2000 Ford Windstar Engine stalls and 'knocks' hard

CONDO2D

MEMBER
2000 FORD WINDSTAR
6 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
124,000 MILES

I've got a 2000 Windstar with a 3.8L V6 and 124,000 miles. There is no check engine light on. About 5 weeks ago the engine would stall stall hard at stop lights. (Happened about 3 times over 9 days.) I also encountered an occasion where the engine 'knocked hard' twice within 4 seconds as I was driving at 45 MPH. The local news reported that there was 'bad gas' in the area with too much ethanol - and claimed that too much ethanol causes cars to stall. I thought that was the issue. I ran the tank down to nothing and filled up at a different station at least 9 days after the reports. Ran fine for half the tank (about a week) then started 'knocking hard' again as I drove through the neighborhood. About 4 times traveling at roughly 30 MPH.

Any ideas what could be causing that? I'm concerned that if I keep driving it, I will do some serious damage to the engine.

Thanks,

Condo

3 Replies

MERLIN2021

MECHANIC
17,250 POSTS

Windstar vehicles: DO NOT perform PCM reprogram. Check for potential lean contributors and/or perform Octane Adjust only. Refer to the following Octane Adjust Procedure for details. If the spark knock condition, (2000/2001 Taurus/Sable), or transmission harsh engagement, (2001 Taurus/Sable) is still present after performing normal diagnostics, check for potential lean contributors and reprogram the PCM. On a very small percentage of Taurus/Sable vehicles, it is still possible spark knock may be present after PCM reprogramming. If spark knock can be verified after PCM reprogramming, proceed with the following Octane Adjust Procedure. OCTANE ADJUST PROCEDURE Use the New Generation Star (NGS) Tester to perform an Engine Octane Adjustment using the following procedure: 1. Using NGS Service Card (11.0 level or higher) and Flash Cable, select "Service Bay Functions". 2. Select "PCM (Powertrain Control Module)". 3. Select "Module Configuration". 4. Select EEC V or PTEC Vehicle - by TSB. 5. Press trigger to continue on emission compliance authorization screens. 6. Highlight the Octane Adjust column and press trigger, then rotate the dial to change the ignition timing from "No Retard" to "Retard". Press trigger again. 7. Highlight Fuel Octane and press trigger, then rotate the dial to set the octane to 87 Octane and press trigger again. 8. Press the Start button. You should receive a message saying that the change has been successful.
May help, it's a Octane adjustment for Windstarts, unfortunatly it has to be done by Ford.