Mustang 2002 Idle/ starting the car when the engine is hot problems. ( help )

mesho · Apr 8, 2019

Hi! I drive a mustang 2002 v6. I've had these problems for few years now and cant find a way to fix them. The problems occur only when the engine is hot. For instance when I'm stuck in traffic and not moving for few mins RPM starts to drop and hesitate I have to put it on park and hit the gas pedal or it will just die on me. Another example when I go to the grocery store and spend about 10 mins and try to start the car it will do the same thing ( rpm drops and hesitate ) If I don't hit the gas pedal it will just die and wont start again for at least 15-30 mins for it to start again. Also after the rpm settles a weird gas smell comes out of the car then it runs normal.
- The things I changed so far :
-Fuel filter.
-IAC.
-Camshaft sensor.
Few other senors and did absolutely nothing.
Sorry if this isn't the right place to post, but any help is really appreciated!

Noobz347 · Apr 8, 2019

mesho said:
Sorry if this isn't the right place to post, but any help is really appreciated!

It's in the right place now. Welcome aboard and good luck with your issue.

a91what · Apr 8, 2019

have you pulled the codes on the engine? It does not matter if the check engine light is not on, pull the codes for us.

mesho · Apr 8, 2019

a91what said:
have you pulled the codes on the engine? It does not matter if the check engine light is not on, pull the codes for us.

I did about 3-4 times everytime it would have the same codes ( gas cap ) related. I can check it one more time and give you the exact codes.

mesho · Apr 8, 2019

Noobz347 said:
It's in the right place now. Welcome aboard and good luck with your issue.

Thank you

a91what · Apr 8, 2019

gas cap code can be more than meets the eye, the ecu is looking to pull a vacuum in the evap system. This consists of the charcoal canister and its components, when it cannot pull a vacuum in the system it sets a code that most interpret as a 'gap cap' code as thats the most common cause. If you are consistently getting this code then the evap system needs to be gone over thoroughly, likely there is a vacuum leak or defective part on the system...

If you are the type of person who tries to force that last dollar of gas into the tank even when the pump is kicking you back then the likely-hood of the charcoal canister being bad is very high, as this forces raw fuel instead of fumes into the evap system and destroys its components.

mesho · Apr 12, 2019

a91what said:
gas cap code can be more than meets the eye, the ecu is looking to pull a vacuum in the evap system. This consists of the charcoal canister and its components, when it cannot pull a vacuum in the system it sets a code that most interpret as a 'gap cap' code as thats the most common cause. If you are consistently getting this code then the evap system needs to be gone over thoroughly, likely there is a vacuum leak or defective part on the system...

If you are the type of person who tries to force that last dollar of gas into the tank even when the pump is kicking you back then the likely-hood of the charcoal canister being bad is very high, as this forces raw fuel instead of fumes into the evap system and destroys its components.

sorry for the late reply. I never let it empty like never, but there was that one time when i didn't pay attention on how low it was and for some reason I noticed when it gets below the middle the car starts to shake and hesitate when im driving it.

Noobz347 · Apr 12, 2019

mesho said:
sorry for the late reply. I never let it empty like never, but there was that one time when i didn't pay attention on how low it was and for some reason I noticed when it gets below the middle the car starts to shake and hesitate when im driving it.

Read over his last post carefully. There's a lot of information in it that should be prompting some additional questions.

Not also that he wasn't talking about running the tank dry but about overfilling the tank at the gas station. If if you are not someone who does this and the car is used, it is wholly possible that the charcoal canister is bad.

wmburns · Apr 13, 2019

mesho said:
For instance when I'm stuck in traffic and not moving for few mins RPM starts to drop and hesitate I have to put it on park and hit the gas pedal or it will just die on me. Another example when I go to the grocery store and spend about 10 mins and try to start the car it will do the same thing ( rpm drops and hesitate ) If I don't hit the gas pedal it will just die and wont start again for at least 15-30 mins for it to start again.

Recommend that you not over look the effects of the "basics" can have on this problem. Have you?:

checked the charging system? Don't cut corners here!
check for air in the cooling jacket? The V6 is terrible about trapping air inside the motor. The V6 coolant refilling procedures must be followed EXACTLY.
Is the AC on? Does the AC short cycle? A short cycling AC can cause idle issues because the PCM can not learn new IAC idle trim values.
+1 on the EVAP problems. The gas tank vents through the charcoal canister so IF the charcoal canister is blocked this affect the gas tank's ability vent itself.

Howto perform charging system voltage drop test
https://www.stangnet.com/mustang-fo...perform-charging-system-voltage-drop-test.56/

V6 coolant refilling procedure
https://www.allfordmustangs.com/for...stang-irregular-rpms-showing-hot.html#2604913

1996+ Crank with no start check list
https://www.allfordmustangs.com/forums/4-6l-tech/336452-1997-mustang-wont-ignite.html

Once the basic items have been confirmed OK, the deeper dive trouble shooting can start. Here's some information on an affordable ODB2 scanner that might might make short work of this problem.

ForScan ODB2 scanner w ELM327 USB
https://www.stangnet.com/mustang-forums/resources/forscan-odb2-scanner-w-elm327-usb.57/

Mustang 2002 Idle/ starting the car when the engine is hot problems. ( help )

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