2000 Mustang stalling once every 5 days or so
09-20-2013, 12:20 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: AZ
Posts: 4
2000 Mustang stalling once every 5 days or so
New member here and this is my first post so I hope its the right spot.
I bought my 2000 V6 mustang almost new in 2000 and over the past 13 years have had very few issues with it. I moved to AZ this past year and we've been using it pretty heavily as it currently is our only ride to get to work. It has about 90,000 miles most of which have been put on it in the past year as it was driven only for short work commutes prior to moving. keep in mind I know very little about auto mechanics.
anyways about a month ago the AC stopped blowing from most of the vents. Didn't think it was a huge deal and probably something I had to save up some cash to get fixed and drove it like this maybe slightly over a week. It did start to drive a little rough over this time. I needed to get some transmission fluid so went to advanced auto and opened the hood and noticed one of the lines in the upper left corner was broke. guy came out looked went inside and came back out with a small length of line and pretty much patched it. started the car and the AC was working fine again.
(its the middle line)
So it drove fine for maybe another week or two then one Friday as I was being dropped off at work it sputtered and died while idling. Tried to drive it home and it would lose acceleration and eventually stall. so we let it sit at my work for maybe 20 minutes and tried it again and it worked fine. Its pretty much repeated this pattern every week for the last month every 5 or 6 days. I'll give an example. It drove fine since last Friday then as I was being dropped off at work yesterday (Thursday) it stalled and maybe stalled 5 or 6 times on my girlfriend as she drove it home. she got home and it sat here for maybe 5 hours till my shift was over and it ran fine when she came to pick me up and since. If it follows the same pattern it will drive fine for the next 5 or 6 days then show the same behavior. I'm pretty stumped as to the issue. Its our only car and were strapped for cash so taking it to a shop and having it sit and be car-less for a few days as well as pay inflated repair costs is a rough option for us.
I have done the following. checked fluids, replaced battery, replaced fuel filter but to no effect. the spark plugs were all changed maybe 4 months ago.
with my limited car knowledge and research I'm thinking it may be either the alternator, fuel pump or some issue with the vacuum lines since when that line snapped is about when all this started. any ideas or suggestions?
Fuel pump would be bad since we just don't have the money to have it fixed and from what people tell me its a $600 to $700 job (why can I find fuel pumps for $30 online is that all labor?)
I bought my 2000 V6 mustang almost new in 2000 and over the past 13 years have had very few issues with it. I moved to AZ this past year and we've been using it pretty heavily as it currently is our only ride to get to work. It has about 90,000 miles most of which have been put on it in the past year as it was driven only for short work commutes prior to moving. keep in mind I know very little about auto mechanics.
anyways about a month ago the AC stopped blowing from most of the vents. Didn't think it was a huge deal and probably something I had to save up some cash to get fixed and drove it like this maybe slightly over a week. It did start to drive a little rough over this time. I needed to get some transmission fluid so went to advanced auto and opened the hood and noticed one of the lines in the upper left corner was broke. guy came out looked went inside and came back out with a small length of line and pretty much patched it. started the car and the AC was working fine again.
(its the middle line)
So it drove fine for maybe another week or two then one Friday as I was being dropped off at work it sputtered and died while idling. Tried to drive it home and it would lose acceleration and eventually stall. so we let it sit at my work for maybe 20 minutes and tried it again and it worked fine. Its pretty much repeated this pattern every week for the last month every 5 or 6 days. I'll give an example. It drove fine since last Friday then as I was being dropped off at work yesterday (Thursday) it stalled and maybe stalled 5 or 6 times on my girlfriend as she drove it home. she got home and it sat here for maybe 5 hours till my shift was over and it ran fine when she came to pick me up and since. If it follows the same pattern it will drive fine for the next 5 or 6 days then show the same behavior. I'm pretty stumped as to the issue. Its our only car and were strapped for cash so taking it to a shop and having it sit and be car-less for a few days as well as pay inflated repair costs is a rough option for us.
I have done the following. checked fluids, replaced battery, replaced fuel filter but to no effect. the spark plugs were all changed maybe 4 months ago.
with my limited car knowledge and research I'm thinking it may be either the alternator, fuel pump or some issue with the vacuum lines since when that line snapped is about when all this started. any ideas or suggestions?
Fuel pump would be bad since we just don't have the money to have it fixed and from what people tell me its a $600 to $700 job (why can I find fuel pumps for $30 online is that all labor?)
09-22-2013, 05:47 PM
#3
Yeah the tank has to be dropped to replace it. But if you have basic hand tools and any kind of fuzzy knowledge on using them you can do this yourself.
One thing I'm thinking to check is how much fuel do you have when this happens? 5-6 days seems about between fill ups, change the fuel filter and run some injector cleaner through it. See what that does.
If you've owned it this long and admit you don't have much auto skill I'm sure you haven't replaced it before. It has to be replaced every now and then like any other filter and if your fuel is low it's gonna take more strain from the pump to squeeze fuel through a dirty filter.
One thing I'm thinking to check is how much fuel do you have when this happens? 5-6 days seems about between fill ups, change the fuel filter and run some injector cleaner through it. See what that does.
If you've owned it this long and admit you don't have much auto skill I'm sure you haven't replaced it before. It has to be replaced every now and then like any other filter and if your fuel is low it's gonna take more strain from the pump to squeeze fuel through a dirty filter.
09-23-2013, 08:04 PM
#5
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: AZ
Posts: 4
spark plugs and all the wires associated with them are brand new. the coil though and most of the other parts are original though. This car has given me very few problems over the past 12 years. biggest prior issues was probably needed the rear ball joints replaced.
I've been driving it with a mostly fuel tank lately to see if that effected anything but it didn't. I'm going to get the alternator tested tomorrow. my odometer will occasionally blink out. don't know if a dieing alternator would cause stalling though. I did notice when going up a hill I don't lose power but if my AC is on it kind of blows weaker.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post