OSUjustin313

1999 Ford Mustang GT V8 , had it about two years. I was driving 25 mph and car randomly shut off. started back up. happened again twice that day then three days later, did it again. Next day, it hesitated a few times on the highway. On the way home from work , it backfired when I went to accelerate at a stop sign. made it home but it hesitated a bunch and died while I was parking. Checked plugs (good), injectors (good), fuel pump (good), gas (good)..checked security system to see if it was sending signal to cutoff (good). Took it to Ford dealership and they said the Cold Air Intake was clogged and had carbon buildup. They cleaned it out and it idles at 500 again now, and I drove it without issue. But, on the invoice (along with giving me half of someone else's), they said " cold air intake may still have issues".

Two questions: Am I in the clear and they are just saying that to cover themselves?
What else could it be?? I checked the fuel and electrical system...any feedback is greatly appreciated bc my son loves when I pick him up from school in the mustang!

Aaron Bridges

this might be crazy but when my alternator when out while driving i tried to hit the accelerator to get a little further cuz i was right at my house, check your voltage at start up on ur gauge cluster make sure your plug to your alternator is all the way in, just a thought cause that could cause it to do thst if the wire is half way in and out.

uberstang1

When they said the intake I assume they meant the maf sensor which could of been the issue

OSUjustin313

Thank you for the feedback guys

I actually had it taken to my friend's shop and he checked the electrical system..also took to to auto zone and hooked it up to the code reader and it didn't throw out any codes..No check engine lights at all...so, no lights and no codes...I checked for leaks and didn't have any..including air leaks...and whatever the dealership did has worked so far...I guess I'm just mystified that a problem like a clogged intake could occur so quickly and have such a profound affect on engine performance and degrade it to the point where it wouldn't even sustain 500 rpm at idle..just baffling.

uberstang1

I dont thinj the intake was literally clogged, the mass air flow sensor is part of it and it was prob dirty which could cause your problem

WJL

+1 on the cai not being clogged, good for you now that your car is running better but why don't you call you dealer and ask them to explain anything and everything written on you work order?

Thatsweetstang

Hmm I wanna take a shot at this. My dad owns a 99gt and we had the biggest problem with hesitation and Loss of power while under load. Well hesitation was bad cops, ended up replacing them with eBay ones and they still work a year later, also helped with loss of power under load. Then my dad had high revved on accident by shifting from third to 2nd going way too fast, apparently the blows the fuel pressure sensor/regulator. Replacing that ended loss of power under load. Lastly the iac went out after which causes bad idle, hesitation and random stalling because of the rpm dropping way to soon and not enough air bypassing. I am a mechanic and in what you described I would've charged you for me to clean your iac and maf, although I've never diagnosed a bad maf sensor, I have diagnosed a ton of bad IACs on fords and I'm sure they shot gunned and cleaned it all from filter to throttle body and something worked. A clogged cai I've never heard of or seen. All of my ford vehicles have had the IACs replaced :/ I have a few back ups just sitting in my garage waiting because I know my current one will fail like it has twice before. Best thing to do is ask what the mechanic did, a seasoned ford mechanic probably did what I just told you.