I have a 2001 ford escape V6 3.0l. Dropped a new motor in it, got everything running fine. Surprisingly the most frustrating part was when we mixed up the order of the front 3 coils but we got it!

It drove "ok" for a week and a half. Then it started to shudder at 45-55 mph. Got it home that afternoon and started to diagnose why it would shudder. Suspect its not shifting right.

We started to diagnose what was wrong, made some adjustments to IAC, MAF and checked a few other things.

We then went to test drive, started up fine, drove up the driveway 50' and it died. It didnt sputter and die, it just lost all power and died.

Got it back in the garage and tried to get it started again. Turned Key... nothing. Dash lit up but starter and fuel pump didnt fire. Odometer reads ------. I can jump the starter by pulling the starter relay. Same for the fuel pump. I use a jumper wire between two pins and I can get the starter to crank and the fuel pump runs when I jumper wire the relay too. So I know its not a bad starter nor a bad fuel pump.

Odd part of everything is that It drove just fine that day (other than shuddering). Then started just fine, then died. When it died we were making a sharp left turn in the driveway. Weve messed with the steering wheel because it was "accidentally" put upside down when we dropped in the new engine. Could something have grounded out in the steering wheel? Air Bag? Maybe a problem in the clock spring?

Kind of lost. What would stop it from The fuel, starter and spark all at the same time? Bad PCM? Grounding issues?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

 

<p></p><p>Check all your fuses, investigate (and try jumping, since you know how to do this) the PCM power relay.</p>

 

Thanks, will try. IF that doesnt work, do you suspect bad PCM? ive been told its most likely NOT a bad PCM. Something before it

 

<p>No, I'm not suspecting a faulty computer, but right now it looks like just the power to it.... one thing at a time....</p>

 

<p>IF that doesn't work... I would then be using a multimeter and checking for the presence ov voltages at the various locations.</p>

 

You mentioned steering wheel and dying during a left turn... Ignition switch maybe or wires to/from that run along the steering column? Loose connector? Wire pinched between the plastic and a grounded mount?

 

No power to PCM is the most likely.

Since you just did a motor swap on it, I'd suspect a pinched or chafed wire or similar whose insulation finally was compromised and has shorted.

There's nothing in the steering wheel that can do this and nothing in the steering column above the ignition electrical switch that's suspect.

 

Hey Guys, Just wanted to say thanks and let you know what ended up happening.

After you guys pushing me in the right direction, I got to tracing wire. I traced the pos and neg battery cables back to the starter and noticed some melted black wire casing. Opened up the case surrounding the wires and found the neg cable melted to the pos cable. Not sure how it got hot, I believe something was hooked up wrong on engine install that the guy helping me install did, that I was unaware of. Either way the black casing was pretty much melted off one side and fused to the red cable. I pulled them apart and the red cable, other than a little meltage wasn't too bad. But I did notice a small place where the copper was showing through. and Bam, there it was. The pos and neg cables were shorting out. It ended up causing the 30amp (eec fuse i think it was called) under the hood to blow. That fuse runs a few things, including the PCM!!!

re-sealed the burnt wires and replaced the fuse and I was good to go! Probably should have replaced the batt terminal cables, and probably still will, but i just ran electrical tape around them and then re-covered them back with that plastic tubing.

I want to thank you guys for pushing me in the right direction. Its cool forums like this exist and are able to respond so quickly and intelligently. I have gone through many forums here dealing with many issues ive had and found them to be extremely helpful, especially when the person posts their results. So I wanted to make sure i did that.

 

<p>Thanks for the feedback! It is reports like yours that make contributing to these things worthwhile, knowing that we helped somebody....</p>