My cougar's down :(

[Josh125XR]

I was driving my cougar around town visiting my friends on my only day off. I had been driving for about an hour off & on. When I was on the highway with a.c. on going around 70mph my car started studdering/jerking lightly at first then about 1/2mile later all of a sudden I just start losing power from the engine completely & started jerking harder with the MPH gauge just dropping to a complete stop where the car was barly idiling @ 500rpm's. I just rev a few times & it takes off normal till around 30+mph & wants to die again. WTF is going on? I took it to the family shop & no codes come up for anything being wrong.
I got it towed there yesterday & called today & he said nothing was wrong when he drove it around. Then I go pick it up & 12 miles down the road it does the same sh!t like before. Has anyone got a clue what would cause this?
My car: 2001 I4 Zetec MTX
I have a aftermarket Intake, Exhaust, new wires/Plugs/& Ignition Coil.
Could it be my Timing chain or maybe my O2 sensors?:banghead::crazy::cry:

[james99]

mine did something like this and it was the cam position sensor, which when i got the codes checked at a shop said it would affect the timing. after i got it fix everything was fine for about a month, then it started again. i replaced the sensor again thinking it may have been a bad one, this time it didnt help. i had it towed to a shop and they said i was the timing, got that fix and havent had a problem since. all together it cost about $280 for both sensors, the new timing belt and labor. so i would start by having this checked.

[Josh125XR]

Alright I'll let them know to checkout the timing belt & sensor for defects. I'll keep you'll posted

[Ness1216]

car will drive fine with cam pos sensor not hooked up, will go into limp mode (wont rev above 4k and pulls some timing). Start with other things.

[Seawulf]

Whenever I have a boost leak, it will act the same way and barely get above 50mph. It's caused by one of my intake pipes not being clamped on right and I'm loosing metered air making the car just too rich. I think the same can happen even NA. Check your intake pipes and see if everythings clamped on right.

I've also had that happen and when I pull the car over I can find no leaks. I then start it up and take off and it drive like normal again. It maybe that the intake pipe is coming loose with certain engine movements but not others? Or just one of those weird gremlins.

[Josh125XR]

Originally posted by: Seawulf
Whenever I have a boost leak, it will act the same way and barely get above 50mph. It's caused by one of my intake pipes not being clamped on right and I'm loosing metered air making the car just too rich. I think the same can happen even NA. Check your intake pipes and see if everythings clamped on right.

I've also had that happen and when I pull the car over I can find no leaks. I then start it up and take off and it drive like normal again. It maybe that the intake pipe is coming loose with certain engine movements but not others? Or just one of those weird gremlins.

Yea when I pulled over the first time & poped the hood that was the first thing that came to mind was that the elbow pipe came off/loss of the T.B. but it was on tight. When I got it to the shop the 2nd time it came to find out that my Fuel Pump was worn out. So I got that fix with the grand total of $445 with towing, labor, & parts. Now when I left the shop I had 1/2 tank of gas & when I got home I noticed that I had a F*cking empty tank cause my light came on when going up into my driveway. Yea I have a MAJOR gas leak now. SOB!
:banghead::bs:

[02gsxr600]

Fuel pump!! I can't gaurentee anything without seeing the car, but I'd be willing to bet it's the fuel pump!!

Sometimes if you lay under the car and bang on the gas tank a little bit (not too hard) with the key turned on, it will start up again. Most times you just have to buy a new pump though...