Any explanation for Explorer losing power?

Question:

I’ve got a 2002 Explorer XLT and I was pulling my Jayco pop-up trailer last weekend when the Explorer unexpectedly just lost power.  At this point, I was about 2 hrs into the trip and I was going up a hill (long, but not too steep) in the Colorado Rockies.  I pulled over, waited a minute or so, and was able to restart the car.  I started back out, but continued to have this intermittent problem where the car would briefly (few seconds) lose power and then "have power again".  I was about 10 miles from the campground so I decided to operate the car in this degraded mode and assuming I got it to the campground, I would attempt to figure it out then. I did get to the campground and turned the car off for about 5 minutes while I went in to register.  When I came out, I noticed that my trailer parking lamps were on even though I didn’t turn them on from within the car. Thinking this was odd, I just disconnected the electrical between the car and trailer for the 3-4 mile drive to our campsite.  The drive up to our campsite was fairly steep and the car performed just fine, as expected. Once I got the trailer into the campsite and car pulled away, the trailer parking lamps were back on!!  So, I took the trailer electrical connection, shook it, and voila, the lamps went off.  Shook it again, they went back on. OK…obviously, I have a short that needs to be addressed. I started to theorize why the car would suddenly lose power like it did. Given that trailer is wired to receive a trickle charge from the car (to charge the trailer battery) and that I had some sort of short with the trailer electrical connection, is it possible that this put such a load on my car battery that it temporarily drained it to a point where I lost power? One other observation to consider…when we got to the campsite, there was a terrible fuel smell…so much as to look for obvious fuel leaks underneath the car (didn’t find any).  I also got terrible gas mileage on that tank of fuel. During the weekend, without towing the trailer, had no issues with the car. Towed the trailer home with no problems and when I got home, I opened up the 7-pin electrical connector on the trailer to see what was up.  Out of 5 wires going into it, 3 were not connected!  So, I talked to the technician at the trailer place and he told me the pin out.  I fixed it and have been out again camping and haven’t had any issues. I told this story to a friend of mine, and he questioned if the car experienced "vapor lock".  Opinions on what it could have been?  If it was vapor lock, what can I do to avoid in the future? Thanks!!

Response:

I think what you where experiencing here is lack of power to your fuel pump. If in fact the wiring harness is shorting out it is very possible that you are pulling most of the alternator power threw the short and starving the fuel pump of power.  This would explain why you are loosing power or having the car die on you from lack of fuel. My question here is why did it not blow a fuse. you may have a serious electric issue here to the point that you may have a electrical fire here. I would seriously look into this issue.

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> I’ve got a 2002 Explorer XLT and I was pulling my Jayco pop-up trailer last > weekend when the Explorer unexpectedly just lost power.  At this point, I > was about 2 hrs into the trip and I was going up a hill (long, but not too > steep) in the Colorado Rockies.  I pulled over, waited a minute or so, and > was able to restart the car.  I started back out, but continued to have this > intermittent problem where the car would briefly (few seconds) lose power > and then "have power again".  I was about 10 miles from the campground so I > decided to operate the car in this degraded mode and assuming I got it to > the campground, I would attempt to figure it out then. > I did get to the campground and turned the car off for about 5 minutes while > I went in to register.  When I came out, I noticed that my trailer parking > lamps were on even though I didn’t turn them on from within the car. > Thinking this was odd, I just disconnected the electrical between the car > and trailer for the 3-4 mile drive to our campsite.  The drive up to our > campsite was fairly steep and the car performed just fine, as expected. > Once I got the trailer into the campsite and car pulled away, the trailer > parking lamps were back on!!  So, I took the trailer electrical connection, > shook it, and voila, the lamps went off.  Shook it again, they went back on. > OK…obviously, I have a short that needs to be addressed. > I started to theorize why the car would suddenly lose power like it did. > Given that trailer is wired to receive a trickle charge from the car (to > charge the trailer battery) and that I had some sort of short with the > trailer electrical connection, is it possible that this put such a load on > my car battery that it temporarily drained it to a point where I lost power? > One other observation to consider…when we got to the campsite, there was a > terrible fuel smell…so much as to look for obvious fuel leaks underneath > the car (didn’t find any).  I also got terrible gas mileage on that tank of > fuel. > During the weekend, without towing the trailer, had no issues with the car. > Towed the trailer home with no problems and when I got home, I opened up the > 7-pin electrical connector on the trailer to see what was up.  Out of 5 > wires going into it, 3 were not connected!  So, I talked to the technician > at the trailer place and he told me the pin out.  I fixed it and have been > out again camping and haven’t had any issues. > I told this story to a friend of mine, and he questioned if the car > experienced "vapor lock".  Opinions on what it could have been?  If it was > vapor lock, what can I do to avoid in the future? > Thanks!!

Response:

have your wiring doubled checked. you may have to have it done again. if it is shorting against the tank, possibility of affecting the fuel pump since it is in the tank. lights on, shaking the pigtail, yeah, you have a problem. you can’t have vapor lock. that disappeared with electric fuel pumps and fuel injection. there is always pressure there unless the pump quits. the old mechanical fuel pumps drew the fuel up from the tank, think really big soda straw. vapor lock is when it got too hot and the fuel decided to become gaseous and no longer liquid. who did the wiring? came with the package? go back to the dealer or installer and have them double check it. then document it incase something does go wrong. the old anarchist

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> I think what you where experiencing here is lack of power to your fuel pump. > If in fact the wiring harness is shorting out it is very possible that you > are pulling most of the alternator power threw the short and starving the > fuel pump of power.  This would explain why you are loosing power or having > the car die on you from lack of fuel. > My question here is why did it not blow a fuse. you may have a serious > electric issue here to the point that you may have a electrical fire here. I > would seriously look into this issue. > I’ve got a 2002 Explorer XLT and I was pulling my Jayco pop-up trailer > last > weekend when the Explorer unexpectedly just lost power.  At this point, I > was about 2 hrs into the trip and I was going up a hill (long, but not too > steep) in the Colorado Rockies.  I pulled over, waited a minute or so, and > was able to restart the car.  I started back out, but continued to have > this > intermittent problem where the car would briefly (few seconds) lose power > and then "have power again".  I was about 10 miles from the campground so > I > decided to operate the car in this degraded mode and assuming I got it to > the campground, I would attempt to figure it out then. > I did get to the campground and turned the car off for about 5 minutes > while > I went in to register.  When I came out, I noticed that my trailer parking > lamps were on even though I didn’t turn them on from within the car. > Thinking this was odd, I just disconnected the electrical between the car > and trailer for the 3-4 mile drive to our campsite.  The drive up to our > campsite was fairly steep and the car performed just fine, as expected. > Once I got the trailer into the campsite and car pulled away, the trailer > parking lamps were back on!!  So, I took the trailer electrical > connection, > shook it, and voila, the lamps went off.  Shook it again, they went back > on. > OK…obviously, I have a short that needs to be addressed. > I started to theorize why the car would suddenly lose power like it did. > Given that trailer is wired to receive a trickle charge from the car (to > charge the trailer battery) and that I had some sort of short with the > trailer electrical connection, is it possible that this put such a load on > my car battery that it temporarily drained it to a point where I lost > power? > One other observation to consider…when we got to the campsite, there was > a > terrible fuel smell…so much as to look for obvious fuel leaks underneath > the car (didn’t find any).  I also got terrible gas mileage on that tank > of > fuel. > During the weekend, without towing the trailer, had no issues with the > car. > Towed the trailer home with no problems and when I got home, I opened up > the > 7-pin electrical connector on the trailer to see what was up.  Out of 5 > wires going into it, 3 were not connected!  So, I talked to the technician > at the trailer place and he told me the pin out.  I fixed it and have been > out again camping and haven’t had any issues. > I told this story to a friend of mine, and he questioned if the car > experienced "vapor lock".  Opinions on what it could have been?  If it was > vapor lock, what can I do to avoid in the future? > Thanks!!

Response:

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