General Car Question

[Dmustang82]

Hi! I have a 2021 Mach 1 which I love. My question is more of a general car question. Out of college, from 2005-2015, I had a Mazda 3 (new in '05). Before I got rid of it, the car would simply shut down while I was driving it. It was very frustrating and several trips the Mazda dealer, all they would say it must be a sensor but they could never find it. I thought it was a one off problem. However, a friend of mine had a Jeep Grand Cherokee, about 6 years old, and the same thing happened to him. One time he was driving on the highway and the car just shut off, which is extraordinarily dangerous. He got rid of the car as the Jeep dealer could never find the issue.

As silly as it may seem, I am a huge Mustang guy and I want to keep my Mach 1 forever (or a really, really long time). Has anyone ever had this happen to them with their Mustang? Generally speaking, why is this issue so hard to identify? I'd be devastated if this happened to my Mach 1 in 5 years or something because it would almost mean you have to get rid of the car or risk a malfunction in a dangerous situation. I would have thought with a modern car, it would be easy to identify the issue by plugging it into the computer. I'd appreciate any thoughts.

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[cmxPPL219]

Hi! I have a 2021 Mach 1 which I love. My question is more of a general car question. Out of college, from 2005-2015, I had a Mazda 3 (new in '05). Before I got rid of it, the car would simply shut down while I was driving it. It was very frustrating and several trips the Mazda dealer, all they would say it must be a sensor but they could never find it. I thought it was a one off problem. However, a friend of mine had a Jeep Grand Cherokee, about 6 years old, and the same thing happened to him. One time he was driving on the highway and the car just shut off, which is extraordinarily dangerous. He got rid of the car as the Jeep dealer could never find the issue.

As silly as it may seem, I am a huge Mustang guy and I want to keep my Mach 1 forever (or a really, really long time). Has anyone ever had this happen to them with their Mustang? Generally speaking, why is this issue so hard to identify? I'd be devastated if this happened to my Mach 1 in 5 years or something because it would almost mean you have to get rid of the car or risk a malfunction in a dangerous situation. I would have thought with a modern car, it would be easy to identify the issue by plugging it into the computer. I'd appreciate any thoughts.

It's unfortunate that the dealer technicians couldn't find the issue in your Mazda or in your friend's case, his Jeep. A lot of times, in modern cars, a code will be stored due to a fault, but sometimes, not always, and this is where a true auto technician - a diagnostician (and not just a parts changer) - should be able to find the issue, through proper diagnostics, looking at OBDII live data, PIDs and all other kinds of info as applicable.

Anyway, this can happen to any car, and it always seems electrical. Anything from harnesses to sensors to loose connections, and even loose battery terminals from what I've seen.

Could also be a combination of crank and/or camshaft position sensors. If there is a fault with one of these, it can cause the stalling issues as well. For example, I came previously from Nissans, and in many of their cars at one point, stalling issues were due to the sensors I mentioned. Updated parts solved these issues.

 

[compprep]

A few yrs ago a friend had similar issue.

Was fuel pump slowly going bad which overheated when fuel level got low so the cooling effect of the gas no longer had an effect on the over heating.

Was hard to figure out.

 

[IPOGT]

My 1989 350 IROC Z28 would occasionally not start. Never understood why.

 

[CrimsonRocket]

I also had a mazda 626 that would quit while driving. let it sit for 15 minutes and it would be okay. but it took about a year for mazda to diagnose. it was a failing capacitor in the distributor assembly that failed when it overheated.

Never had that problem with any other car including my 4 mustangs.

 

[Cobra Jet]

Such a failure outlined could happen to any vehicle. For instance the 86-93 Mustang 5.0's would shut off in mid drive if the TFI module failed... Most 5.0 owners kept an extra in the glove box...

LOL

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