Help Needed for Taurus Problem

[Gene Arnold]

I’m trying to get my impoverished daughter’s car back into shape after lengthy neglect. She is unable to work due to some disabilities (some legit, some self induced) so is literally penniless. Things are looking up a bit right now and she is making some better choices. She is accepted into a highly recommended program for bi-polar/drug addictive people (it is in Nebraska) and I’ll be driving her car to Nebraska while my wife follows in ours. I sure don’t want to travel across I-80 at this time of year unless I fix the problem the Taurus has.



The car is a 2000 Taurus SE with the dual overhead cam engine, 111,000 miles. After driving it back from California (about 800 miles) I attempted to repair a troublesome misfire (in spite of the problem I got 28. 5 mpg for the trip). In addition to an oil and filter change, within the last 75 miles I have installed the following with no change in operation:



Fuel filter

Spark plugs

Air filter

EGR valve and gasket

Repaired crankcase ventilation connections

Injector cleaner added for the last 700 miles of driving (added to four tanks of gas)

Two bottles of Heet added to the present tank of gas



I cannot see any vacuum lines that are bad. To test for vacuum leaks I used my propane torch (unlit of course) to see if the engine speed changed as the gas was discharged near the manifold and vacuum lines. No change in speed.



Here are the symptoms. With engine warm and idling, miss is evident at the tailpipe. Underway with either very light throttle or after a slight downgrade, when the gas pedal is slowly pressed the engine misses badly and shudders. I live a few hundred feet above the city and the car runs so rough that it has a hard time making the climb. I took it out on the highway today and there seems to be no problem with fuel supply as I really got on it and when treated aggressively the car performs well. I ran it in lower gears up to 5500 RPMs, accelerating and decelerating a lot to try to dislodge crud if there was any. It didn’t help.



I have a Haynes manual but it hasn’t helped much. I had to replace a throttle position sensor on my own car a few years ago when it got to running badly. Could this cause the symptoms I’ve described? The Haynes doesn't much of anything about symptoms of a TPS malfunction.



Any help will be greatly appreciated!



Gene

 

[rlyons]

On my daughter's Mercury Sable, which is close to the Taurus, I had the same problem. I tried all you have and then I discovered that the wiring that plugs into the injectors was deteriated right at the plug and was shorted together on two cylinders. She could not afford to replace the wiring harness so I carefully seperated the two wires and taped them up with electrical tape. It has run good since.

 

[Hammer]

It also could be bad O2 sensors and/or bad coil packs. I have also seen this be caused by bad idle speed motors on some cars(not sure if they have them or not). Another thing to help clean her out is "Amsoil Power Foam" which can be had by a visit to your local Amsoil rep or bought online. Its one of the best upper engine cleaners out there and when used with Amsoil PI(Performance Improver) you would be amazed at how much they help. I know that the naysayers may dispute their results but I have had noting but good results with them and continued usage. Hope this helps some... . Andy

 

[RobertP]

i would also check to see if you have a blown head gasket. that will also cause the problem you are describing. i have seen a bunch of ford 3. 0 and 3. 8's have a head gasket issue. with the same symptoms you are having.

 

[Gene Arnold]

Thanks for your responses. I had to give up on my clumsy efforts to fix something that was out of my league to even diagnose. Fortunate for me there is a good shop that has treated me well during the five years I’ve known them, so I took the Taurus there.



When I talked with him, the shop owner just snorted when I told him I’d installed new Bosch plugs. His first advice to me was get rid of them and put in new oem, Motorcrafts. I did that but it didn’t help.



To be sure he was experiencing the problems I had described, the shop owner Glad, kept and drove the car for two days. It seems he has fixed it as it ran like a charm when I drove it home last night. Here’s what he did, coupled with his opinions.



I had fixed a broken crankcase ventilator with a good epoxy. Glad opined that over time the stuff would deteriorate and get sucked into the engine so he replaced it with a new line.



He found two bad coils (high on my list of suspicious causes, but I didn’t know how to diagnose these things) and replaced them.



When I had removed the new EGR valve to out in the second set of new plugs I damaged the gaskets, creating a big leak. New gaskets were installed along with a new differential pressure feedback exhaust sensor. This fixed a major cause of my problems.



Glad’s opinions: (1) It will be only a matter of time until the four old coils fail as they commonly tend to go bad. (2) Don’t use HEET (I had put it in because daughter consistently ran close to empty and I thought there might be water from condensation). (3) This was news to me, but his very strongly stated opinion—don’t use anti-seize compound on the plugs, even though the shop manual says otherwise. He says it causes problems with the ground and plays havoc with the on-board computer.



Glad understood this dad’s predicament and sold me the parts at cost and refused to make a charge for labor. He told me to pay whatever labor I felt I could afford. I tried to be fair, but I know I didn’t pay what the normal shop charge would have been.



If you are in the Boise area and need a mechanic, I recommend Glad’s Repair in Garden City. He’s been in business for thirty years and his two sons are his chief mechanics.



Gene

 

[MN Cummins Lvr]

Gene,



I am happy things worked out for you. My parents have a 2000 Taurus which my dad claims has been the best vehicle he has ever owned :-laf I am trying to convince him his next vehicle needs to have a Cummins under the hood



More importantly, hope things work out for your daughter!



Paul