Ford Repair: 1996 Explorer dies erratically, reid walker, minute span

Question
1996 Explorer v-8, auto tranny, PS/PB, ABS, 100K miles, fuel injec. The vehicle suddenly dies, sometimes with a slight jolt if accelerating but otherwise at any time such as coasting to a stop, cruising down the highway at 60mph,virtually anytime. No warning, no sputtering, simply dies. No electrical affect on the rest of car. It will not start for approximately 2-3 minutes and always, whether you have tried to crank it during the down time or not, it always restarts after about 2-3 minutes. Usually after a dying episode it goes for days or weeks without a repeat, but it has also done it 5-6 times in a 15 minute span only to go for 3 weeks thereafter without dying. There appears to be no rhyme or reason as to when it dies. We have taken a 400 mile trip with no probs.; on other trips it dies a couple of times. Sometimes a 15 minute trip from home and it will die twice and then work perfectly for several days.My mechanic has put the scanner on it a couple of times but there are no codes registered. He said that he can only start changing out parts until the problem goes away or hope to have it in his shop when the problem occurs. It has not died when he has had it in his shop on the computer. We have found no manuever or action which causes it to die on any predictable basis. This has been going on for about 10 months and only causes a real problem when it has died in traffic, in an intersection, etc. It has a new battery of one month. No noticeable difference either before or after the battery. Any opinion ? Thanks for your consideration. Reid Walker drw44law@aol.com

Answer
Unfortunately, your concern is not a common one.  Usually, I see Explorers that wont start, and/or stall only at idle or when coasting to a stop.  This is caused by a bad Idle Air Control (IAC).  A bad IAC wont usually cause a problem when crusing or accelerating.  I could only take a long-shot guess.  I agree with your mechanic, I would not replace parts until the vehicle is properly diagnosed.  It could get very expensive installing non-returnable parts.  First, I would check the Electronic Engine Control (EEC) power relay, temporarily swap it with different relay (maybe horn).  A bad Fuel Pump or Mass Air Flow sensor could cause the engine to intermittently stall under any driving condition and not set a trouble code.  The Fuel Pump should be fairly easy to monitor and diagnose.  A bad Mass Air Flow sensor is difficult to diagnose and we usually swap it with a known-good one we keep on-hand for testing.

I hope this helps,
Dave