Out of the blue a week or so ago, my Max was driven for a good while and
working perfectly as always, sat for 30 minutes and then all of a sudden when no throttle was applied, it would stall.

I put it in my garage for a week as my wife was out of town and I used
her car until she got back.

I did start it up and thought I heard a "hissing" sound that kept going
after the car was turned off. But from the back to not engine. It will run fine with throtte, just with my foot off the gas, it stalls. Including on the road. Take my foot off the gas, engine off.

No check engine light by the way.

I start it up Thursday to take to my mechanic (who has always done a good
job) and of course it works perfectly. He says, "bring it back when it does
this again". I get in to drive home and at the first light, it stalls.

I go back and leave it there. He decided to clean the intake manifold including the iae valve. He says it is dirty and now runs great.

He's right - I go to dinner, come home and it seems to work great.

Yesterday I take the car out on some errands and it is working well. Stop for lunch get back in, driving about 40, take my foot off the gas and the engine stalls. It does this over and over unless throttle is applied.

Thoughts?

It seems the car needs to be warmed up and then off for a period of time for this to happen. It runs smooth, it just seems to starve at idle.

 

I'm having the same problem, and have been having the problem for a good, oh about 5-6 months.

Your gas mileage has probably gone down a bit, and you probably experience a little hesitation, either before it stalls or while accelerating. It's bothersome because the problem is intermittent, and I did what your mechanic did and a few other things. I've gone as far as to replace the Spark Plugs, TPS, PCV Valve, Fuel Filter, Air Filter and clean the Throttle Body, IACV, MAF, and run several bottles of fuel injector cleaner. I even re-grounded my MAF which did help a bit. Today I replaced my FPR, and it didn't stall once today, hooray! But I now have a fuel leak I'm working on -_-

Lesser of two evils =/ By the time I'm done I'm going to have a brand new max.

Sniff around your car right after it stalls, just pull over. If you smell Fuel check for leaks, if you don't smell fuel check all of your air intake connections and clean it all out. Also run some injector cleaner for the hell of it, I'm sure yours could use some, I suggest some Techron.

 

just a quick hunch. I don't know that much, but could be chargin problem. unless u see any smoke, u sould be fine, but if so, might be that alternator, but don't count on it that much , doesn't really sound like it.

 

monitor the fuel pressure...pump could be going out. does it move slower on a larger grade? also check the condition of the cats...might be clogged.

 

Even though the check engine light is not on, did you check for codes? Just use a screw driver. It's not hard. Seriously. Lay on your stomach and pull the plastic cover off by the gas pedal and shine a light at the ECU. You'll see the screw. Turn it clockwise until it hits the stop, then wait a second and turn the screw back until it hits the stop again. The codes will flash on the dash. (do this with the key in ignition and ON position but engine not running)

This really should be the first step any time you have problems like this. If there is a problem with the engine the ECU often picks it up and stores a code even if the light doesn't come on.

 

Thanks for all the comments -

I drove the car today and couldn't replicate the problem until after about 20 minutes of driving.

Out of the blue, with no throttle, the RPMs drop and the engine shuts down - at a stop or while driving.

Went back to the mechanic as it stalled going into the driveway - and it smelled like sulfur.

He is going to check codes -

We did hook the exhaust up to the smog test computer and noticed it would spike rich right before it stalled.

 

The car is not throwing any codes -

It is all of a sudden running rich and then lean.

Does this seem like the MAF needs to be replaced?

 

more like one of the members who is having that problem a bad fuel pressure regulator check your vacum lines to the fuel rail and IACV and the evap hose also comes off the throttle body i think thats probably your issue listen inder the hodd for hissing or whistling while playing with the throttle if the Fuel pressure regulator is the case youve been running rich for some time i would invest in getting another cat put on as running rich will cauce your cat to melt from high exaust temps good luck with your problem bro

 

Sorry to hijack, but I have a similar problem. It stalls on start up only. But it usually only happens in cold weather. I turn the key and the engine starts and immediatley dies unless I feather the throttle for a few seconds, then it runs fine. Again, it usually only happens in the cold. Maybe an air intake temp sensor? I also smell fuel at times, are fuel leaks an issue with these cars? The front of the intake manifold is dirty around the gasket area. It kind of looks like there is a leak, but I don't know.

 

I picked up a remanufactured MAF sensor from Autozone for $189.00.

(core charge was $40 and I brought that back already).

I put through the test today. Drive, sit for an hour - through heavy LA freeway traffic and it is working fine so far.

Thanks for all the advice!

 

Get a Hayes manual at auto parts store and read through the trouble shooting section. You can also check your coil packs according to this manual. I had similar problem with no codes. The three coil packs under the intake were bad (high temp location).