Engine Shutdown on freeway at 60mph (with remedy)
#1
09-09-2009, 09:19 PM
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Engine Shutdown on freeway at 60mph (with remedy)
I thought it would be helpful to others to describe what happened to my two daughters in their shared 1994 Ranger 2.3 liter, manual M5OD transmission.
Daughter 1, driving in the NC mountains June 2009 called me and said the engine just shut off and would not restart after she heard some noise going 60 mph. She got to the side of the road. I went thru everything I could think of over the phone without success. The car would not start and would not go into gear either. I drove 2 hours with a car dolly to bring it home. But when I got there, I thought I would try it and it started and drove just fine. I drove it to the nearest Autozone to get his opinion and they guy came out and tried it in the parking lot and said it seemed fine to him. We drove it home 2 hours, no problem and no problem for the next 3 weeks with around-town driving. I honestly thought my daugher was hallucinating the issue of motor shutdown.
Daughter 2 used the Ranger three weeks later to go to Raleigh, 3 hours away, hot day. She called from the highway outside of Raleigh and said the Ranger cut off altogether, made a racket and smelled funny. It would not restart. I rented a dolly again and drove to meet her and the car started fine by the time I got there, but this time it would not go into gear at all. I towed it home.
At home, I opened the manual transmission drain to see if metal was on the magnetic plug. Yep, there was metal, but no fluid. I (yes, I blame myself) had never checked the fluid level in the tranny since 1994 when I bought the truck. It had burned up the innerds.......by driving it dry. The manual says the fluid should last the truck's life in one place in the manual, but later it says that if there is any sign of a leak, then check the fluid. Duh... There was a small drip once in a while over the years, and it was engough to empty the tranny eventually. What a dummy!
Now, why did the car cut off completely? Another Autozone man figure it out. There is an electronic ignition module near the distributor that, if it gets too hot, will shut off the engine. (not by design, but by accident) (There has even been a recall, he said, from the factory, to replace the old module with a better insulated one.) We were lucky enough to have the tranny create enough heat to trip the module temporarily. I suppose, if the engine did not trip out, the tranny may have seized and created an accident for my daughter(s).
Moral- check your manual transmission fluid.
Daughter 1, driving in the NC mountains June 2009 called me and said the engine just shut off and would not restart after she heard some noise going 60 mph. She got to the side of the road. I went thru everything I could think of over the phone without success. The car would not start and would not go into gear either. I drove 2 hours with a car dolly to bring it home. But when I got there, I thought I would try it and it started and drove just fine. I drove it to the nearest Autozone to get his opinion and they guy came out and tried it in the parking lot and said it seemed fine to him. We drove it home 2 hours, no problem and no problem for the next 3 weeks with around-town driving. I honestly thought my daugher was hallucinating the issue of motor shutdown.
Daughter 2 used the Ranger three weeks later to go to Raleigh, 3 hours away, hot day. She called from the highway outside of Raleigh and said the Ranger cut off altogether, made a racket and smelled funny. It would not restart. I rented a dolly again and drove to meet her and the car started fine by the time I got there, but this time it would not go into gear at all. I towed it home.
At home, I opened the manual transmission drain to see if metal was on the magnetic plug. Yep, there was metal, but no fluid. I (yes, I blame myself) had never checked the fluid level in the tranny since 1994 when I bought the truck. It had burned up the innerds.......by driving it dry. The manual says the fluid should last the truck's life in one place in the manual, but later it says that if there is any sign of a leak, then check the fluid. Duh... There was a small drip once in a while over the years, and it was engough to empty the tranny eventually. What a dummy!
Now, why did the car cut off completely? Another Autozone man figure it out. There is an electronic ignition module near the distributor that, if it gets too hot, will shut off the engine. (not by design, but by accident) (There has even been a recall, he said, from the factory, to replace the old module with a better insulated one.) We were lucky enough to have the tranny create enough heat to trip the module temporarily. I suppose, if the engine did not trip out, the tranny may have seized and created an accident for my daughter(s).
Moral- check your manual transmission fluid.
#2
09-10-2009, 11:50 PM
Check your automatic trans fluid also
And I would recommend changing the fluid. This is one area where a oil analysis test would be useful, the service manual says to change if severe operating conditions at 30,000 miles. Never under normal maintaince??
30,000 might be too often, Never definetly is not often enough.
And I would recommend changing the fluid. This is one area where a oil analysis test would be useful, the service manual says to change if severe operating conditions at 30,000 miles. Never under normal maintaince??
30,000 might be too often, Never definetly is not often enough.
