Car dies once up to temp.

[cali+Mocasho+]

so I hadn't really had the engine ground to the firewall very well. To the point where the car wouldn't start until I re ran it. Now my mocasho dies once it reaches temperature. I can drive it once it cools I just have. To keep it cool while driving. At first I thought I might have shorted my dis from not having it properly grounded. My second guess would be a sick cps. It has been raining recently maybe it's wet down there? Maybe it fails once up to temp? My last guess would be fuel pump. I do have 30-40psi at the rail.could be on its way out. After it cooled I drove 15 miles without stoping not allowing the car to heat up and I made it home. That's why I don't think it's the fuel pump but hey these are just guesses. Any help is much appreciated.thanks

 

[sperold]

You are supposing that the car getting up to temp is the issue.
It is not necessarily temperature. It could be your crank position sensor is getting wet from a waterpump leak, once your cooling system is pressurized.
Get a small mirror and check that out.

 

[cali+Mocasho+]

You are supposing that the car getting up to temp is the issue.
It is not necessarily temperature. It could be your crank position sensor is getting wet from a waterpump leak, once your cooling system is pressurized.
Get a small mirror and check that out.

You think oil can do the same? My main seal has been droling oil for the past month. I'll look to see if the water **** is leaking.

 

[luigisho]

The fuel rail psi looks ok. I would look at a front 60k and get all that taken care of. Also the DIS could have shorted out due to excessive engine movement. We've seen plenty of modules crack at the plug ends from the engine moving under load due to failed engine mounts. Do you have an old car that needs maintenance to run properly. Do you have the maintenance history on this vehicle? Has it ever had the seals replaced? Timing belt and water pump? These cars were maintenance hogs many years ago. They are not getting any less so with age.

 

[rubydist]

in my experience with sick crank sensors, it has nothing to do with the water pump leaking on the sensor, it is that the sensor gets sensitive to temperature and quits working once the engine is hot. if the engine cools down, then it may work again. I have had them die all at once, but more often they will get so the car will die randomly at temperature (and start again once cooled) and progress to the point where the engine will die most all of the time once it is warm. The time period from occasional dead engine to regular dead engine has been anywhere from a couple of days to a few weeks, in my experience.

 

[cali+Mocasho+]

Well looks like she's sitting on stands for a few weeks until I finish the 60k. I looked through the record book and don't see a timing belt just oil and fuel filters. I'm the third owner and don't know what the first owner did.

 

[cali+Mocasho+]

The fuel rail psi looks ok. I would look at a front 60k and get all that taken care of. Also the DIS could have shorted out due to excessive engine movement. We've seen plenty of modules crack at the plug ends from the engine moving under load due to failed engine mounts. Do you have an old car that needs maintenance to run properly. Do you have the maintenance history on this vehicle? Has it ever had the seals replaced? Timing belt and water pump? These cars were maintenance hogs many years ago. They are not getting any less so with age.

I don't know if it's ever had its seals replaced. Main leaks with high Rpms then burns off the cat . Valve covers came off in pieces.
To shosource I go

 

[luigisho]

Yeah it's going to need alot of tlc if the valve cover gaskets were that bad. From use and age I would say that just about every gasket on that car has reached the limit of it's working life

 

[cali+Mocasho+]

Yeah it's going to need alot of tlc if the valve cover gaskets were that bad. From use and age I would say that just about every gasket on that car has reached the limit of it's working life

yea i plan on puting her in the garage for the 60k. is there anything els i should look for.

 

[luigisho]

yes. everything else. Look at the condition of the hoses and look underneath at the suspension bushings and see if they have been replaced or are dryrotted. At this age and mileage alot of parts made of rubber/polymers are pretty worn and breaking down. This can make you broke quickly so make a plan to attack problem areas in stages according to need and budget concerns. Also replace the sensors when you go in there so you don't replicate assembly/dis-assembly work

 

[cali+Mocasho+]

I don't know if it's ever had its seals replaced. Main leaks with high Rpms then burns off the cat . Valve covers came off in pieces.
To shosource I go

So I thought. Pulled it all apart and the seal was fine and the belt looked brand new. So I changed the cps sensor, used a feeler gauge when string it,put it all back together and fired up instantly first try! I let it warm up to temp till the fan came on a few times,about 20-30min. Drove it around the nabor hood seemed fine other than possibly noticing my tac drop to 0 and came back. Almost thought it didn't happen but idk. So I get back to the house after about a mile pull in the drive way and let her idle while I clean up the tools and the mess I made. Soon after she died out quietly and the fan followed. Pulled codes and all I got was 14. (Erattic pip signal).
Any thoughts anyone? Thanks

 

[rubydist]

either a sick crank sensor or a sick cam sensor could cause those symptoms. Just because you put on a new crank sensor, do not assume it is good - I had one fail right out of the box. At this point, I would change the cam sensor though, because of your "I thought the tach dropped to zero" comment.

 

[cali+Mocasho+]

you think its possible for the cam sensor to cause erratic timing aka code 14 ? i mean it would make sense sense the car wont fire back up for about half an hour if at all. the cam sensor is covered in oil from the cam seal leaking. i mean its up to the wire connector. And it what seems to be the cause of my oil leak

 

[rubydist]

the oil leak is due to a bad cam seal on that cam where the cam sensor is. if the cam sensor is full of oil, then there is a good chance that it doesn't work consistently. I have never seen the cam sensor throw a 14 code, but that does not mean it is impossible, just unlikely...

 

[cali+Mocasho+]

iv done some reading up and come up with the conclusion that its the cam sensor for a few reasons. 1.its covered in oil! 2. as you said it might not work constantly iv read that when the cam sensor fails it has a hall effect same as the cps. witch happens to be what code 14 describes. i am picking one up today from autozone. hopefully its not shit and im not wrong!
[love my sho even with all the shit she gives me.]

 

[cali+Mocasho+]

well again thank guys. it turned out to be the cam sensor throwing code 14 (erratic pip signal). causing the car to stall once it looses continuity. witch is weird because you almost never hear of a cam sensor stalling a car. funny i got my first clue from watching an English drifter beat his car and it stalled out unable to drive or start back up due to his cam sensor failing.
second clue i was reading up on cam sensors and read somewhere that they produce a hall effect signal same as the cps.
btw i recently changed the cps and no change until i swapped the cam sensor. thought it was leaking oil into the sensor but it was bone dry, same with the cps no leak from the main. PROBLEM SOLVED

 

[rubydist]

glad to hear it. yeah, a dead cam sensor will not cause the engine to die, but a sick one can - I've had that happen too. But in my case, it threw a cam sensor code, so it was easy to diagnose. enjoy!

 

[cali+Mocasho+]

i go to drive to work and she gave me problems. such as she started up fine idled fine warmed up. then i go to hit the gas and it felt like it drowns then picks back up. like if i quickly hit the throttle it slug's then goes up to rpm. so inplugged the tps and no change so i plug it back in and pull the cam sensor half way out until i heard the engine idle change so i slide it back in and its back to normal no throttle lag. SO my question is you think this cam position sensor from autozone is garbage of what?

 

[zoomlater]

Try checking your codes again and see if a different code came up after the incident (assuming you cleared the codes previously). You can still get a Ford cam position sensor on sites like Rockauto. I've only used Ford ones if those parts are available. I've never tried the ones from autozone.

 

[rubydist]

if it behaves the same with the tps unplugged as plugged in, there is a good chance that the tps is bad.