BTW, I am getting no engine lights when this happens.

 

I had something similar on mine, a 2000 Taurus. The codes said the EGR valve was bad, and one other thing, (which I already replaced), trying to find time to replace EGR valve.

 

Strange thing is I am not getting any codes at all, and can be quite hair-raising when trying to pass someone on the highway and your power ottoms out while passing.

I'll read up on the EGR valve.

 

New symptom - car will not start.
The transaxle light is on now.
Starter will not spin at all.
I guess I have the transmission problems that everyone else is having with Tauruses.
All this car wants and needs is endless amounts of money wasted on it.

 

New symptom - car will not start.
The transaxle light is on now.
Starter will not spin at all.
I guess I have the transmission problems that everyone else is having with Tauruses.
All this car wants and needs is endless amounts of money wasted on it.

The transaxle light is normally on solid when the engine isn't running. When you turn the key to start, do you hear a click??? If not you may have an issue with the trigger wire that attaches to the starter solenoid. If it clicks, more than likely it is a bad starter. Does the THEFT light flash???

 

Our problem occurs when cruising in our 2003 Taurus SE at 60-65 mph, we try to pass another vehicle and when the RPMs get to about 4500+ the car heavily stutters and lurches and only moderately accelerates instead of quickly.

I have replaced both O2 sensors, the MAF sensor, air filter, fuel filter and the plugs were replaced 20,000 miles ago.

HELP!?!

Also best milage is typically 23mpg under the very best of circumstances.
60 mph, no A/C, open road, 20 miles each way.

Did you replace the plug wires when you did the plugs??? I had to replace the plugs on mine because of the tinkering of some goob trying to steal from the original owners of my car. I did only the plugs and ended up with an intermitent misfire at idle. Did the wires and it was perfect. When the car stutters like this again, mat the gas and see if it gets worse and the check engine light starts flashing. A flashing check engine light indicates a misfire.

 

Hello all
Our 02 Taurus is stuttering and lurching at 4500 rpm as well. I noticed it would rev past this if its shifted out of overdrive manually.
The wife about got in a tight getting on the interstate yesterday because of this problem. Any Ideas on what to check on this.

 

New Starting Problem:
BTW, no click when starting. The only thing (I think) I hear is the fuel pump toward the back. All lights work, just no start and no crank. And a brand new battery.

I am going to try to pull the starter when I get a chance, hopefully tonight or tomorrow. I get it tested and see what exactly is wrong - I hope.

Because the car is dead in my sloped driveway this will be fun with its 4-6" of clearance. I guess I will use my RV jack to get to it. Maybe I am seeing the 2 bolts from the top via access near radiator.

I am glad to hear the Transaxle light is supposed to be ON before the car starts, If the transmission were screwed up I would almost rather take it to a field and blow the damn thing up for all the trouble.

Initial Stuttering Problem:
I was going to look into new plugs and wires, I may just go on thru with that. Too many dangerous situations when on long drives with power cutting out while PASSING!

Thanks all for the responses.

I will try to follow up on the starter/solenoid and plugs/wires as they happen.

 

Starting Problem fixed by simply replacing the starter, 2 bolts and 2 wires. :hy:
Only thing I had to do was use my RV jack to allow me clearance under the vehicle.
Apparently the starter must have been going bad for a while because it has never fired up this easily in the past.

Now on to the original stuttering problem!
Going to look into plugs and plug wires if no more codes come up for a while.

Another question:
Can the starter accidentally engage or stick while the engine is running?

 

I have a 2002 Taurus with the exact same problem. I have new Plugs, New fuel Filter, New Fuel Pump and new air filter.

Before I replaced the Fuel Pump this would happen at 3500 RPM and now it happens at 4500 RPM.

When I mash the throttle it usually will get threw first gear and shift at 5,000 RPM then it will stutter at 4500 RPM and never make the shift to third gear. Same thing happens when I try to pass, it just stutters at 4500 rpm and will not shift until you back off.

Could this be a Catalytic Converter?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

I have a 2003 Taurus with what sounds like the same problem. It starts with the studder around 4300 rpm and would stop after exceeding 4800 rpm. However, when the engine gets hotter, it gets much worse.

I took it to the dealer today and took them for a ride in the bucking car. They determined that the problem is with the synchronizer. They will replace it on Monday. I will let you know if that fixes the problem. $385 fix.

 

Please let us know if the synchronizer does it, thanks in advance.

 

It looks like they changed the cam position sensor and the synchronizer. The car runs like a new one. I floored it and the RPMs would run the full range without any hesitation whatsoever. Definitely did the trick.

 

Exactly what synchronizer are you talking about?

 

I had this problem with my 07 Focus, the dealer replaced the Alternator and it fixed it. I could'nt believe that this was the problem. After test driving it before accepting it back, to my surprise it fixed the problem.

 

Was anyone else's gas milage affected who had this problem?
My wife consistently gets only 20-22 mpg.
Our best on long trips is about 24mpg.

 

Exactly what synchronizer are you talking about?

I will tell you what they told me. These cars do not have distributers anymore. The ignitions are electronic. The synchronizer performs the same function as the distributer did by telling the other electronics when to fire the plugs.

The studdering was bad signals from the synchronizer causing the timing to be thrown off among firing problems. That is why the car would jerk so bad.

 

AH HA!! Thanks. Never heard part of the distributorless ignition called a synchronizer before. I looked on fordparts.com and sure enough, there it is.

I'll give it a shot because mine's doing the same thing.

THANKS

 

The Synchronizer and sensor fixed my problem. To bad the dealer could not figure this out. I went to a little one man shop with access to Mitchell's repair info online and he figured it right out - No transmission problem or Fuel Pump Problem.

 

I have an 03 Taurus SES and had the same stuttering problem. Changed Fuel Filter, plugs, air filter etc. Was going to do the fuel pump when Father in Law suggested plug wires. I thought he was crazy because it did not miss at idle or anywhere els. Sure enough changed plug wires, problem went away!

 

I'm having an almost identical problem with a 96 Taurus OHV 3.0. above 3000 rpm or so, it misses badly; low RPM seems fine. Have changed plugs, wires, fuel filter, pre-cat O2 sensor. Has there been any other responses for recommendations about the high rpm miss? I have run scan, which showed only the 02 sensor mafunction.

 

Before you discovered this, did you run a scan and did it show any codes? I have the same problem and have changed plugs, wires, fuel filter, and 02 sensor, (because that was the only code showing) to no avail. Who is Mitchells repair??

 

I just found out that the used 2002 Taurus I got last month is having this same problem. Took it out on the freeway for a long-ish trip this weekend and found that when accelerating at higher speed it would hesitate to the point of jerking. Trying to increase acceleration through it did not seem to work, I had to stop acceleration in order to stop the hesitation. The problem does not seem to exist with moderate acceleration or at low speeds. Do both the syncronizer and sensor need to be replaced for this fix or is it one of the components that is know to cause the problem?

 

I have the same problem all of the sudden. It all began with a metal to metal squeek under the hood towards the rear of the engine. Not having the time to tear the engine apart I sent it to the neighborhood mechanic. He found that the squeeking was the drive assembly for the cam sensor. He replaced the assembly...no more squeek but now we have cut out at 3500-4000RPM. I was so happy to see the post about this problem. I don't think he alligned the drive assembly with cylinder one TDC. Looks like he's getting it back...since I don't have an alignment tool.

 

well i finaly fixed my problem with the stuttering. to start i had no idea what was causing the problem so i went diving under the hood checking connections. so finaly when i fiddled around with the cps and uplugged it a few times vioala the problem got worse... instead of at 4500 rpms it started happening at 3500 rpms so i replaced the sensor(not the sychronizer) hoping i wouldnt have to buy a alignment tool for the synchonizer to replace it. so i replaced the sensor(tough replacement, its under hard plastic and wiring) and woo hoo it doesnt stutter anymore(i also had the squeek problem coming from it). but on a side note heres a mistery i have now. the hockey puck shaped sensor i have isnt for my engine... (i bought this car used and am suspicious that it has had a front end wreck) the sensor comes up as the flex fuel sensor at autozone and other parts places in my area(so-cal) so when i go in to autozone and order the sensor for my assumed engine a 3.0 vulcan i get the incorect part so i return it. next day i go to a local parts depot and they show me the same story. so on a whim i ask to see the flex fuel part just incase, they show me the part im looking for... so im wondering, my car doesnt have flex fuel badges and my vin shows as gasoline could the wreck have promted a engine swap for a flex fuel block because i know there very similar any help would be nice, thanks.