Running very rough, no power, stumbles and dies.

Tiny
TOMHOOPLA
  • MEMBER
  • 1999 FORD ESCORT
  • 2.0L
  • 4 CYL
  • FWD
  • MANUAL
  • 140,000 MILES
Vehicle is a 1999 ZX/2 with Zetec engine.

Car was running fine, and filled up at a different station than usual. About 10-15 miles out of town (highway speed) the car started to stumble, no power, and then died. After a few minutes, car restarted, and limped back to town. MIL light came on.

Put some gas treatment in, which may have helped some. Drove car home and parked.

Three codes were set: DTC 0340, 1381, 1383. Cleared codes, and restarted. Reved engine several time, and 1383 set again. No MIL light, though.

Changed oil (which was overdue), cleared codes, and restarted. Improvement at first, but same conditions occurred on test drive. DTC 1383 set again, no MIL light.

Inspected Cam sensor harness. Looked fine.

Pulled cover off of timing belt. Teeth that were visible looked good. Back of belt had a trough scribed in it about 1/3 from the front edge of the belt.
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2015 AT 7:24 PM

3 Replies

Tiny
HMAC300
  • MECHANIC
  • 48,601 POSTS
The code you have is for a variable cam timing solenoid it is either the solenoid is bad, an open or short in wiring or a bad pcm. See pics for one test and location. If test fails then have a pro look at it.
Was this
answer
helpful?
Yes
No
Thursday, April 23rd, 2015 AT 6:50 AM
Tiny
TOMHOOPLA
  • MEMBER
  • 2 POSTS
Sorry to take so long to get back to you.

Voltages: VCT on connector to ground: 0.42V
VPWR to ground: 12.01V
Battery-across terminals: 12.08V

You say take it to a pro. It appears the problem is either wiring or ECM. Is this correct? I can handle wiring and/or changing out ECM.

What next?

Thanks
Tom
Was this
answer
helpful?
Yes
No
Friday, April 24th, 2015 AT 4:57 PM
Tiny
HMAC300
  • MECHANIC
  • 48,601 POSTS
It may be a connection not necessarily the wiring and if you put a ecm in a pro will have to install the security or you will have problems with it running. They are all vin specific
Was this
answer
helpful?
Yes
No
Saturday, April 25th, 2015 AT 5:36 PM

Please login or register to post a reply.

Sponsored links