It just died!! HELP!!

[s5150stang]

Hey everyone I am new here and was wondering if anyone could help me out. I have a 96 GT with 148,000 on it and it just died the other day. I have owned it for 6 years and I know every bang bump and sqeek it makes. The other day I filled up at the pump and when I was leaving I ofcourse got in pretty good. Hey there where some hot college girls there. Anyway at about 4.5 grand she just hesitated for a split second and then was fine. I went down the road about a mile and turned around to stop somewhere and got on it again.....just because this time. Well same thing a split second hesitation. Stopped at my destination shut her down and came back few minutes later. Started fine ran great for the next 5 mi or so. Stopped at a light for a min or 2 and when the light turned I took off slow cause of traffic. Then she died. Dead. Nothing! Tried starting her and she would turn but would not fire. I have checked all the fuses over and over and they all are good. The one thing I noticed is the fuel pump is not whining when you turn the key. So is my pump bad? Would it just die like that? I did let the gas go pretty low before I refueled. Sh also sat all winter but has been out for about a month now and driven alot.
One other thing I noticed was the factory THEFT light was flashing in the dash. I have no other theft system on the car. The only time i noticed this light on was one time when it was new (6 years ago) I had a blank key made and tried to use it.

is my pump bad? I banged on the tank to see if it would get it to work with no luck!? Or is there a problem with that theft system? My ignition on the stearing colom has been broke for years. For about 5 years now you can remove the key any time.

Thanks

 

[Mossberg]

Your computer may be fried. Also, check the fuel reset switch in the trunk.

 

[01Steeda]

funny you should mention this because my car did the exact same thing not long ago. It is still in the shop awaiting a blower (this problem resoved first of course) It seemed like if I clutched and shifted just as she hesitated I was fine, but if I tried to keep going it would shut down.

Later on that night it got worse. I was idling at a light when boom she died and would not restart. tried the fuel shutoff no luck, waited a few minutes and tried again she started and made it home. then went straight to the shop. My mechanic seems the think either the chip he burnt me is fried or the PCM.. but odd thing is.. it just stopped doing it. No fix no reason. So he is keeping it and trying to get it to act up again so he can be sure of the fix. I'll let ya know if I get anything else on it.

 

[01Steeda]

btw what mods do you have,.. maybe we have something new that is similar.. may narrow it down some. Seeing as everything i have is new lol.

 

[Mike97gt]

anytime the theft light is flashing when you turn the key that means you have a pats fault. you might be better off bringing this one to the dealer.

 

[01Steeda]

hmmmmmm and I did have the theft light flashinf. is there a thread I can read on Pats? somewhere to better describe whats up with it? My mechanic was a ford mechanic for YEARS.. but i didnt mention that to him because i thought it was just a response to the car dieing.

well I kinda answerd my own question and did some searching lol.. but from what I have gathered reading if it was PATS, it wouldnt start at all would it? I mean mine is running now.. just not well and spiking rich to the point of fouling plugs and 02's.

 

[jstreet0204]

If not for the theft light, I'd check the fuel pump fuse under the hood, but if it is flashing, like svttech said, sounds like you gotta let the dealer take care of this one.

 

[MAXX RS4]

It's probably not starting because of the PATS. It's probably faulting somewhere and is reacting as if you tried starting it without the normal key (which has the chip it in). It'll either crank and crank and crank and never start, or it'll start up fine and then die about 3 seconds later.

But if you're fuel pump isn't switching on when the ignition is turned to the ON position, that makes me think that the pump may be out.

I would check to see, like mentioned earlier, if the pump fuse is good or not. Then check to see if the pump is getting voltage. If the pump isn't getting any power, then head on over to the dealer. If it is, then you gotta replace the pump on your own!

 

[Dorsai]

When you try to start it do all of the dash lights go through the start up sequence of turn on and then turn off like they normaly should? If they do it's likely the fuel pump died. If you have no dash indicators then as previously mentioned you probably lost the computer somehow.

 

[Mike97gt]

Ok so sometimes it will start... but the time it did not start the light was flashing? you may have a bad pcm.

check for a waterleak down the righ thand side of the windsheild.. the pcm is located in the right hand kick panel, check all connections and look for signs of water damage. you could have a bad pcm. \