94 Taurus Wagon engine stall while coasting

[fstopusa]

I have a 94 Taurus wagon with the 3.8 liter engine in it. It has started to have problems with the engine dying when it has warmed up. It tends to do this when it is coasting and the engine is warm. Any ideas on what to check? It does not give any codes, so it is hard to decide what to do.

Thanks,

[mechhound]

I would add a container of a good name brand fuel injector cleaner to a full tank of gas.(put the injector cleaner in the tank JUST before you fill it) Also watch for signs of a failing head gasket on the infamous 3.8. Maybe a normal tune up would be in order if you haven't done one in a long while.

[fstopusa]

Thanks for the ideas. I will try them out.

I also noticed some other discussions on the Mass Airflow Sensor that seems to have similar effects. Any idea how I can find and check this on my engine? I have also noticed it does not do this as much when the transmission is in the Drive position instead of the Overdrive position, just in case that makes anything else come to mind.

Thanks again for the help.

[TaurusKing]

Mass airflow sensor is mounted on the hose connected to the intake, and to the aircleaner box, has an electrical connector,, my son's taurus had a once-in-while habit of immediately stalling after startup, hot or cold,, no check engine light, however there was a stored code indicating a malfunction with the sensor. I took it off the car and CAREFULLY cleaned the little wires, I think there were 3 or 4 inside, sort of inside a horn, they're very tiny and very fragile, I used a q-tip with some rubbing alcohol to wipe them, got some black residue off of them,, put it back together, made sure connector was clean, cleared the code, no prob since.. in your case it could be a whole host of things, like the other poster said, maybe a tune-up to start, make sure you clean inside the distributor cap also, those contacts can get really corroded up.. how many miles??? Has the head gasket failed?? Or been replaced?? I think there was a 7 year 100k Ford deal on 94's with 3.8 troublemaker.. how about your engine mounts??? Make sure you keep an eye on those, they have a habit of breaking on the 3.8, I think a combo mostly of a poor design of the mount itself combined with the torque of the engine.. Check over your engine, make sure all electrical connections, vacuum hoses, etc are in good shape. Usually your check engine light will not come on unless there's a total failure noted of a monitored system, there's probably an exception somewhere.. a part could be acting up enough to set a code in memory, or not, but not turn light on,, these systems, eec4, are not as advanced as the newer obdII's are.. I do believe there may have been a couple of 94 models that were obdII, I could be wrong on that, but your car is obdI