Hey guys, recently I've been having a really weird problem with my RL. Last month I was driving on the freeway and the engine just decides to cut out suddenly. It started right up and I was on my way, but the check engine light came on.

I took it to the shop, and they told me that codes P1201 through P1206 and P0300 were stored, which are all misfire codes. However, after taking a look and taking an extended drive, they found nothing wrong. Also the check engine light went out by itself. So i continued driving it as normal.

Since then it has done this again twice, at various speeds, however the check engine light did not come one, and still started up no problem seconds after it cut out. So, other then stalling, there seems to be no problem.

Has anybody heard of or experienced a situation like this?

 

Check your master switch as the dealership should know this....they fail and give these issues...hope this helps

 

Bringing back an old thread as this issue seems like mine. What do you mean by master switch?

@MikeRL , did you also get P1399? I have the same experience as you except the second time it happened, CEL again. Also each time it happened, CEL was flashing and all other warning lights came on. Upon restart, only CEL but not flashing.

 

@cartryhard in my case it was a bad main relay for the fuel pump which could be what the reply above you was talking about. The way it was explained to me was that power would be cut from the pump, causing a stall and misfire codes on all the cylinders.

Cheers, hope this helps

 

Did you confirm that the relay was the issue before replacing it? I just pulled it but I didn’t test it. Opened it up and all the solder joints look fine which seems to be what people say the issue would be.

 

@cartryhard Sorry, wish I knew more. It took the mechanic several weeks to recreate and diagnose, during which time I ended up buying a new car. All I can say is between replacing the relay and selling the car, the problem didn't occur again.

Edit: I should add that this was about 5 years after the original post, when it started stalling much more often than I described above.

 

Thanks so much for replying even after you sold the car! Mine doesn't happen that often but frankly we just have no more trust in the car. We have a full tank in it so we'll just drive it locally for a while to see if it happens again for will likely also get a new car. It's already so old with an unknown number of miles since the odometer light broke (all we remember is that it is over 200k)

 

@cartryhard Exactly, trust was the reason I started looking for a new car after it stalled in a drive thru and didn't start right up again. Ended up getting a decent deal on a '19 Fusion while it was with the shop. Loved it while it worked though, it as a great first car for me.

 

I can almost guarentee you that it is the PGMFI main relay located under the steering wheel. I had this exact same issue. Basically this is happening because a resistor inside the relay is going bad, when the resistor controls the voltage to the fuel pump, it heats up, disconnecting the circuit and cutting power to the fuel pump, when it cools off again the car starts right up. on these cars the main relay typically goes out after 8 to 10 years. Just pick one up from any auto parts store, they run around 100 bucks and they might have to order it. Hope this helps!