Here's One for ya Rickmn

iceman20002000 · 06-15-2007, 07:23 AM

2003 Ford Windstar is shutting off while on the road. You could be going 65mph or 10 mph (it doesn't matter).....it completely shuts off. The vehicle has been hooked up to diagnostics 3 times and nothing has been found. Mechanic says that the battery cable is fine, plugs are fine etc. The battery is brand new and the alternator was replaced last month.

I had gotten word from a friend that they had a similiar problem which ended up being some loose wire connection. If there is a wire loose, which one could it possibly be. Apparently it must be connected just right that it can't be detected during diagnostics.

RickMN · 06-15-2007, 09:28 AM

oh sure, throw me a softball. I'll do some checking and let you know what I find. When it shuts off, you have electrical (lights, radio, etc) right? Or do you lose everything? Also, does it restart afterwards.

Finally, did the shop clean/replace the negative battery cable at the engine?

CraigRK · 06-15-2007, 10:26 AM

Not to butt in on your little challenge to RickMN . . .

Just a thought.
I had a similar situation recently with my '98. I replaced the alternator and cleaned up all the connections. Unfortunately, the alternator I installed was "remanufactured" (in Mexico), and it lasted for 102 days. Then the ole' shutdowns began again . . .

Replacing the alternator (again) solved the problem.
(Seems like the voltage regulator on the remanufactured unit was NFG.)

CraigRK

iceman20002000 · 06-15-2007, 11:32 AM

Everything goes out, but it starts up with no problem. As far as the Negative Cable goes, there was no mention of that and I'm sure it would of shown up on me bill.

RickMN · 06-15-2007, 01:26 PM

When it comes to electrical problems, the thing to remember is "what goes around, comes around." Those electrons have to complete the circuit back to the battery. The way they do that is by going through the ground straps back to the engine and then through the negative battery cable to the battery. I've seen many many instances of total shutdown due to a corroded negative battery terminal or corroded ground straps.

Having said that, I will pull the electrical diagrams later tonight and see if I can find that "critical" wire you're talking about.

RickMN · 06-17-2007, 09:40 PM

Ok, did some research and here's what I found out. Seems to be a common problem, but with many different causes.

#1 fix--cleaned batt terminals and ground
#2 Do you have an alarm system on this? Several techs reported problem with goofy anti-theft system shutting down vehicle.
#3 Corrosion on the contacts of the PCM power relay located in the battery junction box left side of engine compartment.