I know next to nothing about cars; I felt I should lead with that. I own a 1992 Ford Taurus and it has over 200k miles on it which I realize means it is running on borrowed time, but, times are tight.
So,the other day, I was headed to work and had driven an easy 100 plus miles that day. I had checked the radiator and the coolant reserve tank and they were at normal levels and I also checked the oil which was well within acceptable levels as well. This is a daily routine. So, on my trip the car began to heat up a bit more than normal, but it was a warm day and I had driven quite a distance and since it was still in the Normal part of the meter I thought I was fine. Suddenly, the car shuddered and began to decelerate until it finally shut off completely. I noticed, at that point a moderate amount of smoke from the engine. I opened the hood, checked the reserve, which was fine, and even though it was hot, there was oil on the dipstick. I thought, maybe it’s just too hot so I let it sit.
After thirty mins I tried and was able to get it to start, however, if I let off of the gas the car shuddered and then shut off again. It also seemed to run a bit more rough than usual.
A good samaritan stopped off and said he was a mechanic, so,I explained the situation. He lifted the hood and looked around speaking Mechanicese and then had me start it. He said it would be fine to drive; just keep my foot on the gas to keep it running, until I got it to a shop.
So I did that.
I’m almost certain that that probably exacerbated the sutuation but I HAD to get to work for fear of losing my job. I was able to get it home using this method as well once I was finished at work.
So, that is my issue. I have no clue what’s going on here. I can do some minor stuff, such as; oil changes, changing a flat, and I was even able to replace my alternator recently. Is there anything I can do, in the interest of saving money or am I going to have to put her in the shop? I hope I provided enough information.
Please help.
Well no one is answering. The over-heating and the stalling may not be related, especially since it may really not have been over-heating on a hot day and maybe an older radiator or a cooling system that has not been serviced for a while. There are any number of things that could cause the stalling and a shop is the place to find out. Could be a sensor, or coil over-heated, but my gut says a fuel pump going south might be what’s happening. A little diagnostics in the shop though should be able to sort it out.
The main suspect on the older Fords of this era when it comes to stalling and with heat involved is the ignition control module. This is called a TFI. These modules are extremely problematic and failures are due to heat.
When cooled off a bit they may run fine again. These problems usually surface during the onset of warmer weather or summer. There are some tests that can be done but it’s faster to just replace the module and hope for the best.
It’s at least possible the overheating could be caused by the module failing and the SPOUT circuit going bad. This will cause the timing to fail to advance which in turn causes sluggish running and overheating.
Do a net search for TFI modules and you will find the story behind them. Those modules get hotter than a firecracker within minutes even on a cold engine. IF that is the problem at least the fix is cheap and easy.
Hope that helps you out some.
" I was headed to work and had driven an easy 100 plus miles that day."
car stalled before you got to work?
do you drive 100 miles each way to work or there and back is 100?
2hrs at a crack? each way?