1992 Ford Taurus engine stalling and quitting

JIMCOOPER

MEMBER
1992 FORD TAURUS
6 CYL
FWD
AUTOMATIC
180,000 MILES

Hi. 1992 Taurus with 3.0L V6 / automatic. This taurus is running fine. Except that after it warms up (it does not overheat, and coolant system working fine), the car will just die. My father in law (a seasoned mechanic) says these ford engines will "Vapor lock" because the fuel line is close to the engine and does not transfer off the heat in the fuel manifold. We wrapped it in foil, making a heat sink of it. But the problem still exists. Car will run for a period, then abruptly lose power and slowly die. I suspect it is the coil failing when it gets warm. It did this to me driving on the highway. On hot days, though rarely on a cold day. It seems to be getting worse. It went two blocks the other day, then died. We had to push it home. Is there another ignition module? I am fairly certain the fuel pump is fine.

Thursday, June 11th, 2009 AT 10:06 PM

3 Replies

JACOBANDNICKOLAS

MECHANIC
110,176 POSTS

Has the check engine light come on? I would recommend checking fuel pump pressure too. When it dies, have you checked for spark?

Here are the HOW TO's for checking pump pressure and for spark. Let me know what you find.

https://www.2carpros.com/how_to/how_to_check_fuel_pressure.htm

https://www.2carpros.com/how_to/how_to_test_an_ignition_system.htm

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Thursday, June 18th, 2009 AT 11:22 PM

JIMCOOPER

MEMBER
2 POSTS

I have checked the spark. By putting my timing light on each lead, and also on the coil lead. There is no check engine light. When you turn ignition before start. The fuel pump is running. I was at first suspecting a fuel pump problem, but I know the car runs fine almost all of the time. Then just stalls and dies. It happened to me on the highway after 30 minutes of normal driving. Then it started dying. Would run again for 10 minutes. Then die again.
I am suspicious of the PCM. But have no idea where it is, nor what it looks like. My service manual is vague about it. I thought it might be the coil, or ignition module, but I had my timing light on the coil wire when the engine did it again, and it kept sparking all the way through the stall, until the engine actually died. So that would mean it's NOT the PCM, or coil? I did see a "miss" at high engine RPM on the coil spark lead (timing light again) and it did miss a little here and there. Tried to make sure my timing light was picking up induction correctly.

Fuel, air, or spark. Gotta be something!

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Friday, June 19th, 2009 AT 7:28 AM

JACOBANDNICKOLAS

MECHANIC
110,176 POSTS

If you are getting good spark, and it sounds like you are, it must be fuel related. Have you actually checked fuel pump pressure when this happens? I have a feeling the pump is going out or (and I don't remember if you mentioned it) your fuel filter may be plugging. Also, make sure the catylatic converter isn't plugging up causing a problem.

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Friday, June 19th, 2009 AT 5:11 PM