Engine shutting down

[cobra94r]

Hello everyone. First I'd like to apologize because I first posted this in the talk section. I am a newbie and still trying to figure out how to navigate around... SORRY!

Anyway, I have a problem with my 94 Cobra... could use some help. Periodically my engine is shutting down.
Here is what I have checked so far:
Fuel: I have plenty of fuel pressure at the rail. I have a mechanical guage on the regulator and an electric Autometer fuel guage on the dash both reading about 32 psi. I read pressure even when the car dies so I am ruling a fuel problem partially out. I have pressure at the rail but that doesn't necessarilly mean that the injectors are letting the fuel in the cylinders.

Coil: I have cleaned and put dielectric grease on all connections

The car runs GREAT and then just studders and dies quickly. It doesn't happen all the time. I can let the run run in my driveway for an hour with no problems.. sometimes it will die after a few minutes. Really erratic... I can't even drive it because I am afraid I'll have to have it towed.

After it dies... When it dies.. sometimes it cranks eratically as if it is out of timing. other times it cranks fast like it has no spark.

I have checked for spark and every time I do... I have it. BUT as I said.... it happens erratically.

After it dies.... sometimes it'll start the next day.... sometimes it may take a week or so. either way... I do not drive it as it is my second car.

I am suspecting that I am loosing juice to my coil and after I pull the tower wire... to check it. I am getting lucky and seeing spark. I went out and bought an inline spark check tool that goes in line with the spark plug wire... that flashes at every spark. Since I have installed this... I have not had any problems. I bought 2 of them.. put one on the coil lead and one on #1 spark plug wire. I have about 20 minutes of flawless run time

Due to my work schedule and the fact that it is winter and the weather is pretty fowl, I have only about an hour of troubleshooting invested. I was just wondering if any of you have any ideas!!

I know that if you have fuel and you have fire.... the pony should start or at least TRY to start.

QUESTION??? If my crank sensor was on the blink.... do you think that might cause this erratic problem????????

Any input is GREATLY appreciated. My poor pony has been parked for about 2 months and I cant drive her because I dont want to break down.

Even though the weather is dipping in the teens..... this problem started when it was much warmer.

 

[bill302]

is your check engine light on. how many miles on your car. also when was your last tune up. you might just need a tune up including fuel filter.with that said one of the best ways i check my coil and plug wires ect.... for shorts is to look under the hood while motor is running at night and see if i see any sparks from electrical system coil or wires. i bought and installed a new master blaster coil for my mustang and had about same problem you are having looked at the motor running in the dark and found the short only after checking it at operating temp. the coil would run fine until it reached a certain temp.

 

[HISSIN50]

Welcome to the boards. You will find the peeps here very understanding and courteous so no worries about the Talk thread. That place sometimes gets more traffic than Tech anyhow.

I like the code retrieval idea. You can have codes stored without the CEL being illuminated. If the light tripped at some point, as long as the KAM did not lose constant power for more than a few seconds, the code should be stored and ready to be seen.

You dont have a crank sensor, per se (that is generally seen on cars with direct ignition/ no dizzy). You do have a PIP, which is responsible for base spark AND injector timing. So if you find that you dont have spark, grab a noid light and look for injector pulsing. If neither exists, the PIP is a good place to look.

If you only are missing spark, obviously the TFI, coil, and primary ignition system are the places to look.

A bad PIP can come and go, though it is often heat related. A bad TFI is very (more) often heat related.

It might be worth removing the cap and cleaning the PIP components.

Post any other info or testing you have done, if you think of anything.

Good luck.

 

[igotyofire]

my cobra stalled first time today i think too on the freeway when traffic was stopped, never happened to me b4

 

[chefster]

sounds like a bad ground

 

[Koniz]

I had the same problem it was actually my Positive red wire going to my power distribution box it was loose and I tighten it and that was my problem try that and see if it is loose

 

[Guero]

Whats a PIP?

 

[95CobraMike]

there are wires that come out of your distrubutor, follow them into the dist. and there is a sensor in there that is magnetic i think and it tells the computer either when the engine is sparking or it tells the ignition when to spark.... i dont know which

 

[95mustang_gt]

Whats a PIP?

its the pick-up coil in the distributor.Its also called the stator.

 

[HISSIN50]

Guero, the PIP is in the bowl of the dizzy and tells the puter what the relative piston position is. It is responsible for base spark and injector timing.

If you pull your cap off you will see it.

 

[cobra94r]

Update

Welp... the latest scoop is that the car has been running fine for about the past 1k miles. As I said... the problem was intermittent. Anyway, I changed the ignition coil about 3 weeks ago. (The car has been parked for the past several months and I changed the coil prior to driving it hoping that the coil may have been a cheap quick fix)

Its been running fine until I got in it to go to the store last night and it didn't want to stay running and finally just didn't even try to start.

I hooked up my trusty in line spark checker between the coil and the distributer. I AM getting juice there. I took the cap off and cleaned the rotor and stator assy / Pip. The car will NOW start but runs terrible as if it is out of timing. (same as it was before)


I checked the pos terminal at the distribution box (as one reader had suggested...) everything was super clean and had a good connection.

I have been thinking that it may be the PIP or the ICM. Since the ICM is realitivly easy to get to and not expensive.... I went ahead and changed it. It didn't help. The problem is still there.

Since the car has real high milage.. I am going to buy a remanufactured distributer. Thus eliminating the PIP issue. The distributer shaft has a very little play in it.

Can anyone give me any tips or tricks that I might need to know about swapping in a new distributer??? I know I have to start with #1 at TDC. I know it sounds stupid but I'd rather ask now or regret it later!! A step by step instruction would be great, including tips on setting my base timing again.

Thanks for your time!!!!!

 

[mo_dingo]

Welp... the latest scoop is that the car has been running fine for about the past 1k miles. As I said... the problem was intermittent. Anyway, I changed the ignition coil about 3 weeks ago. (The car has been parked for the past several months and I changed the coil prior to driving it hoping that the coil may have been a cheap quick fix)

Its been running fine until I got in it to go to the store last night and it didn't want to stay running and finally just didn't even try to start.

I hooked up my trusty in line spark checker between the coil and the distributer. I AM getting juice there. I took the cap off and cleaned the rotor and stator assy / Pip. The car will NOW start but runs terrible as if it is out of timing. (same as it was before)


I checked the pos terminal at the distribution box (as one reader had suggested...) everything was super clean and had a good connection.

I have been thinking that it may be the PIP or the ICM. Since the ICM is realitivly easy to get to and not expensive.... I went ahead and changed it. It didn't help. The problem is still there.

Since the car has real high milage.. I am going to buy a remanufactured distributer. Thus eliminating the PIP issue. The distributer shaft has a very little play in it.

Can anyone give me any tips or tricks that I might need to know about swapping in a new distributer??? I know I have to start with #1 at TDC. I know it sounds stupid but I'd rather ask now or regret it later!! A step by step instruction would be great, including tips on setting my base timing again.

Thanks for your time!!!!!

The simplest way to swap the dizzy is to take the cap off, turn the crankshaft until the rotor points towards something on the engine that is easily marked upon, or itself is a great mark. So now, once you yank the dizzy, all you have to do is make sure it's pointing at that same point, and you are set. You don't need to even get the timing light out (although I would verify that the timing is correct 10*btdc)

Remove the hold down bolt (AZ sells a special tool for this, it's a 1/2" hex head bolt but it's a PITA to get at). Yank the dizzy, put the new one in, and you are set!
Scott

 

[cobra94r]

94 Cobra - Engine shutting down

OK.... I am ready to go crazy. This car drove fine for a month and now it is starting to cut out again.

After cranking the engine it will eventually fire up. It acts like it is out of timing, or missing on cylinders. I can baby the throttle to keep it running. When I try and get the RPM's up a little (as if you would for a caburated car that your trying to clear a flooded carb) enventually it will break free and tach up, and momentarily run GREAT as it should.
However... once I get to that point. The car just shuts down as if I turned off the key. I have 12 volts thoughout the interior of the car with no interuptions of power. I am still reading good fuel pressure on my guages too.

Once it cuts out, I have to start over again and crank the engine till my battery is about ready to die. (Which I am keeping on a charger the whole time)

I have installed a new coil, New ICM, and a new distributor. My car has high milage so... I didn't mind replacing these items.

Ohh.... Also.... My computer is not responding to my auto-xray to read my codes. BTW... my check engine light is on.

Any ideas??

 

[Chythar]

Ohh.... Also.... My computer is not responding to my auto-xray to read my codes. BTW... my check engine light is on.

Any ideas??

Did you check the connector under the dash, or the connectors under the hood? The connector under the dash isn't hooked up - it's for the OBDII computer that the V6 has. The GT had OBDI, and its connectors are on the passenger-side of the engine compartment, between the shock tower and the firewall.

Ford tried to save money by installing the same dash in the V6, GT and Cobra. The instrument cluster is different, of course. That's why there's a useless OBDII connector under the dash.

 

[cobra94r]

Hey Chythar...thanks for your response. Yes.. I am using the connector under the hood on the firewall. I have scanned the computer many times over the years and never had any issues. All I get now is a "vechile not responding". The same message if you would not hook up the plug completely OR forget to turn off the ignition.

Is there a pin that can be grounded to manually retrive the codes?

Thanks again for your input. All suggestions are appreciated!

 

[cobra94r]

Still Shutting down...

OK... Since my AutoXray will not get recongized. I manually did a self test (jumped pins #2 with trigger wire) and used a test light on positive wire to battery.

The self test keeps turning on the fuel pump... (sometimes rapidly) then occasionally turns on the fan. It is not progressing past this step and I am getting no codes at this point.

In the past year or so I have had a 'primary fuel pump failure code' ***** However I never had any issues other than the check engine light coming on.

The car will sometimes start and miss real bad. I can smell raw gas and unburned gas out the exhaust. Once I feather the throttle for a little while (a full minute or 2) the engine will smooth out, run on all cylinders and sound in time. BUT this only lasts about 2 seconds and the car shuts down like the ingnition switch is turned off. No sputters.. just dies.

In the electrical system, does the fuel pump relay in some way have any effect on the ignition sytem?

Thanks for any suggestions!!

BTW..... HAPPY EASTER TO ALL!!!!!!

 

[Black_Sunshine]

Did you try the stator?

I had the same problem, after several different things, it turned out to be just the stator, apparently bullet proof, but not in our cars.

but I now have a new fuel pump, fuel filter, and a new TFI because of the PIP Stator, it's been two years since and I have no stalling or engine killing problems.