2004 V6 3.9 Mustang Convertible

[Richmond]

I was travelling north on the 400 last night when totally out of nowhere the car shuttered, lost power ( the check engine light came on) and the engine died.

I was not able to restart it, so I had it towed home. My son in law has a tool that can read the codes and this is what he sent me.

"The current code was P0320 ignition/distributer engine speed input cicuit. There was also a p0300 p0301 and p0305 (cylinder misfire)code associated with it. "

What do you make of the problem?

[ZR]

Check the crankshaft position sensor is still plugged in or damage to the wiring in that vicinity. Also confirm trigger wheel has not fallen off or been damaged. Not sure on the 3.9 but the odd 3.8 balancer split at the key way, elongated the slot or crank bolt broke n fell out.

[Richmond]

Thank you for the advice. I am a lot more familiar with 351 Cleveland engines so I have a lot to learn about this one.

Richmond

[ZR]

You'll get it.

[Richmond]

Tonight I discovered that my crank shaft pulley bolt and washer are missing and need to be replaced. Which I will do once I get the parts.

Any idea what might have caused the problem. The car only has 71K on it.

[ZR]

Balancer needs to be removed, inspect both it and the crank / crank key for damage. If your lucky, bolt just fell out, odd time they break off in the crank itself. There are options if it's broken off inside. If the balancer is indeed damaged, gotta be 110% sure you get the 3.9L version.

[ZR]

Cause, thoughts fall something between.........
-engine harmonics
-poor engine balance
-crappy crank bolt
-bolt too tight
-bolt too loose
-balancer made out of poor material, actually compresses a hair which leaves the bolt under torqued.
-crank key slot in the balancer itself poorly cut, allows balancer to walk ever so slightly which in turns sees the bolt either break or fall out. Sometimes the key itself will break.

[ZR]

[Richmond]

ZR you are amazing . I read your post, went outside to check to see if the bolt had broken and guess what it had. What do you recommend I do to remove the broken bolt?

[ZR]

You'll need to first remove the balancer to properly inspect balancer itself and crankshaft. With any luck the piece is broken off flush or at least close, at that point, can weld a nut to it and remove. Sorry to have been right on this one.