Help!!

[Tom400e]

Driving to my son's house to see new grandbaby ... Ventura to Livermore, Ca. ... about 300 miles. Get 2 blocks from his house and the car just quits running ...I mean no sputter, no cough, no hesitaion ... like some one just reached over and turned off the key. The car is a '92 400e with 114k on the odo. About 10 miles before it quit we were out in the boonies and ran the gas supply down to within a gallon of empty, I finally got to a staion and filled up ... drove some 6-7 miles and did a full exceleration pass of a slower SUV on a rural 2 lane ... flawles. 2 -3 miles further maintaining a constant rate of speed about 45MPH and it just quit. Attempts to restart ... it turns over strongly but will not fire. I replaced the fuel filter this morning ... no change.

Any suggestions ??

[DEPRIEST]

Well, my advice is check for spark and make sure you've got fuel going to the combustion chamber. You should get at least something if you have those two things. Unless of course your timing is WAY off, but that shouldn't be the case. I'm more of an older car mechanic, but I'd first check to make sure the car is getting spark, then fuel to see which avenue to pursue.

[DEPRIEST]

Hey Tom400e,
I just saw this on ebay and I thought of you and your dilema.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/ebayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1826464255&r=0&t=0

Voltage regulator. That might be your problem. Of course this one is for a 300e and yours is a 400e... This one probably won't work, but the right one might have you on the road again.
Good Luck

[MikeTangas]

10 miles after fill up the car up and quits. Did you get the correct fuel? Could the correct fuel have been contaminated, water maybe? Might be, and maybe you drove out the last of the remaining good fuel. Given the recent fill up, I'm inclined to think a fuel problem.

Had same problem with my 86 560 SEL ,only repeatedly It would just shut off, like you said, then I'd coast over to the side of the road ,get out ,open and close the hood and it would restart . Finally out of desperation I took each fuse out, and cleaned the contacts with emory cloth and ... no more problems....

[Tom400e]

First of all ... thank you to all who shared suggestions with me. This site never ceases to amaze.

Well, I'm home. Spark was the first thing I checked ... it was strong. I really thought the timing of the car dying had to be linked to the fuel scenario. When it quit, spark was the first thing I checked ... it was strong. Then I checked the battery, walked back to the trunk and jiggled the neg terminal cause that's always the loose one ... just visually looked at the positive ... big mistake.

Turns out the problem was a loose positive terminal connection. It was good enough to turn the starter, good enough for the lights and radio to work BUT, it turns out there are some wires that attach to the positive post and they were loose ... they apparently provide the power to the fuel pumps. After replacing the fuel filter without curing the prob I did a voltage test on the fuel pumps thinking maybe the relay ... nothing. I wanted to be sure the volt meter wasn't bad, so I went back to the trunk to test it on the battery ... it was then I discovered the loose connection. Tightened it down, put the key in and she fired right up. Go figure. I still don't understand how everything else could work and the loose connection only impacted the fuel pumps.

Just goes to show you ... don't overlook the smaller items assuming the worst. Be thorough and methodical in your trouble shooting ...you might just get a pleasant surprise.

A very pleasant trip home ... every highway mile behind the wheel of this car is a pleasure and a joy. The little aggravations of a 100k mile plus car are soon forgotten when the Mustang riding your bumper on the on-ramp waves the white flag out the sunroof as he finally catches and passes you about a mile down Highway 5 ... after you've backed off to legal numbers.