Hey everyone!

I own an EB fairmont ghia 5spd. Have owned the car for only a few months. My problem is that sometimes as i am driving along normaly, either maintaining a speed or accellerating the car sometimes loses all power in an on/off sort of way, it feels jerky and is not good at all.
It happened the other day as i was entering a roundabout so it is quite dangerous as there was traffic around!!
when this happens i pull over and turn the car off for a while then it drives as normal. It happens with all fuel levels in the tank and in any driving conditions. most of the time the car drives very well.

Oh and this afternoon i was changing down gears and it stalled when i had the clutch in, first time that has happened.


so has anyone had a similar experience? i dont know if its my injectors (but that would cause it to happen often and on full throttle??) or if its electrical or what?

any help would be much appreciated!!

happened ever since the AC's been used?
:P

the Idle controller might be clagged. (device on top of the throttle)

if its this try (should be simulat technique for Ed's)
http://www.fordmods.com/forums/documents.php?doc=23

Bad ground, dieing relay (fuel, ecu to name a few), loose wiring to ECU or dizzy or coil or ignition. Many, many choices here unfortunately.

I would start checking and tigntening/cleaning all connections in the engine bay and around the ECU and ignition.

Also try and take note of everything that happens around when the car stops. ie ambient temp, engine temp, fuel level, prior rpm, gear the car was in, how long running, throttle position, the way it stops (suddenly, stutters, surges). Then try and find some connection. It could be completely random but there might be something there that connects it all.

Run a diagnostics on the ECU. You could get lucky.

cheers
Scott

Hey thanks for that link krytox, sometimes the car does idle a bit funny, not too bad. I have a k&n filter with the top cut out of the airbox so it get cold air from the bonnet vent. I'll definatley clean the idle speed controller!

Macgyver, you confirm my fears! Ill check all the connections etc on the weekend.
So far i can only remember the car doing this in the day, and its been pretty warm lately, happens on any fuel level, i dont use the a/c.... car has only stalled once and it always starts first time easy even after its been playing up.


i hope this isnt gunna be expensive troubleshooting as im saving for a turbo!

Is your car always warm when this happens. Say after atleast 10-15mins of driving?

When coils fail it is often because they have lost the cooling oil and are over heating. They reach a certain temp and become infinite resistance so the car stops. Once there is no more current running through them they cool down and the car will fire right back up again and run like nothing ever happened. Until of course it over heats again.

So the coil 'could' be your culprit.

I think what's going to happen here is that you will check all connections, etc as above and possibly find nothing amiss. You will then need to start the PIA method of replacing the most likely subjects in order of cost.

From what you've described the coil is the most likely subject and one of the cheaper ones.

cheers
Scott