Hello, I have a 1988 Mustang GT 5.0 Convertible. When I first got the car it ran great, for 3 weeks no problem. Then I took it to Walmart to get oil change and a fuel injection cleaning. Then it ran fine. About 3-4 days later when i was pulling into my drive when I engaged the clutch it sputtered and died. I sat there for a second and tried starting it and it started fine.

The next day I drove it for 3-4 hours and came home, I let it sit for about 5-10 minutes and when i put it in reverse and started to give it gas it chugged and died in the street. I tried to start it but it would turn over start for a second and die again. Repeatedly.

By now im frustrated, So I thought maybe my battery was dead because my lights where on ( no clue why ). So my gf jumped it and it wouldnt start. So we let it sit charging for about 5-10 minutes, went and it started fine and i parked it. I drove it around the block, turned it off, It didn't start.

So We went out to eat in her car and when we came back I tried turning it on and it started fine. Drove it and worked fine, came home, parked it.

By now I just thought maybe it was running hot and my battery was bad, and that the battery was to weak to start it hot. Also My coolant was low and dirty so i put some in maybe that would help a bit. Well anyways We drove it all day for 6-8 hours, stopping and turning it off, fine. I got my battery tested, it was bad so I bought a stronger one and continued my day. Then at night on my way home I was stopping at a stop sign and it stalled again. Tried to start it same thing, so we sat and waited for 5-10 minutes. Started up fine and drove home. Later that night, We drove to get food, worked fine. Now today im at work and I drove her car, I dare not drive it through city incase I stalled and i lost power steering and brakes.

I've looked online and its ether this.

TFI module
Fuel pump/Fuel filter
Bad Ground
Timing

Any inputs would be greatly Appreciated

Thanks to all

 

oh dear god why would you have your car serviced at wallmart? They hire the least common denomonator no matter for checker or service, pay them **** so they don't care and call it a day.

Also, even if the motor dies you will still have use of your brakes and the steering will work but be harder.

Have you had the alt tested? Are any of the gauges showing high/low when it happens? Exactly what did they do to "clean" your injectors? I have heard that those automated cleaning machines can do just as much harm as it can help I would not trust them, especially not there...

 

Thanks for the reply, I tested the alternator by taking the positive off the battery and it ran fine. Apparently the run a machine and pump something through it for 15 minutes.

 

HOW IT WORKS the tech will disable the fuel system and plug the fuel system return line the run the vehicle off of a solvent till the bottle runs out then the will clean the throttle body and run a nother bottle of upper intake cleaner the intake tract of the motor then finaly they will dump a can of cleaner in the tank.


This is what I found

 

its done through a vacuum line that leads to the intake manifold, then they have a bottle that they dump in the gas tank labeled injector cleaner.

 

Each time I have had a TFI fail, it acted up pretty reliably when the engine got up to operating temperature. it would then start dropping the pulses to the ignition coil momentarily at first, then it would start trying to die and recover and the iac would jerk the car forward trying to recover idle. your problem doesn't sound like a TFI. They didn't mess with any of your ignition wiring or spark plug wires, did they?

 

There is a guy on here that's a walmart tech.. cant wait til he replys. Maybe its a joke tho.. prob is lol (gullible)

 

My vote goes to a failing alternator.

 

You need to figure out what system is failing. If your alt. is going bad then the car will run off battery until Voltage gets too low then will die. That means your battery light should come on long before the car dies. If your engine will turn over correctly then its not battery or charging system issues, therefore jumping it is pointless until the battery gets too weak from turning over the motor so long. Turn your key to on and make sure battery light proves out. More likely your problem is ignition or fuel related. When the car won't start check for spark and for fuel pressure. I could go on but lets leave it at this for now.

 

Well the only thing I notice is some times when it idles, the battery is in the middle and mostly borderline red. But I assume since it has no computer that the alternator only works as fast as the engine so it sits low.

I drove it yesterday for about 40 miles and it didn't do it, I also drove to work today and it hasnt yet.