I have a 1992 Mustang LX 2.3L with unknown engine problems. The engine has 97,xxx original miles.
I was driving at highway speed one night, and the car started to chug, then the temperature gauge spiked and the car died. I don't know if it was steam or smoke coming from under the hood (it was midnight on a rural Iowa highway, so I had no real light source) but the car smelled of burning oil. The car had started without incident, and ran fine up until this point, including earlier this day. I checked the fluids about a week prior to this incident, and the oil and filter have been in use for about 1,500 miles.
It still has oil in the crankcase, coolant in the radiator and overflow box, gas in the tank (purchased from a different station than the previous tank, just in case I bought bad gas). I've also checked the timing belt, but because I was too lazy to take the cover completely off, all I can say is that the timing belt is still in tact (I don't know if the timing slipped.) The engine will turn over, and it fires, but it has a hard time starting or running.
I did get it start once since this incident, but in order to do so I had to pump the gas pedal a lot. It only ran for about four seconds, it died as soon as I lifted my foot off of the accelerator, and I had the pedal held almost to the floor to make the car hold at 1,000 RPM in Park.
Can anyone offer some advice of things to check on the car?
I was driving at highway speed one night, and the car started to chug, then the temperature gauge spiked and the car died. I don't know if it was steam or smoke coming from under the hood (it was midnight on a rural Iowa highway, so I had no real light source) but the car smelled of burning oil. The car had started without incident, and ran fine up until this point, including earlier this day. I checked the fluids about a week prior to this incident, and the oil and filter have been in use for about 1,500 miles.
It still has oil in the crankcase, coolant in the radiator and overflow box, gas in the tank (purchased from a different station than the previous tank, just in case I bought bad gas). I've also checked the timing belt, but because I was too lazy to take the cover completely off, all I can say is that the timing belt is still in tact (I don't know if the timing slipped.) The engine will turn over, and it fires, but it has a hard time starting or running.
I did get it start once since this incident, but in order to do so I had to pump the gas pedal a lot. It only ran for about four seconds, it died as soon as I lifted my foot off of the accelerator, and I had the pedal held almost to the floor to make the car hold at 1,000 RPM in Park.
Can anyone offer some advice of things to check on the car?
May 7, 2008 at 5:44 PM