Hey,
My car keeps dying on me after running for a little bit. I can drive it for a little bit, but then it dies. I can best describe it as the engine "choking off." Its not over heating, and the temp gauge appears to be working fine. My friends say it could be a number of things, cat clogged, fuel pump shutting off after it gets too hot, or the fuel injection module thing or whatever shutting off after it gets too hot. How can i diagnose this problem and find out what is wrong with my car so that I can be on the road again w/o having to plan for short 10-15 minute trips everywhere?

-Chase

 

when its "choking off" and dies how long does it take for it to start back up again.

 

and it would help us alot if we knew what kind of car you had and year

 

sounds like your mass air flow is going bad, could also be your TFI but leaning twards the mass air flow on this one

 

you dont even know what year the car is. how can you say its a maf with out knowing the year.

 

my bad, its 1986, its actually a bronco 4x4 but almost exact engine as the mustangs (302), which is why i figured here would be a great place to ask... alot of very knowledgable people. I called someone and he said don't even try to figure it out yourself, go to a shop, pay them like $50 bucks or less to have them diagnose it, then tell them thanks and fix what they say. He also said they may not even charge if i lead them to beleive I will fix it at their shop. He said It would take me too long and frustrate me too much to diagnose it myself, and that i shouldnt risk wasting money, if i think its something, replace it, and end up its not that.

 

does your check engine light come on.

 

It sounds like it could just be something simple like a vacuum leak. Does the truck have a real ruff idle?

 

It's sounds like it will run in the open loop and as soon as it goes closed loop it dies. Check the codes. The engine light will not come on with all codes and especially so on an OBD-I vehicle.

 

I thing Djs is right on the money. Open loop meaning the car doesn't require cooling from the radiator yet and still has the "choke" engaged, closed loop meaning you have water circulating through the entire cooliing system and the "choke" is disengaged. Sounds like as soon after the car goes to "normal temp" running mode you shut off. Could be a fuel mixture thing. In open loop your running rich i.e. less air more fuel, in closed loop it reverses.