Driveability Issues - Intermitten Faults

[Blue Streak 21]

I've been chasing an electrical gremlim for most of the season. The car would drive fine for the first session/race and then cut out during the second or third session. It seemed to be temperature related, but not wholely. What I mean was that when the car was at operational temp for a session or two, I'd see no problem, the engine would run strong. But on the next session, it would die. I've gotten very tiered of being pulled off track. By the time I would get the car back to the pits, I'd have solid fuel pressure and good spark to the plugs. Frustrating.

One other point was that the diagnostic port to read codes out of the ECU would not work. No insight from the Ford boys. Bummer. Had to search out the problem with only old school methods.

I've chased fuel pick up issues, fuel pressure, etc. only to find that it was all okay. Wrong direction. Checked out the sensors which provide data to the ECU and found a throttle position sensor with an inconsistent output. Changed that sensor out, but still had the issue come back during the next test session. Also changed out the electronic module mounted to the side of the distributor, as that module often causes similar problems.

The last time the car died during a test session, I was able to get the car to stay dead in the pits long enough to see that it was getting no spark to the plugs. Started diagnosing the ignition system, and found that the pick-up coil in the distributor was faulty. A bad bearing on the distributor shaft had gone bad allowing the shaft to rub on the pick-up coil, thus creating the coil shorting out.

One more component to check if you are suffering from an intermitten electric cut out on the engine.

[Panoz26]

I had similar issues in the hard corners - mine was a simpler issue - broken wire to the ECU.... glad you found it (finally)... electrical Gremlins blow chunks.