1995 V6 Mustang Died Instantly Driving On Highway. Help!!

[Travor Turner]

Hi Stangnet, longtime lurker, and I need your help. Today while driving to see family for Christmas, the car appeared to be running perfect, and I was traveling around 70mph then suddenly the engine died. I was not able to start it, and stranded me. I parked the car in an empty parking lot, and am going to deal with it Sunday. If you would have asked me 10 seconds before it failed, I would have said was running perfect, it happened instantaneous. The radio and still worked, so it is unlikely it had anything to do with the battery. It also appeared to still receive fuel pressure. I am lost to what it could be, and need help diagnosing the problem. What would cause that to happen?? Thanks!!

 

[jozsefsz]

A sudden stall is usually fuel or ignition related. Check to see if the fuel inertia-switched has accidentally tripped. Make sure you're not out of gas. Checking fuel pressure is a good idea.

I'd check the underhood fuses, primarily for the ignition and the EEC. One of those could have popped. Pull off a plug wire and see if you get spark. Visually check your coil connections underhood to make sure something didn't just come loose.

 

[Chythar]

That happened to me with my old V6. The engine would just randomly die while driving. Sometimes I could restart it within a few seconds, other times tool longer. I had to wait over an hour once. Turned out the engine relay in the CCRM was failing. My mechanic finally caught it when the engine died and he tested for spark, then found out that all electrical power to the engine was gone.

 

[Travor Turner]

Where would the ccrm be?

 

[jozsefsz]

On the v8 it's connected to a bracket to the left side of the radiator (when facing the engine). On the v6 it's probably somewhere else, hopefully someone else knows.

It's possible your problem is related to the CCRM, but personally I wouldn't start there. Troubleshooting 101 would suggest you check for fuel and spark. If you have fuel for example, the CCRM relay failure Chythar describes has been eliminated as the EEC relay in the CCRM powers the fuel pump relay. There are a lot of things that could cause a failure to start. Look for jrichker's checklist on this forum (it's for the v8 but most of the principles still apply, aside from the distributor and TFI parts).

 

[Chythar]

The V6 CCRM is in the same place as the V8 CCRM, it's attached to the metal bracket that holds the radiator overflow bottle. With the hood open, it's just to the left of the radiator hose in front of the engine.

 

[Travor Turner]

Went ahead and put a new coil pack in. Seemed to fix the problem. Drove it out of Houston, and gave no problems all the way home (150 miles.) Lesson learned, do not buy Autozone parts unless have no other option!!! Thank you guys for all the help. I will probably go ahead and replace the ccrm anyways, for precautionary measures.