Engine Light/Stalling/Hard Starting After Being Driven.

[mrmuss]

I have a 93 Festiva with 48K miles. I have had a problem for over a year and have posted on this site and got lots of suggestions. The last one told me to take the car to a certified technician at a Ford Dealership. I did this and I am back because he asked me to post what has been done by other mechanics and get suggestions from the Fordfestiva.com community on repairing the car.

Problem. The check engine light comes on when driving and the car stalls slightly and when you give it power the light goes off. After driving the car and shutting off the ignition, the car will sometimes not start. It turns over and seems to be flooded and you keep turning it over 10 to 20 times with out success. Then, it starts just like it had never had a problem. It seems not to be flooded and runs fine. However, this not starting has happen too many times and causes me to say some special words.

I have taken this to three mechanics and they have completed the following work. These are my words taken from their repair receipts.

1. Fuel Pressure Test and Replacement of Fuel Pressure Regulator. Checked and cleaned Fuel Pump. No Change

2. Replace Spark Plugs and Spark Plug Wires. Replace Disturbutor Cap and Distributor Rotator. No Change

3. Replaced Oxygen Sensor and Air Flow Sensor, Replace VAF (not sure if this is the same as the other two), Replace Air Filter. No Change

4. Technician used Star Tester, No Communication, Checked each injector for ongoing damage and to make sure firing properly. Checked Fuel Pressure Regulator and found it is still getting too much fuel at times. We have computer program coming to test Fuel Trim and PCM Operation.

I sure would appreciate the ideas anyone would have on the forum. I will share your comments directly with the technician at the dealership. Many thanks for your suggestions and comments.

[koRnhead]

Well one, your VAF is your air flow sensor. And two, does it seem odd that your tech wants US to do his job for him? Why bother taking it back to him to tell him what to fix. Just do it yourself.
Have you ever verified when it is acting up, that you are getting spark and fuel at the time its not wanting to start?

[SiliconSoul]

This sounds exactly like a problem I was having. Mine turned out to be the ECT Sensor. (Engine Coolant Temperature) I was surprised at how many problems one little sensor could cause. Did the mechanic actually get a code? I would frankly be VERY upset that they are just replacing parts at will instead of actually diagnosing the problem - that is not professional at ALL.

The good news is you can check to see if it's a problem without spending a dime. You just need to disconnect the ECT Sensor (It will throw a steady Check Engine Light, and because it defaults to a set value the computer will run the car slightly rich and cause some bogging and stalling off the line if you don't give it a little throttle. Drive the car around and see if any of the random issues go away. If so, you only need to shell out around 30 bucks for a new one.

Hope this is of some help. BTW - I would definitely consider writing a letter to someone at Ford about the poor service. Any idiot can throw parts at a problem. (I used to be one of them!) You take it to a professional so they track things down faster and smarter.

[mrmuss]

Thanks and I will share this with my technician at Ford.

[mrmuss]

I took my car to two local mechanics and my third mechanic is at a local Ford Dealership. Because I have had a couple of bad experiences it was my idea to get suggestions and pass them on to my Ford Technician. He is going along with my request and another thing….they have not charged me a dime for their time and effort….to date. Thanks for your response.

[SiliconSoul]

I completely take back what I said. I need to read first before engaging mouth. I read that as the Ford technician had done all of that work. Hope the ECT is your problem!

[defprun]

My ECT is still wonky but I have no time this weekend to unwrap my harness again so I just keep my STI grounded works great lol...

[FestYboy]

not sure if i mentioned this earlier or not, but have the ford tech look for oil contamination at the distributor, where the inductive pickups are. also, i would hope that he has already performed the customary "wiggle test".

[mrmuss]

Thanks for the tips and I will pass them on to the tech. I knew you would give me a couple of good ones for him to try. If and when this things get fixed, I will drop you a note of thanks. G

[mrmuss]

I hate to ask, but what is a "wiggle test"? It sounds simple, but I am….as you know, no car wiz….

[Team Lightning]

It's wiggling wires and connectors. Basically moving (wiggling) all the wires and connections.

[FestYboy]

just like it sounds, the tech grabs hold of a bit of harness and shakes/twists/bends it while monitoring a circuit or component to see if any power/ground/signal drops off. if yes, then the circuit is repaired, if no, then he moves on to another portion of the harness.

[wirebrain]

First of all, when you have the Engine light coming on....check the error code that is stored in the ECU...doesn't really sound like this has been done, and it doesn't take any special equipment......

[wirebrain]

Check the Error codes stored in the ECU...no special equipment nessary...doesn't sound like this has been done...

[SiliconSoul]

n/p...