What Happened?

[Dan Jefferys]

Had a problem with the trac earlier today (I habe an ’03). My wife had taken it out to the store and it was fine. When I went out later, it was immediately apparent something was wrong – it was idling very rough and stalling. I shut it off, waited, started it up again and got the same thing. I had to drive it (long story) but luckily I only had to go about 5 miles. During the ride, I couldn’t get it to go over 20 - 25 mph and when I stopped I had to “two foot” it to keep it from stalling. I heard some backfiring, and the trans almost seemed like it just slipped or dropped into neutral on occasion (I guess it could have been the engine just racing all of a sudden, but there was no power behind it). There were no check engine lights at all during this.



When I got to where I was going, I pulled the negative battery wire and let it sit for a while. When I hooked it back up it started up and ran fine. Drove it home and had no problems – running as good as it always does.



I had an issue somewhat similar to this when I first got it (like 3k miles) and Ford replaced the mass air sensor, but I’d think if it was the sensor it would have kept on doing it? I’m pretty much stock except for a K&N FIPK. Any ideas what happened? Kind of concerned the problem could come back…

 

[2]

You seem to be describing the famous ST gremlin. This seems to happen to many people and usually only happens once. Turning it off and then turning it on again later seems to cure it. I had it happen to me once in my 01 and twice in my 03.

 

[Donald Moore]

I had the ST Gremlin once last summer ('03 also). It was exactly as you described. The ST has run perfectly ever since.

 

[Wes Davis]

I had a brand new Hyundai Santa Fe. Great little SUV. Brand spankin new the engine just completely cut out on it driving down the road. No sputtering no nothing just instant quit. I put in neutral and it started right up and runs perfect. Told the dealer my brand new car died on me and they said there was nothing they could do unless I could consistently repeat the problem.

 

[Kevin Palmer]

Like the others said,,, there is a Sport Trac glitch.



Just a matter of resetting the computer and you are good to go.



May never happen again...

 

[Bill Barber]

clean the maf, clean the iac, reset the brain, done deal

 

[EddieS'04]

Yup the ST gremlin. Also as bill said clean the MAS , with contact cleaner that is safe for plastics. Just in case some of some oit from the K&N..

 

[Chris MacAdams 2]

Im having the gremlin right now, it happens every once in awile for me, but this last case has been a real SOB

 

[Gavin Allan]

My '03 did this 3-4 times. Took it to the dealer each time and dealer said nothing was wrong.



Just a Bold Move, I guess...

 

[Dreman]

I had the same problem on my '03. It stalled out a couple of times at idle, but started back up again immediately. Then one day it started and wouldn't run very well, just like you said. It wouldn't go over 35 mph, and it would try to die if I let it go back down to idle. I finally pulled over, shut it off, waited for a minute or two, and then it started and ran just fine.:huh:



I took it to the dealer, and the first thing they said was "we can't find the problem", and told me it would be a $50 diagnostic fee! Then they called back and said it died pulling out of the service bay, and they found the problem and fixed it under warranty. They changed the IAC, and it's never done it since. That was over 100,000 miles ago.



Then when I picked it up, the service manager tried to talk me into over $500 of "maintenance items listed in the owners manual", not realizing I knew the maintenance schedule forwards and backwards, but that's another story....:angry:

 

[Dan Jefferys]

Well, it's good 2 know that it's likely a one time event - kind of bad that the Trac is susceptible to this issue on occasion, though.



Thanks everyone for the info!

 

[Dreman]

Reminds me of a story I read many years ago about an assembly line robot at one of the automobile plants that they had to surround with a wire cage. It seems that every so often it would pick up a new fender/door/whatever and proceed to smash it wildly against whatever was around. Then it would pick up the next one and calmly install it! I understand they never did figure out why it did it.