On Friday afternoon I was accelerating to merge with highway traffic and it was as if the engine was unplugged. It just stopped accelerating and I got over before I stopped.

The care would turn over and sputter lightly but would not start. The fuel gage does not work, but I know that I can get over 420 miles out of a tank and I only showed 240. I added 5 gallons of fuel and it did not change anything.

I have it apart now and have done the following:

- Checked the codes and received the following in this order:
- P0401 Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) - Flow Insufficient
- P0171 Fuel Trim - System Lean (Bank 1)
- P0170 Fuel Trim - Malfunction (Bank 1)

- Cleared Codes
- Replaced all of the vacuum lines to rule out vacuum leaks.
- Spray cleaned the MAF.
- Spray cleaned the throttle body.
- The battery is currently on charge - only a few months old.
- Checked fuel line for flow - gushes out when engine turns over.
- Check spark on all six cylinder - all have spark.

I just don't understand why I have spark and fuel but it just quit running...

Please Help!

 

Given the lean codes you could have gotten a huge vacuum leak all the sudden and caused the engine to just stall out. I would check all your vacuum lines and brake booster line.
Another possiblity would be massive carbon build up on the intake valves which is common on older 2.8L engines. We clean it the old school way at the dealer, basically we take off the intake line and spray some chemtool carb cleaner down the intake while another person continually cranks over the engine. Don't be surprised if the engine back fires on you though, it should take about half the can to get the engine started, once its running continue to spray it until the can is empty, then engine will try to stall when spraying it. Repeat until the engine runs like butter again. Also to avoid carbon build up its good to use higher quality gasoline like 91 octane or higher shell gasoline.

 

Thanks,

I was using water on all the newly installed vacuum lines and found no leaks while I have a friend crank the engine over... I did notice the cam cover on bank 1 was disconnected from the throttle intake. But still no joy.

I will look for the break booster line leak next and try the carbon cleaning. Were would I get the chemical spray from and is there any particular brand that is better?

 

Thanks