engine will die whenever it wants too.

[Raceit]

Ever since I got my Explorer back from the shop I have had this problem. In the shop I had the bottom gasket on the lower intake manifold replaced due to a coolent leak. I have an automatic with the 4.0L engine.
It can be in any gear, or just about any RPM. Going down the street or waiting at a stoplight. Then out of the blue it will die on me. Once it stops I can start it right back up again. When it does it when it's actually moving the speed of the transmission will start it again. Like jumping a manual transmission to start a car. So there is about a half second where the RPM's drop and come right back up because it's started itself up. It dies at random times. It could stall 10 seconds from the last time or it could go for hour without doing it. But the only time it won't stall is when it's cold or just started in the morning for example.
So, that's the problem. I talked to the shop about it, because this all started the day I got back. They claimed that the lifters where not working correctly and basicly causing the engine to stall.
Now I don't know what to think about that. My engine does have 176,000 miles on it and it has had the typical engine lifter knock ever since I bought it about 4 or 5 months ago. But the lifters have just made noise, and it has plenty of power and doesn't burn oil.
I have had suggested that it could be the fuel pump going out or a dirty fuel line or something to do with the fuel delivery system.
After I bought the Explorer it got a basic tune up. New plugs and plug wires. But I have no idea if the fuel pump is factory.
The only thing I have tried is adding Rislone and a fuel system cleaner. Neither one has had any effect.
Hopefully, for my sake, somebody else has had this problem after taking off the valve covers to have the intake manifold gaskets replaced.
But anyways thanks for any help and sorry for the book version of the problem.

 

[mdrut]

Hows the performance, does it miss or is it hard to start? sounds like a vacuum leak..

 

[Raceit]

When it runs, it seems fine. And it will start right back up once it dies. It's like it never died. Plus the weird thing is it can be in park and idleing, puring like a kitten, then all of a sudden it will stall out. I guess I should have added this in the first post but when it dies it does just die like you turn it off with you keys, but it just ran out of gas. It will take about a half a second to die. So it seems like it just ran out of gas. I have been useing 91 octane for a long time and just recently switched to 89 without any difference.

 

[maxxus]

check your MAS

[that's your mass air flow sensor( a screen at the air intake duct) there are ways to clean this posted somewhere.

 

[DOGMAN]

Raceit -

Sorry to hear of your problem.

From your information, it has to be something the installer did or didn't do. Deductive reasoning tells us that it worked fine before they worked on it, and after they did, the problem started. Sounds like they're giving you the old runaround.

Where did you have the work done?

There are a number of things that could be wrong. Most likely where they were working, on the intake side of the motor. A vacuum line might be pinched, cut, or not hooked up. They could of knocked something out of whack, like the throttle linkage, the throttle body, etc. One or more of the injectors could be damaged or not hooked up all the way, the fuel rails could be misaligned, the fuel system contaminated. Or they could have torqued down the manifold incorrectly and have a leak or possible crack in the manifold. Sounds like with these guys anything is possible.

The area that they did the work in and the problem you have are definitely related, I would bet on it. For them to say that the lifters weren't working correctly after you told them you had a problem - why didn't they tell you this before, when you picked up your truck. Besides, how would they know about your lifters, to get to them, they would have had to pull your heads, or at least the rockers and pushrods, and I think it's fair to assume they didn't do that.

Let me know where you had this done. They need to fix their mistake or pay for someone else to. Don't let them get away with this. Send me an email with the details. If you would like, I could go with you to the shop and see about getting things straightened out. If they can't do it right, I know someone who can.

[Edited by DOGMAN on 01-25-2001 at 10:09 AM]

 

[914x4sport]

Anybody suspect a possible ignition problem? If you think that something may have been knocked off whack by a mechanic it could be that...?

 

[DOGMAN]

Raceit -

Look at Ryan1's thread Lower Intake Manifold Gasket on this same forum. I think you'll find it helpful.

 

[Raceit]

Well to answer maxxus' question. I have visualy checked the MAS sensor and it 'appears' clean. No carbon deposits or damaged wires.
Dogman - I had the work done at Anderson Automotive on Keeler Terr. They are located across the highway from the Great Plains Mall. Probably about 2 or 3 blocks SE of the Mall.
I had never been there before my lower intake gasket started leaking. I just found them from the phone book. I have no idea if they have a bad reputation.
This afternoon I looked all around the engine compartment for any disconnected vacuum lines, loose wires, or anything else that seemed out of place. I didn't find anything. Everything seemed normal. But then again I'm not an expert on this either. Nor did I get any oder of gas.
I'll call the shop here shortly and see what they have to say. And thanks for all the helpfull advice.

 

[Raceit]

update

Well since it actually got above freezing outside I was able to get into the engine compartment and look around a bit more.
I found a wire that came up from the front-bottom of the engine. The shop manual calls it a VR sensor. Basicly it looks directly at the teeth on the crankshaft.
About mid way up the wire it is about a credit cards thinkness away from the idler pully. It was obviously touching it off-and-on, because there was quite a bit of wear on the wire jacketing and possibly the wires themselves. The location of the contact was so far down and behind the pully that I couldn't really see if there was any bare wires exposed, but there very well could have been.
So I took a zip tie or plastic wire tie (whatever you want to call them) and sercured it to the engine block and far away from the pully.
After that I drove around for about 2 hours and it never stalled or died on me once. And this was from a problem that once the engine was warm it would die if you drove it just a few miles. So hopefully this won't jynx it, but it has seem to of fixed it so far. The only thing I can think of is that the wiring inside the jacket was touching the pully and grounding out the sensor and causing the engine to stall and die. I'll be sure to keep everybody posted.
So hopefully that will take care of it, and life will go on happily ever after, or something like that.