Hello all,

Out of the blue today my 1999 F-150 4.2 V6 started something new. While driving I noticed I no longer had power steering. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that the engine had died and all the lights (check eng, etc) were on. While coasting I restarted the engine without issue and continued on. About an hour later while running errands it happened again. No stuttering or other problems, the engine just died like the key was shut off. My truck has 189k on it and runs very well.

On occasion when coming to a stop the truck will hang at 2000 rpm and then drift down to idle, but that's been something I've become accustomed to and hasn't presented any real problems in the past.

The check engine light isn't on, but there was a code in the computer P0174 (Bank 2 system too Lean). I've dealt with this problem before by cleaning the MAF sensor and it has also never presented any driving problems.

A friend had mentioned a cam or crank sensor, but I'm not familiar with it so I thought I pick a few brains here and see what you guys thought.

Any advice appreciated. Thanks.

-Eric

 

auto or manual trans? did it happen after driving over bumps or anything that can shake the truck?

 

Manual tranny and yes, I had just come from a windy, bumpy paved road.

-Eric

 

make sure the plug to your pcm is tight. look for any kind of bad/loose ground connections and all. check the battery terminals to make sure they are clean and tight. and make sure the battery is held down tight.

hopefully someone else will jump in and help.

 

check for a loose main ground... i had a old dakota that did the same thing. it would just suddenly turn off it drove me crazy.

 

Normally that's the classic sign of a serpentine belt breaking. But that can't be your case if you could start it up and drive it for an hour.

 

Any idea where the main ground bolts to the frame (or block)?

 

well i remember my 97 had a ground i think on the forward part of the passenger frame. im sure others can be more of a help.

 

I think I found it. There's a fat ground on one of the starter mounting bolts and it looks like there's another next to one of the freeze plugs on the block. They're both good and tight. Not sure if there's one on the frame.

-Eric