Car stalling when making left turns?

[radioman2002]

Fortunatly it's not my car, but my former partner in the Sheriff's, he bought a 1998 CVPI with less than 10k on it 5 years ago. Since then periodicly the car would stall when making a left turn and hitting a bump in the road at the same time. According to him, the ABS, TC, check engine light would all flash, the radio, wipers or any other accyy would still run OK. He has brought it to Ford numerous times with no luck. Also Ford has not been very forthcomming with what the are doing to find the problem. I suggested that it sounded like the PCM is loosing power for an instant, and resetting. Any other ideas I can give him. When he brings the car back up from Florida, I am going to try and check all the Maxi fuses and connections, especially the ones below the cruise motor. I had a problem with one of my cars where the 12v connection had corroded off making intermittant connections.

[way2old]

You may want to check the wiring under the front cover also. We have run into a lot of corrosion in the wiring harness under the battery where it loops up to go across the rail in front of radiator. Also check to be sure all coils are firing properly. We have had 3 that the couis were allowing the secondary ignition voltage to feed back to the PCM causing units to die.

[cessna310guy]

My 99 CVPI has a similar condition except it happens in RIGHT turns! It has happened since the car had 20,000 miles on it, and the dealer and FORD tech reps have gotten nowhere with it. Replaced the TCS module, all TCS sensors and remade all grounds. NO LUCK. Any advice is welcome.

[jabhawk]

I have a similar issue with my 93. I found that the car was very sensitive to engine oil levels. If it was just below the fill mark I would get sluggest accelleration in turns and from stops. Just adding a pint of oil would improve the problem.

I would check the levels every time i stopped as I have slow leaks and was able to chart the reaction.

My mechaninc recomended I add a good engine oil additive to keep the seals tight and get better viscosity.

Jon

[ElMarquis]

I am having exactly the same problem radioman2002. Did you have any luck finding the cause?

Thanks.

[ElMarquis]

Anyone else has a suggestion? My mechanic altered the voltage on the TPS. It got better, but it still stalls on bumpy roads.

Help!

[rhandwor]

I have found a problem with the battery not being bolted down and it slides on left turns causing the engine to stall.

[ElMarquis]

Did you ever foind the reason for the failure in the original thread?

ElMarquis

[IZ1111]

Hey I finaly found the problem with this issue. (I know its a little late for this, and probly its not even worth posting) Anyways, if its still on a need to know basis.

I had a problem with making turns and the car stalling especialy left. But the problem is that the "strainer" on the fuel pump is clogged or missing. And the strainer also helps the fuel pump extend its pumping range from side to side in the fuel tank. Plus its a little towards the right of the tank, so when you make left turns the gas moves to the side where the pump cant get to it because of the missing strainer to fill in the space.

I took my pump out too inspect it and I saw that it had no strainer. I heard that after so many year, the strainer could deteriorate. Well I just went and got one for about 5 dollars and put it on there. And now when I make any turn, my car doesn't stall at all. Hope that could help.

[ElMarquis]

Thanks a lot for your reply - and yes it is late as I almost committed suicide!

I was about to take the fuel tank down, but I connected a fuel pressure gauge and made the car fail, but the pressure never went down at all, so I discarded the possibility of any gas-related problem.
I found an honest mechanic who patiently went through the entire wire harness under the hood and finally suspected of a plug causing a false contact. He unplugged it, cleaned it with an electronic product and plugged it back again.
The problem is gone now! I was about to sell the car in pieces if I had not been able to fix it soon. I could not even go to work in this condition.

Anyway - the case is closed!

Thanks again.
ElMarquis

[amrita]

I know the problem has been resolved, but in case anyone else ever has this problem...

FWIW, a similar thing happened with my '86 Crown Vic when straightening the wheel after making right turns. All the electronics went black and the car instantly died but it would restart with no problem. Turned out to be corroded wires from the ignition switch in the steering column.

[DSatorius]

I have a 1999 CVPI which had the same problem with the car stalling while making left turns. The problem was primarily coasting(no throttle) through intersections while making the turn. The problem was with the major wire harness (about 1 inch in dia.) extending from the right wheel well, up and over the right bumper mount, across the front of the radiator, down across the left bumper mount, and into the left wheel well. This harness was being cut by the sharp edges of the bumper mounts. The cutting penetrated into the wires in the harness. When turning or going over bumps the exposed wires would hit the engine mount and cause the engine to stall. I fixed the problem by putting rubber edge grommets over the sharp edges of the bumper mounts that were in contact with the harness.

[reekor]

You might be low on blinker fluid.