Sudden Total Loss of Power while Driving
 

I have had my truck cut out twice this past month while I was driving. The first time it happened I was cruising and I happen to look at the radio to adjust the volume and the engine cut only to come back on a second later like nothing happened. A tech at the shop I work at recommended I check for diagnostic codes and clean the battery terminals (as he had a similar problem with his car, but worse). No codes came up and battery terminals were clean with no acid or corrosion build up (I cleaned them anyway with a wire brush).


My engine cut out only to come back on a second later a second time while coming home from work. I will be checking for any codes again tomorrow. When my truck had cut out this time I was paying attention to my gauges and lights and everything read perfect tach followed the engine as it died down, speedo stayed with the velocity of the truck, and my lights did not cut out (like what was happening to the tech on his car).


I don't think it is an electrical problem as all the lights stayed and I don't think it's the engine computer as nothing else cuts out (the trans doesn't even lose gear) when the truck cuts out, but I won't rule it out as my tach used to jump to 6 grand while driving for a split second (it stopped doing that 11 months ago) and noticed my temp gauge jumping between two small tick marks on the gauge this morning (also, second time I noticed that too).


The fuel pump and fuel filter were replaced 2 year ago with an ac Delco pump and the distributor was replaced last year

Any common problem areas that would cause this type of problem with a way to test the component?

-Update-
I checked out the codes that might have come up and there are threes codes.
P0420 (I know about this one and I am not worried)
P0102 MAF Circuit Low Input
P0103 MAF Circuit High Input


As a side note; only the P0420 can be seen with any scan tool, while the P0102 and P0103 can only be seen under manufacture specific mode through our shop's Snap-On Solus scan tool. The P0102 and P0103 are also shown without freeze data and without even a history code; these are generic codes and should be visible with any scan tool. Even with the snap on Solus, unless the tool is set to manufacture specific, no scan tool can read the P0102 and P0103 codes.


And yes, I did replace the MAF with an AC Delco MAF a little over a month ago and yes I did spray the sensor with MAF cleaner (both the old one when I first had one of these codes come up two months ago, and the new sensor when I found out that silicone used the making process tends spill on the sensing part of the sensor and will throw a MAF code).

I had the same problem and had several things replaced. Coil,module,and plugs and wires. It turned out to be a short in a wire to the module. While it was running I started checking connections to see if I could get it to stall, and I finally found when moving the wire I could get it to stall.

Which wire and were at?


I try looking for it as soon as I get the time. Also, if it's in the wire harness did you have to replace the whole harness or were you able to fix it?

Not sure is will let you know this evening. I just found it late last night.

Just talked to some of my teachers from automotive school and they also thought what was going on with my truck was weird. One of them (who is the advance engine performance teacher) looked up the P0102 and P0103 codes and found that one problem areas could be interference from secondary ignition wires (spark plug wires). The other two are wiring problems or a pcm fault. In the diagnostic chart secondary wiring interference was listed as the first thing to check with checking the actual MAF wiring second.


After going through my engine bay I noticed two things two of the spark plug wires are close to the temperature sensor and its wiring and there are three wires in direct contact with the conduit around the wire harness. The spark plug wires themselves are Duralast plug wires that were installed 2.5 years and 25,000 miles ago; any thoughts?


Also, would this explain some the temp gauge's weird behavior?

Duralast wires are, uh... very cheap quality. Might be worthwhile replacing with AC Delco or Autolite Professional series wires. Plug wire routing looks fine and shouldn't cause any issues. I have seen, (several times) a failing fuel pump and/or poor connection for the fuel pump, falsely set P0102 & P0103. Might be worth checking fuel pressure and leakdown along with pump max output. Monitoring fuel pressure while driving might reveal something as well, if it drops unexpectedly.

About 3 weeks ago (after I started looking more into why my truck acts up) I checked all connections (all were good) and swapped the fuel pump and horn relay and so far no issues.

Im having the same issue with my 1991 Chevy S10 blazer with the 4.3 TBI. On acceleration it will cutout but only for a second or less but it will sometimes do it several times in a row it will also do it on rare occasion it will do it when just cruising at the a constant speed but mostly on acceleration and mainly hard acceleration. I have replaced the plugs, wires, ignition module, cap and rotor, fuel pump, fuel filter, injectors, fuel pressure regulator and some other things and is still present. Did you find what wire and where the short was and how did you fix the short?

2014...


might be better to start your own thread...