Explorer stalls out while driving

[surfsunmoxy]

Situation:
My explorer starts up, warms up, I drive it down the street and it starts stalling on me sporadically. Sometimes it will die and I pull it over (it is consistently starting right back up afterwards), and sometimes it will stall and keep running but act like its trying to die for a few moments.

Things I have done to troubleshoot:
I have replaced the relays (fuel pump relay was a popular answer to my problem). This had no effect in the long run.
I have checked the fuel filter. Clean.
The fuel pump is functioning.
I had a diagnostic check done with zero results.
I had the wiring checked and there were no problems.
spark plugs and wires are ok.

What am I missing? I would love to hear suggestions for what I could check next. I am also reading in some posts that this could be a problem with my PCM going bad and therefore nothing comes up in diagnosis?

 

[Turdle]

ECM capacitors --check the ecm for leaking-bad capacitors.

Posts 3 and 4 in this thread

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=189504

There is more information on this site about this problem.

 

[awood]

When you say the fuel pump is functioning, is that because you can hear it, or have you actually hooked up a pressure tester and driven it to monitor the pressure?

Pressure can (and will) fall when driving if the pump is marginal.

However, I've also read where the MAF can be on the edge of failing, and I've experienced a TPS with a dead spot - neither one giving a CEL.

 

[surfsunmoxy]

Update:
Just took it down to O'Reillys on the off chance it would throw codes.
it did and here are the results:
DTC: 565 - Canister purge solenoid circuit fault
DTC: 157 - Master Air Flow sensor fault, low voltage
DTC: 158 - Master Air Flow sensor fault, high voltage
DTC: 211 - Profile Ignition Pickup (PIP) circuit fault
DTC: 543 - Fuel pump secondary circuit fault
DTC: 556 - Fuel pump relay circuit fault

I'm thinking I'll start with the MAF sensor first. Ideas?

 

[surfsunmoxy]

Turdle,
just finished reading your suggested posts. I'll start there and update when finished. Thanks for that.

 

[arco777]

Canister purge solenoid is a fairly easy fix. The solenoid failing won't usually cause driveability issues but there may be a fuel smell. Swapping out the solenoid for a new or used one generally fixes that issue. The solenoid is located in a plastic/rubber line that runs from the evap canister, under the upper intake manifold, to the throttle body. It can be removed without removing the manifold, just takes some careful routing.

MAF high/low may indeed indicate MAF failure. A malfunctioning MAF can cause all sorts of problems and while they're not cheap, they are probably the most important sensor on this motor.

PIP circuit isn't a common fault, but is likely related to your CMP. Not a fun part to get at, but it is possible. It's located near the firewall, and is where you'd expect a distributor to be. They're not cheap but a junkyard one may have life left in it - they don't typically fail often.

Fuel pump circuit faults may indicate failure of the pump. Just because you hear the pump run when it primes, doesn't mean it isn't failing and stalling. Pumps get old and when they do, the electric motor in them can only give so much before it stalls. When it fails, cutting an access panel in the floor is often easier than dropping the tank.

I would suggest starting with checking the PCM for problems; many unrelated codes at once sometimes are caused by a PCM problem.

 

[surfsunmoxy]

If the fuel smell I'm getting from the car time to time is an indicator at all then the code for the cansister purge solenoid is coming up correct. This leaves me with the high likelyhood of all of the codes being true.
got paid today and so will the Ford gods apparently.

 

[surfsunmoxy]

quick update.
picked up a new MAF and changed it out. She didn't want to start right away but I'm assuming it had more to do with the fact that it has only been 9 degrees fahrenheit all week.
once it warmed up I took it out for about an hour and had no problems. so for now it's running again and I'll keep going down the list of fixes to keep it going.