The Houston 04 SE

[78F350]

Trouble?


Driving to work yesterday and again on the way home, it felt like the engine shut off just for a moment. There was no check engine light, it didn't miss, or run rough. It was as though I had turned the ignition off, but only for a few seconds. I don't think that it fully stalled out, but there was no throttle response. Then it was normal again with smooth power through the full range, no hesitation.
Given that the car was submerged and left to rot for months with no care, I can't say that I'm surprised or worried. It's just part of the process of resurrecting a car like this. The first thought when it happened was a quick, "Oh ********************!", but when it quickly came back on and ran normal, my heart rate returned to normal as well.
What do I think is wrong? Umm... something electrical. Those pesky electrons can make all sorts of mischief. In this case electrical could be fuel, ignition, or engine control ($5 bet it's electrical-fuel). Bad ground, power, or signal. The thing that I don't like about troubleshooting intermittent problems is that they are hard to find when they are not occurring. I'm going to go for a few laps of the bypass around town and see if it happens again. Probably by this weekend, I'll 'pull the car offline' for a few weeks and put it in the garage for it's next major disassembly and servicing. In doing that I can trace through the systems and clean them up some more.

[911monty]

Originally Posted by 78F350

Trouble?

Driving to work yesterday and again on the way home, it felt like the engine shut off just for a moment. There was no check engine light, it didn't miss, or run rough. It was as though I had turned the ignition off, but only for a few seconds. I don't think that it fully stalled out, but there was no throttle response. Then it was normal again with smooth power through the full range, no hesitation.
Given that the car was submerged and left to rot for months with no care, I can't say that I'm surprised or worried. It's just part of the process of resurrecting a car like this. The first thought when it happened was a quick, "Oh ********************!", but when it quickly came back on and ran normal, my heart rate returned to normal as well.
What do I think is wrong? Umm... something electrical. Those pesky electrons can make all sorts of mischief. In this case electrical could be fuel, ignition, or engine control ($5 bet it's electrical-fuel). Bad ground, power, or signal. The thing that I don't like about troubleshooting intermittent problems is that they are hard to find when they are not occurring. I'm going to go for a few laps of the bypass around town and see if it happens again. Probably by this weekend, I'll 'pull the car offline' for a few weeks and put it in the garage for it's next major disassembly and servicing. In doing that I can trace through the systems and clean them up some more.

Top notch gut feeling........I carry a new fuel pump relay just for these situations. Typically they leave you sitting for about 30 minutes.