Monday afternoon I filled my tank and took off on the highway for work, got 2 and a half hours out of the city and engine light started flashing and the van went into limp mode. I stoppped in a parking lot and checked to see if I can find anything obvious, nothing but a sound, when I tapped the throttle it made a massive air sucking sound like a huge intake leak, I started driving home cause I had no where to go to fix this and that was the best solution. The cel would continuously flash and the van sluggishly made its way up the hills, half way home the van started almost stalling and shuddering, I get ten minutes out the city and she finally died, so I tried starting it again and it did I put it in gear and start driving get about 50 feet and dead again, try starting and nothing but cranking, wait a few mintutes and it starts again and dies after another 50 feet, so I get it towed home. My initial thought was a huge intake leak but if that was the case I don't think it would have kept starting again and again.

Fast forward two days and I'm checking it out it starts for the most part (not every time after it stalls but most times) and idles fine when in neutral or park, put it in gear and it start idling rough and dies, put it in gear and touch the gas but not to the floor and it dies, put ur foot to the floor though and it's ok until u let off.

Van was running perfect for the last few months since I got it and now all of a sudden out of no where it's dead, I've done a lot of reading on different forums and I see torque converter "clutch" a lot and that's isn't an option the van isn't worth the time but if it's an intake leak or plugged egr that would fine I can do that myself at home.

Van is an 2003 windstar sport with 340000 km, the guy I bought it from said the upper and lower intake gasket and seals were done about 6 months again so now 9 months, and it's due for an oil change, also the dash cluster is crapping out on it, gauges go buck wild all over the place and half the time don't work worth crap so idk if that might be related, maybe electrical surge fried a computer? Someone please help I'm lost of where to even start.

 

Updat!!! The codes were for misfire on cylinders 3 and 4, checked for spark at the wire to make sure it wasn't wire or a coil and that's good, pulled the plug and it's soaked in fuel and the gap seems to be a bit extreme for what I've seen with other vehicles I've worked on at work, so I'm gonna give it a tune up either way. But could two bad plugs cause a motor to act this way? It seems like a overally bad response for just a couple bad plugs

 

Also wannna know will the isolator bolt grommets leaking cause the engine to over fuel to compensate for the lack of air? The plugs were fouled with fuel. Just a thought cause they seem to be a issue on these vans

 

If all the plugs were overfueled , that is one thing, but if only certain ones , need to rule out any ign problem first

 

Hanky, so I replaced all the plugs and had checked spark and it's still stalling but it's starting better now. Should I check my coil pack? Maybe it has too much resistance somewhere? I'm lost because it no longer has misfire codes but still stalls

 

There have been problems with the printed circuit board behind the instrument cluster. Cold solder joints, cracked connecting lines etc. Many folks have looked and found and then repaired the problems with the board. Don't know if this is your cup of tea, but it sure would help if the problem was corrected.
If you unplug the MAF sensor and the engine doesn't stall , that could be an indication there is a problem with the MAF sensor. If it stalls when plugged in , you might cleaning it with the special cleaner or just replacing it. Two things, it is not good to unplug any sensors with the engine running so have it stopped when you try it and you will now get codes in the PCM if they aren't there already. If you can, see if you can have it checked for any other codes. You may be able to clear the codes by disconnecting the negative battery cable and holding the end against the positive cable end for a few minutes then reconnect it and after starting the engine just let it sit there and idle to allow it to reset itself.

 

I'm gonna chase the maf sensor part and see where that gets me that's probably the quickest cheapest route. I'm gonna unplug it and try and start it but I thought if u unplug the maf it won't start? Idk illl give her a go u obviously have more hours under a good then I

 

So I fixed half the problem. Saw a guy had similar problem and it was irregular voltage from the alternator shutting down the pcm, now I have a stalling problem only when I floor it or put the motor under heavy load,, it makes a loud audible metallic pop sound and dies. Cycle the key and it is started right up again, or if u let it sit a few seconds it'll start again. I'm hoping it's not the pcm been weakened but the amount of times it been shut down but it could be and the pop is a backfire caused by the sudden shut down I need help on this one it's confusing the heck out of me

 

Did you run any checks on the TPS, throttle position sensor ?

 

I checked everything out and put a new alternator In and fixed the problem but it was still running bad and rough and yesterday I think I lost compression now so it was all for nothing, but yes the alternator was the problem, it was sending irregular voltage to the pcm and shutting it down which caused the stalling issue, but now all it's good for is scrap metal