1988 Taurus rough idle, hesitation, poor gas milage, etc

SSS18734

MEMBER
1988 FORD TAURUS

Hello,
1. I have a 1988 Ford Taurus GL wagon a 3.8L engine
2. 90,000 miles.
3. Automatic transmission
4. Front wheel drive
5. No strange sounds
6. A power steering fluid leak
7. Regular maintenence always done on time, it has blown its head gasket at around 40,000 miles (replaced) and I also had the heater core replaced last summer, which required removal of the entire dashboard.

My taurus hasn't always had a perfect idle - but about 6 months ago it started to get a bit rough. I didnt really think anything of it since everything else was fine. But for the last 2 weeks, the idle has been extremely rough, especially upon startup and the car will occasionally stall. The bigger problem, however, is that the car will hesitate violently after I get going under any type of acceleration. This will continue until I reach approximately 20 mph, at which point I can press the accelerator pedal halfway down and it will instantly surge back to life. I usually dont have problems after this - it will idle okay (just okay) and I will only occasionally have to deal with the hesitation after stopping at a traffic signal. Also, I can feel the car not running quite as smoothly as it used to at low RPM's on the highway, on an open road, etc.

I cleaned the IAC valve but that didn't get me much. I thought this might be a vacuum leak somewhere, but I can't find anything just upon inspection. Any ideas?

Thanks!
-Sergei

3 Replies

JNAZARS

MEMBER
6 POSTS

Is the check engine light coming on? If it is, have it scaned. Also, this sounds like it might be the MASS AIR FLOW SENSOR, OR VAF sensor. If you can, disconnect the MASS AIR FLOW sensor before changing it. Like a dumie, I droped the $125 for a new mass air flow for my car and replaced it, and it was never the problem. I should have disconected it first, but jumped the gun. If the mass air flow is the culprate, then disconecting it, you may not notice anything different anyway, but what you described sounds like the MAF sensor. The MAF sensor is located on the intake, directly before or after the air filter housing unit. It looks like a square black box with about 4 wires running into it. You should have the air filter housing unit, then the intake hose which will be rubber, then a metal ring that the sensor is attached to, which is then attached to the rest of the intake hosing, which is rubber. The metal ring is actualy the entire sensor. If this don't help then it may be a vaccum leak.