98 Ford Windstar GL - Engine shuts off on occassion

I recently bought a vehicle via private sale a 98 Ford Windstar GL with 77000 miles. I have a random issue with the car shutting off when I either make a turn or idle forward slowly (maybe a few times within the week). I was told that the power steering pump may need to be replaced. The steering wheel is kinda tight especially on full turns. But would that cause power loss? Would replacing the pump fix the issue I am having? I did take it to a mechanic and they couldn't find anything wrong with it. Granted they said they only drove the vehicle around a bit. Of course on my way home, it did it again. It only does it once in awhile. The car will start right back up and work fine for awhile but then it will randomly shut off. The former owner told me to get the fuel filter change which I did but I am still having the same problem. Can anyone point me in the right direction as far as where to go from here. The car seems to be in decent shape but this issue concerns me since I have a family to drive around so I want to be assured about their safety. The former owner is willing to assist in trying to resolve the problem. I just wanted to see what I should do. I don't want to continue to invest in something if this is a big problem.

Thanks for the help.

In my experience I have had some that the crank sensor was bad or the crank pulley had problems and that was adding to the stalling problem.

Thanks for the reply. I will have a mechanic check into that. I wanted to give them some idea.

Stalling at idle, and when turning the steering wheel at low rpm's.
1. Clean the Idle Air Control Valve (IAC) which is mounted on top of the upper intake manifold, near the throttle body. This item can fail, but I would try removing it (2 little bolts) and spraying some WD-40 or SeaFoam "Deep Creep" inside it to clean and lubricate the threads of the screw in there.
There is a motor inside that turns the screw to open and close a valve to control air into the engine when your foot is not on the accellerator. It is what controls the engine, via the computer, when your foot is off the accellerator.

2. Power Steering, There is a power steering fluid pressure sensor on the high pressure line that tells the computer (PCM) when the power steering is under a greater load. The PCM then sends a signal to the IAC telling it to open more to compensate for the increased load. If this sensor does not send the signal to the PCM, then the PCM cannot know to send the signal to the IAC, and your engine will stall.

dizmatic,

Mine had the same problems. Stalled on U turns every so often. I cleaned out the IAC as wiswind said and have been good for a couple of months. It'll probably happen tomorrow though now that I said this.

PS. I have a 98 3.8 with 102k. Bought it with 70k.

Thanks guys. Very good description of what my car is going through. I felt a bit concern by just buying the car and having the above issues. Is this a job I can do myself or would you recommend a mechanic take care of it? I am not very familiar with working with cars. (I do work on computers for a living though :)). If a mechanic is an option, how much would the job cost me? Thanks again for the input. I am feeling better now about the whole situation.

toastyfries: Hopefully I didn't jinx you... :)

Any illustrations available to see a step-by-step of this? From what I read, it doesn't sound difficult to do.

Thanks for the help.

I was able to find the part, remove it, clean it as wiswind & toastyfries suggested and so far so good. I had to get a 8mm wrench socket. For some reason I couldn't find mine. Of course I found a 7mm and a 9mm :). I did test it a bit and it seems to be working good so far. Thanks for the excellent help. I'm hopeful this was the solution to the problem.

Replaced the IAC and it is still doing the same thing. Today I get the dreaded Checking Engine Soon Light. Any ideas of what the cause is?

You'll need to get the code read from the car to find out the problem. Most likely once you have the code you'll be able to find some other people with the same problem by searching this forum.

AutoZone around here will read your codes for free. I wouldn't take their advice on what to buy though until reading about your code here. They'll usually try to sell an O2 sensor :)

In my experience it's often hard to figure out what is causing the codes, even after you have the code. I have one that comes up sometimes about both IMRC being stuck open. I'm not really sure the cause yet.

Thanks for the info. I will see if my local Autozone offers this.

Update - Got a new power steering pump installed. Seems to be better. Sounds a bit loud and feels a little hard to turn. Is this normal when replacing a power steering pump? As for the check engine light, I got it resetted and was told to use a higher octane (89) of gas? Would that improve performance?

Hi All, I too have the same problem w/my 98 Windstar. We tried wiswind's advice and took off the IAC. It was so gummed up that my husband chose to replace it after cleaning it twice didn't work, ($50 part). It doesn't stall when slowing any more, but does stall while sitting still at stop lights. We are going to try step 2 wiswind suggested (power steering fluid sensor). I'll post back to let you know how that turns out. Thanks for all your great info.

Well, the stalling has gotten worse. Yesterday must have just been a good day. It stalled 11 times on the way to and from the grocery store. My husband went to Checker, Advance and Pep Boys. No one can knows where the power steering fluid pressure sensor is. The only part they could order is a high pressure line. Does that sound right to any of you? We need some help with this problem; it is a safety issue.

Looking at the repair informtion for my '96, the Power Steering Pressure Switch is located beside the Power Steering Gear.....also called "Steering Rack".
It is replacable.....as it has an electrical connector, and screws into the steering gear.

I would guess that it is close to where the high pressure line enters the power steering gear...... Look for the electrical connection.

the easiest way to check that the wiring for the power steering switch is working properly is to disconnect it and jump the connector pins, if the idle climbs up then you know the wiring is good.

My alldata information tells about the power steering pressure switch....
This afternoon, I drove up onto my ramps, and went under with my camera.....but was not able to locate the switch.

Alldata shows a drawing of the switch, and it's location. They say that it is a normally closed switch, that opens as the pressure increases.
This is all good.....if.....indeed it is really there.

Well I guess my model does not have the switch. I got this confirmed by several Ford dealerships and my own mechanic.

On a brighter note. I was able to get the issue resolved. Apparently there was a spark plug wire hitting something that may have cause the engine to stall. I forget exactly what he said it was hitting. He did a bandaid job and taped the wire out the way. Also my mechanic told me that when I changed the IAC, I should have cleaned the throttle body. Once he did those two things, I haven't had the shutting off issue. He recommended I get that wire replaced but give it a few weeks of testing to make sure that was the issue. It has been two weeks so I believe he found the issue.

It is good to hear that you're up and running!!!

Sorry about the bum steer on the steering pressure switch.....it is in my alldatadiy stuff.....for the '96..... But I could not find it...on my car either....and I KNOW that I was looking where they showed it in the picture. I also followed every wire near there.....( oxygen sensor wires are also right there).
So....I would believe that the information was incorrect.....even for my '96.

No problem. Actually your post help narrow down what it wasn't. I'm just glad I can turn without fear of the car shutting off! I did learn alot throughout the process and realized I can do some things myself instead of going to the mechanic and paying much more. It actually got me interested in working on cars. So it worked out. Thanks again for your help. Your information is always valuable and I see how helpful you are in the forums.

I thougth I would update you guys as to what my particular problem was in case you need it. We decided to not buy a new power steering pressure line. So we took it to our mechanic and they dicovered code "1537 IRMC bank 1 stuck open" and code 1538 IMRC bank 2 stuck open". He checked both acutators and the right bank acutator had a blown diahpram and would not hold a vacuum causing both runners to stay open. The part alone was $294. I have no idea if this would have been an easy fix. But I thought the info might help someone else out there. After we left the mechanic the SEL was on, but after a few days of driving, the SEL went off. We are guessing it corrected itself. Hope this helps.

That's interesting.

I'll get those same too codes if the Van idles for a bit with the AC on. The SEL eventually goes off as long as I don't idle for an extended period with the AC on a few days/week.

So during the winter the SEL was off most of the time, it came on once in the past couple months when we were stuck in traffic in the rain with the defrost on.

Since the light isn't always on I don't think my actuaters are bad, I just think I have a small vacume leak somewhere.

Thanks for the info... the more you know...