it's driven 'hard' (not flooring, but 1/2-3/4 throttle or drive on highway for 5-10 minutes), if you come to a hard stop (or slow down fast) and then accelerate it wants to stall and starts acting exactly as if it's running out of gas.

If it does stall, it will not start up for 20-30 minutes.

It will occasionally throw a CEL when this happens, which neither shops nor I can read with an eec-iv scanner. When you plug in the scanner it basically 'crashes' the scanner. The eec-iv ODB system stores codes, and none are stored. Because of this, I changed the fuel pump.

These engines are known for an electronic reed sensor on the distributor going bad, I've already replaced that (twice).


Any tips? It almost feels like a bad vacuum leak once the problem starts, but it doesn't make sense that once you let it cool down it will start
 
Will it at least crank after it stalls?

If so, check for spark. If you're not getting spark, check the coil, it may be heat soaking and failing.

If you're getting spark, check the fuel pressure regulator. These would be the first two things I looked at.

20k on plugs/wires shouldn't be enough to cause a miss, so there's something up even when it's running.

ZV
 
It does turn over, and forgot to say but coil has been replaced as well.

Fuel pressure regulator is a good bet, except to me that shouldn't be affected by a 20 min cool down cycle..?
 
SpatiallyAware said:
It does turn over, and forgot to say but coil has been replaced as well.

Fuel pressure regulator is a good bet, except to me that shouldn't be affected by a 20 min cool down cycle..?
Click to expand...

Yeah, the heat up/cool down seems odd but it looks like the FPR is roughly a $20 part for the '92 Taurus and it could be an issue with a marginal diaphragm leaking when it's hot.

Other possibilities are things like crank sensors and whatnot but those are going to be more specific to the engine management system in your car. I do know that in many cars if the ECU isn't seeing a crank position signal it will shut off spark and fuel but that's usually rarer than just fuel pressure issues.

ZV
 
Zenmervolt said:
Yeah, the heat up/cool down seems odd but it looks like the FPR is roughly a $20 part for the '92 Taurus and it could be an issue with a marginal diaphragm leaking when it's hot.

Other possibilities are things like crank sensors and whatnot but those are going to be more specific to the engine management system in your car. I do know that in many cars if the ECU isn't seeing a crank position signal it will shut off spark and fuel but that's usually rarer than just fuel pressure issues.

ZV
Click to expand...


From what I've read, crank sensors (and most of the sensors on the car) will throw a CEL. The eec-iv system, while, old, is extremely 'picky' about every sensor being correct.

Also, being so old, it's tough to find any good info on testing these sorts of things (IAC, etc etc). I also cleaned the MAF.. more to help with the occasional miss than the stalling.
 
SpatiallyAware said:
From what I've read, crank sensors (and most of the sensors on the car) will throw a CEL. The eec-iv system, while, old, is extremely 'picky' about every sensor being correct.
Click to expand...

Some older systems will throw a CEL if the reading gets out of line, but no CEL if the reading just disappears entirely. Because if there's no reading at all, the ECU just thinks the engine has stopped. So if the issue is the sensor giving correct (or at least within range) readings when it has a connection but the connection breaking as the terminals expand from heat it could just shut down rather than throw a code.

Of course, that's fairly rare. Easy to test though if the crank sensor is relatively accessible. Just jiggle the wires going into the sensor when you have the issue and if jiggling the wires a few times will let it start then it's a connection problem.

This is pretty common with the Porsche 944 and it might transfer to your car.

Chasing down faults like this is a royal pain though.

ZV
 
You can read the codes from the dash light.

You short out a couple pins on the diagnostic connector and do a few tricks with the key and the light will blink the code.

I can't remember the exact procedure, but I had to do it on my 1995 Taurus to get a code.

You should be able to find the instructions on the net.
 
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SpatiallyAware said:
It does turn over, and forgot to say but coil has been replaced as well.

Fuel pressure regulator is a good bet, except to me that shouldn't be affected by a 20 min cool down cycle..?
Click to expand...

I had a similar problem with an Isuzu Trooper II that I had. The truck would start great cold and run well, but coming to a stop the engine would almost die. There was a little bit of a miss when warm under part throttle.

In the process of diagnosing it, I pulled the vacuum line from the diaphragm. I was greeted by a stream of fuel being shot out of it. The stream would vary with engine speed (not sure why).

As I was at a shop my brother worked at, someone helped make me an adapter to utilize a free stock Evo fuel pressure regulator. The solved the problem I was having and made my truck much more drivable.

At 20 bucks, I wouldn't be too worried about doing it. However, if you have a valve to check fuel pressure, you could see where that lies with respect to where it should be too.
 
LTC8K6 said:
You can read the codes from the dash light.

You short out a couple pins on the diagnostic connector and do a few tricks with the key and the light will blink the code.

I can't remember the exact procedure, but I had to do it on my 1995 Taurus to get a code.

You should be able to find the instructions on the net.
Click to expand...


There are no codes. I have a code reader for this specific obd system... All 1's.. verified no stored codes, key on engine off, key on engine running, etc etc etc

I ended up having them take it to a mechanic. I'll update with what they find.
 
Ferzerp said:
Errr.... No?
Click to expand...


Ok the distributor cap and rotor has more, 50k or something, my point is that a tiny miss here and there on a 20+ year old car is probably unrelated to the stalling (or at LEAST acceptable compared to being stranded in the middle of the road for 20+ minutes)
 
SpatiallyAware said:
There are no codes. I have a code reader for this specific obd system... All 1's.. verified no stored codes, key on engine off, key on engine running, etc etc etc

I ended up having them take it to a mechanic. I'll update with what they find.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I must have misunderstood you. 😀

It will occasionally throw a CEL when this happens, which neither shops nor I can read with an eec-iv scanner.
Click to expand...
 
How old is the battery? It's the first thing I check on any car that has a computer. If the computer isn't receiving just the right voltage, it can create strange problems that don't jive at all with traditional shade-tree diagnostic methods.
 
twinrider1 said:
How old is the battery? It's the first thing I check on any car that has a computer. If the computer isn't receiving just the right voltage, it can create strange problems that don't jive at all with traditional shade-tree diagnostic methods.
Click to expand...

If the battery were low enough that the computer were crapping out there is absolutely no possible way it would be able to crank the starter over to start the car again after it cooled down.

The charging system warning light would also be coming on because once the engine's running the alternator is supplying all the current necessary for the engine to stay running. So the alternator would need to be dead for a low battery to cause a problem. And that would cause the charging system warning light to come on.

Checking the battery here is pointless.

ZV
 
I had a 1993 Taurus in college that had the same problem. I would drive from Gainesville to West Palm and everytime at the 1.5 to 2 hour mark the car would shut down and I would coast down the turnpike. I would wait an hour or two for it "calm" down and I would continue my trip the rest of the way. After multiple Ford mechanics took a look at it, they finally narrowed it down to fuel issues. It was too expensive to fix. They wanted close to thousand dollars to remap the fuel system. So I traded in my car for a new nissan. I spent a lot of money replacing sensors and random parts before they came to that conclusion and that is why I was reluctant to spend any more money at the crappy car.

I wish you the best of luck. I heard the 1997 ford taurus is a bullet proof car. if you are interested in changin it out.
 
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