Dan

K, here's the situation:

My probe's engine is suddenly "cutting out" on me in while I am driving. The RPM gauge drops to zero (may be others which cutout....too busy asking WTF? to look).

Seems like an electrical problem..or electricity cut to the engine because the engine shuts off.

Then I start to lose power steering (consequence of engine being off).

Funny thing is, I can start it right back up and there are n/p.


It happened twice.

The first time I was doing a little 0-60 action on a deserted industrial road. I was revving pretty high in third, then I downshifted into second (where the car was about 500rpm from redline)......I know, kinda rough but it was one of those stupid moments. Then the engine cuts out shortly after.

At first I thought rev limiter but usually that doesn't shut your engine off does it? I pretty sure I didn't hit it. That was saturday. Drove fine the rest of the day.

Today, I'm accelerating and at 4000rpm the engine cuts out again. Same story and I can again start it.

I'm taking it in tomorrow but I usually like going to the mechanic/dealer with a bit of a clue what could be going on.

I'd really appreciate some suggestions as to what could be wrong.

Thanks,

Dan

1 COBRA

I had the same problem with a '68 vette. After replacing the carb, fuel pump, distributor , spark plugs/cables, it turned out to be the ignition switch which was not making good contact.

Galaxie

First suggestion... DON'T TESTDRIVE ANYTHING

Second, it sounds like there is something goofy going on with your computer. Maybe they can run a diagnostic check and find out what it is. I for some reason don't think they will find it.

This is one of those repair that sounds expensive to diagnose, but you could almost live with the headache.

Dan

George, that was one of my first thoughts as well!

1 COBRA

BTW, the Vette was 9 years old at the time.

burningman

i had the same problem with my 2000GT it tirned out to be a bad sensor. I think if memeory serves me it was an AF sensor of some sort

Dan

AF = air fuel?

Dan

My probe is 10 years old BTW (1994).

Dan

Could it be the distributor? Notorious problem on these cars. But then it wouldn't start right back up would it?

Galaxie

I don't think your probe has a distributor.. I think it has a coil pack. If your coils were shot, the car wouldn't be able to start.

1 COBRA

I don't think Dan is that bad.

burningman

AF = air fuel? [/b][/quote]
yeah for some reason Airfuel is in my head. It was a few years ago

Galaxie

don't think a sensor like that exists...

could be MAF sensor

Dan

Okay, here's an update:

I took it out for a drive to try to pinpoint the problem

1. Checked the ignition switch by jiggling, moving, sliding the key in every possible way (no jokes please) and nothing happened.

2. I did about 4, 0-70mph runs hard.

3. I kept driving, revving high and took a few turns. Then on a straight revving at around 4k, the engine died.

At this point I thought it was heat related so I started it back up and revved it back to 4k while accelerating. Car died again.

Then I started it up and kept the rpm below 2k and took it easy all the way home and had no problems.

Looks like its heat related.

BTW, Galaxie, I'm sure it has a distributor.

Dan

Oh, guys do you think THIS (Click here) is the answer????

burningman

possibly...get it to a dealer and have them run the codes

1 COBRA

Well, Dan... what's the verdict?

Dan

Well, this morning I found a great source on the web that described my problem exactly. The cause is a faulty ignition coil in the distributor.

Anyways, took it to Ford where I talked with a mechanic that had seen this problem before.

So I replaced the distributor at $900 CDN. Plus 2.2hrs or so. Gotta love that Ford/Mazda partnership........part costs for Probes are nuts, doesn't matter what you fix.

I've known about the disty problem for a long time but didn't know the symptoms (first messageboard I was on was Ford Probe FAQ).

Ah well, I haven't driven it much but I'm fairly confident that the problem is solved. A bit of hard driving might tell me for sure.

Great car, but terrible for repairs. I can definately see this vehicle is going to become a major liability. Spring of 05 can't come soon enough.

mr-mstng

Was it a distributor or coil pack?

Galaxie

$900?

That's why I fix my cars myself... If I screw it up it will still cost me less to do it twice..