2003 Ford Mustang Convertible: engine stalls while driving

Filed Apr 24, 2008 · Engine · CA

I parked the car along the curb at ucla and spent the night at the dorms. The car was running perfectly fine, I didn't notice anything different and there were no problems. When I awoke the following morning a friend and I were hungry so we decided to go to mcdonald's. It was approx. 1.5 - 2 miles away. While we were sitting in the drive through, I started to hear a loud noise, kind of like a belt squeaking inside the hood. I couldn't tell if it was from my car or the car to the side of me, so I turned the car off. The noise stopped. When I turned the car back on however, the noise got unbearably loud and sounded like metal on metal, and we noticed the aroma of something burning. I exited the drive through and stopped at the red light. I looked at the gauges, and the oil, battery and temperature gauges were all where they normally should be, bout in the middle to slightly above the halfway mark...well...the car suddenly stalled and I assumed then that it had something to do with the transmission. I knew there was a gas station up ahead, so I tried to start the car again, it had some problems starting up, but then finally started and I was going to drive the block remaining to the gas station. All of a sudden, there was a loud pop under the hood, and all the gauges dropped and I turned the car off and let it coast to the sidewalk, when I exited the car, there was oil all over the ground, leaking from somewhere and I noticed that under the hood, the plastic cap that was covering the pistons (I assume) was cracked...there was smoke everywhere. When the tow truck driver came, he said that somehow something came unloose from the engine and shot up through the pistons and that's what broke the plastic cap. He said he's never seen anything like this before in his 30 yrs of service.

Filed Jan 21, 2008 · Engine · TN

July 2007 through current date. Car stalls when pushing in clutch to stop or make turns. There is a tsb (17542)on this issue but no recall. This is a dangerous condition which could be fatal to a novice driver; especially when car stalls during a left hand turn.

Filed Nov 23, 2007 · Suspension · 27,750 miles · PA

Tl*the contact owns a 2003 ford mustang convertible. While driving 30 MPH, the traction control light illuminated and the wheels began to spin. The engine stalled momentarily. The contact removed her foot from the accelerator pedal and then accelerated again. The failure recurred. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer and had it recomputerized. A mechanic at a garage sent the vehicle to ford for investigation, but no failures were found. The contact was informed that the bearing may have been the cause of the failure. The current mileage was 28,000 and failure mileage was 27,750. Updated 12-12-07. *kb updated

Filed Jul 3, 2003 · Engine · AL

2003 svt ford mustang cobra convertible keeps stalling at stop with clutch fully depressed, does it most while running air conditioning during hot weather, the car has less than 1000 miles on it and has stalled 7 times, once nearly rear-ending the car in front of me due to no power steering or brakes. Our local dealer has had several complaints (same) and has me scheduled to go in late july to "reflash the computor" though it hasn't made much difference on other friends cobras. Please help !!!!!!

Filed May 14, 2003 · Engine · 2,000 miles · GA

2003 ford mustang cobra convertible stall when depressing the clutch on occasion. I have contacted the dealer, but they insist that their is not much than can do about it. They have tried to re-flash my computer, but the problem came back.

Filed May 1, 2003 · Fuel system · MI

2003, cobra svt convertible, the car stall when decelerating to a stop when the taken from a gear to neutral with the clutch in/out and depressing the brakes. The dealer was able to have this occur on a test ride, they had no answer to why this happens. They added a device that I have to push when this occurs so I can capture a picture of the cars computer is doing while this occurs. I have seen a number of other 03 cobra owners with the same problem. Ford needs to have a tsb on this soon this car has been in production over a year. This causes a very dangerous situation, losing power brakes and steering.

Filed Apr 8, 2003 · Engine · 10,000 miles · CA

The most recent being just a few days ago, my vehicle will sometimes have a problem in which it stalls while moving at a slow speed while a gear is not engaged. The car is a 2003 svt ford mustang cobra convertible. A call to ford's svt division had no solutions. Many people that I know with the same car are experiencing the exact same problem. It has occurred to me 4 times. Thank you so much!

Filed Jan 10, 2003 · Engine · 800 miles · FL

Svt cobra is intermittently stalling while the clutch is fully depressed and decelerating to a stop. This intermittent stalling occurs most frequently at idle. The vehicle has stalled at least ten times in the first 1174 miles of ownership. Occurs with greater frequency in warm weather while the engine is hot. Two service departments checked the engine and one reset the idle controller. They could not reproduce the condition, however, the stalling persists with no change in symptoms. Although the vehicle restarts immediately, the condition significantly increases the chances of a collision while trying to regain control and restart in traffic.