Car shuts of while driving or at a stop light

Tiny
NICOLE SIMMONS SANDOVAL
  • MEMBER
  • 2001 FORD MUSTANG
  • 4.6L
  • 6 CYL
  • 4WD
  • 1,347,582 MILES
Sometimes when I start my car I have to hit the gear shift for it to start and when I put it in park it rolls like it's in reverse or neutral. Now it's shutting off while driving or at a stop light. What could be the problem?
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2020 AT 3:58 AM

3 Replies

Tiny
KASEKENNY
  • MECHANIC
  • 18,907 POSTS
I don't think all these are related. The hitting of the shifter for it to start sounds like the interlock solenoid is failing. The rolling when in park sounds like the shifter is out of adjustment and the stalling at a stop light could be a number of different things.

Let's address the stalling issue here and then we can start new posts for the other issues. Here is a guide that will get us started:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/stall-at-idle

Does this stall when coming to a stop or are you just sitting still and then it stalls?
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Tuesday, September 22nd, 2020 AT 4:58 PM
Tiny
NICOLE SIMMONS SANDOVAL
  • MEMBER
  • 2 POSTS
It stalls when coming to a stop. I forgot to address one more thing there is grayish smoke coming out the tail pipe and it smells like fuel. What can that be?
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Friday, September 25th, 2020 AT 2:25 AM
Tiny
KASEKENNY
  • MECHANIC
  • 18,907 POSTS
Yeah. That helps. Here is a guide that gets us started:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/engine-black-smoke

Basically the engine is running too rich so it is stalling most likely because the fuel is not getting burned in the engine. Either because there is too much fuel/not enough air, or the spark is too weak to burn it all.

Either way, let's run through the guide and see what turns up. If nothing then we can dig further. If we solve the gray smoke/fuel issue then I bet we solve the stalling as well.
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Friday, September 25th, 2020 AT 8:59 PM

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