I've spent most of the day running around, short trips five or ten miles all total maybe fifty miles. On the way home my truck just quit right in the middle of the road, acting like it ran out of gas. After sitting on the side of the road for five or ten minutes started up like nothing was wrong. Mile or so later quit again..... after two or three times of the same thing finally made it home.

The truck is a '96 2.3, I drive about 80 miles to work round trip every day with no problems.... any ideas where I should start looking??

 

Honestly to me could be a lot of things. But Honestly I would start looking in the fuel pump region. Could be something as simple as trash from the gas or water or something. Some vehicles used to have this problem. They wouldn't start or had cut off when driving, I would put them on my flatbed and take them a few miles down the road with the car bouncing, and the car would fire right up at the destination. Never really found out what their issues were but I am pretty sure is was just the fuel pump clogged up.

 

2turbo2, thanks for the reply. I've got all day tomorrow to mess with it...... I may start with the fuel filter then check the pump, might get lucky.

 

When in doubt, luck is usually on our side!

 

I agree with looking at and around the fuel pump. It could also be something as simple as a loose electrical connection running to the pump.

 

You are right. Could be something with the electrical connection. Make sure while you are looking at the pump to also check the ground wire. Could give you a little issue. I have heard of this a lot in Chevy Blazers, but I would check it out anyways.

 

When it stalls have you tried giving the fuel tank a good whack to see if the fuel pump wakes up? Also some of the 2.3 engines had the ICM mounted on intake manifold in a high heat area. Maybe it is getting hot and shutting down and once it cools fires up again. Have you tried getting it scanned to see if any stored codes? Advance and Autozone do it for free.

 

When my '88 F-150 did the same exact thing, it turned out the computer went bad.

 

Thanks guys for the ideas, I'll start with fuel pump connections and go from there. I picked up a Actron PocketScan Plus last year when Advance had them on sale.....never used it, but it has a book with it . Let you know what I find, thanks again!

 

If it just quit dead, then one other thing to check is the fuel pump emergency cut-off. That's the switch that shuts off the pump in case of an accident. They're usually located up in the passenger footwell. There should be mention of it in the owners manual.

 

I thought about that but assume it would have to be reset once tripped before it would restart. Along the same line of thought is fuel pump relay in the black box under the hood. Maybe it's on the way out.Would be chap enough to replace or at keep a spare hndy just in case.

 

Okay, checked all connections on fuel pump using mirror, flashlight and reaching over the tank best as I could...... kinda hard to reach on top of the tank, everything looked and felt good.
Checked emergency fuel pump cut-off, connections good, clean, dry, little red button down.
Pulled codes, showed three. P0103, Mass air flow circuit high input. P1121 and P1443... reader gave a a 800 number to call.... little book says OEM codes, don't know what they mean.
Started the truck and drove all over town, ran great, no problems. Stopped by Advance Auto, parts guy tells me I have a coil pack going bad????

 

Coil pack is possible but without checking it with ohmmeter I wouldn't condemn it. Advance/Autozone love selling parts but that isn't always the solution. Here is code list for reference. might try cleaning maf sensor (use cleaner made for that specific purpose)check evap system for vac line leaks. Check wires/connection at throttle position sensor. Here is link on code P0103 which wasn't on other list


Ford OBD-II Trouble Codes

http://www.obd-codes.com/p0103

 

please disregard most of this post. I did not see post #12 by the OP when I typed this...my bad

see if you can catch a pending code. if you don't get any codes a lot of time it is fuel related........next time it is not starting spray starter fluid into the TB....is anything else not working right..is your ignition key cylinder OK?....could be ignition switch...swap out the eec relay? fuel pump relay? .could be a lot of things........start poking around.....change the fuel filter and if you can get a tester test the fuel pressure .....it take 10 minutes.

 

The starting fluid idea is good idea. Could also carefully put a rag over and press shrader valve on fuel line rail to see if any gas bleeds out when it dies on you. From your trouble codes involving throttle positioner/map sensor it's sounds like computer isn't getting an input intermittently and stalling it. Maybe due to a bad connection at either or the wire running from them to computer.