2003 Sport Trac left me stranded

[Bish]

Yesterday I was stranded in the middle of a busy intersection when my Sport Trac died. It restarted but felt like it wasn't getting any gas and barely made it off the road. When I raised the hood it smelled like something was burning. It would crank, but would not go over 10 mph. When I would rev the engine, it would sputter at 3000 RPMs like it wasn't getting fuel-and yes, it has a full tank! Someone suggested the Cat. converter. Anyone had the same issue? By the way, I replaced the fuel filter about a month ago.

 

[John_Rock]

When not in gear there is a rev limiter set at 3000rpm. When flooring the peddle while in Park or Neutral, the engine RPM's should bounce between 3000-4000 rpms.

 

[ncranchero]

Well the "sputtering @ 3000 RPM" is the rev limiter. It'll cut you off @2800 RPM's if in PARK or NEUTRAL.
You'll have to find what was burning. The engine temp didn't show HOT did it? I'd think even in failsafe mode it'd do better than 10 MPH. ( I guess these Trac's have failsafe mode, my Vic did ) Fuel pump would be my next suspect.

edit:Almost beat ya that time John!!!

 

[bdmaash]

you could get someone to press the gas, and see how much flow you get at the exhaust pipe (to see if the cat is plugged).

edit: though you should have seen gradual decrease in performance if it was the cat, and not a sudden change.

 

[Branchy]

hmm, I'm voting for the fuel pump, but have you check the plugs/wires?

 

[chad551]

Mine has done this before. I have determined it was a Ford Gremlin!!! Because I disconnected the negative baterry terminal and then hooked it back up and off I went.. Others from another forum have had the same problem as well. You will be suprised how much you can repair yourself by simply disconnecting the negative battery terminal for about 5 minutes and letting the computer reset itself.