So I'm driving along and I'm jamming out to some tunes and then I notice my steering gets really stiff to the point where I had to force it to go around the run. So I'm thinking I got a flat tire or something, but I happen to look down at the guages and I see the battery light and the airbag light, so I turn off my radio and the car isn't even running. WTF!?! So I had to stop completely in the road, put it in park and start it up again, and it ran fine after that. Any ideas what the hell went wrong with it? Its an automatic if you were wondering. I swear if I have JUST ONE more problem with this car I'm gonna burn it to the ground.

 

Thats scarey! We had an 89'Escort GT and the thick film resistor would open up and the car would die smack dab in the middle of the hiway.
Have it checked out...be safe.

 

Can't you start an auto in Neutral? Never tried, just always thought you could.

EDIT: Now that I think about it, you cant move the lever out of park when the car's off. I dont drive autos alot so I never really got the chance to try. lol

 

93 T-Bird did it ...........MAF sensor! was bad.

 

I wonder if the X-Cal 2 is the culprit?

You should read this thread.

The X-Cal 2 does appear to be a common denominator between the two of you...and a few others, it seems.

 

my 06 GT had similar problems, turned out to be a faulty throttle body, replaced under warranty
at least in my case, i could simply push down the clutch and release it while the car is in a low gear, and she'd crank right up and go on

 

Yep, manual transmissions for the win!!!

Or shift into neutral and re-start (auto or manual). I've done a few 40+ mph restarts with an auto in the past!!!!

 

I had a similar issue with my 05... I had to hold it at idle manually with the go pedal...

 

Yup, and that's just a recent one. There have been others with both Brenspeed and Bamachips tunes. I've actually got it on video happening... I videotaped it and have been meaning to send it to Brent for over a year now. I've been too lazy but now that more and more seem to be having a problem I might git'r'done.
This problem seems to be more prevelant in colder weather (colder more dense air throwing something off?)
I've got this on MiniDV tape, does anyone know how to post a video? I would need step-by-step, hold-my-hand, basic directions.

 

Well something is def wrong. I was coming up my street and the RPMs dropped to around 500 and the steering actually got kinda hard to steer(could have been my imagintation) but it def dropped in power and it seems to be hesitating a bit here and there. I'm gonna upload my 87 oct tune and see what happens.

 

But the thing is, that doesn't sound too safe.

 

Perfectly fine w/ a manual.

 

With an automatic, you may experience a sudden chirp when it goes into gear... don't do it at very high speeds. I've done it at 40-45 mph before with the AOD.

 

I had a Taurus that did the same thing.
Was real scary when I'd be cruising in the left lane and it would just shut off. I found out I could stick it in neutral and shut the ignition off & restart it all while coasting.

Took about 10 trips to the dealer, they tried everything, MAFS, throttle posision sensor, etc. Of course the dealer could never replicate the problem.

After a lot of complaining and getting the regional Ford rep involved Ford finally replaced the computer and I never had a problem again. Had the car for 50,000 more miles.

However the problem with your car could be different. Grounding problems can cause the same sort of cutout.

I know of an owner of another Ford product that had an engine shut down problem. He eventually got the dealer to install a data logger on the car and finally was able to have the shutdown recorded. I don't remember exactly what was the problem but it was fixed from the info from the data logger.

 

So the acronym Found On Road Dead isn't just a joke then?

 

Man I gotta keep praying I don't get any of thses problems I keep hearing about.

 

It wasn't raining by any chance? There have been threads on TMS and other forums about water leaks causing electrical glitches and these cars are throttle-by-wire as I understand it.

 

Anyone find a fix?

 

before you burn it down can i take you GT500 conversion kit i would say take it to a dyno and get the A/F checked

 

I'm gonna swap it back to the stock intake and the stock tune. I tried 87 and 93 and neither made a difference so I'm thinking its something else. It has to goto the shop for the hesitation TSB(and other stuff) so I'm gonna let em know about it if the car still acts up with the stock stuff on.