2000Taurus Stalled and is now dead

NATE.MAYO

MEMBER
2000 FORD TAURUS

Yesterday my wife drove the car in the morning and everything was fine. When I attaempted to drive it in the afternoon it started fine then when I was waiting for traffic at the end of my driveway, I noticed it running rough. When I pulled out into the road, the car stalled. I coasted it backwards back into my driveway. I tried to start it a couple of times and it would fire up, but when I shifted into drive it would die again. Due to the gas gauge being defective, I thought perhaps it was out of gas, so I put 2 gallons in it and had the same problem. I towed it back into its parking spot with my tractor, and now this morning it will not even fire. Doesn't make sense to me, can anyone help?

1 Reply

BLMO

MEMBER
72 POSTS

I will need a little more detail. When you say the car "died", does it crank but not start? If it acts as if you're out of gas, then it may be either the fuel pump or the fuel pump relay. The fuel pump is several hundred dollars to replace, but the fuel pump relay costs about $6.00, and takes about a minute to test and/or replace, so let's start there.

You will find the fuel pump relay under the hood on the driver side in the front, in a black rectangular container. Check your owner's manual to find the fuel pump relay. You will see other relays that look the same. Once you have located the fuel pump relay, temporarily swap it with another relay that fits. If your car starts and runs, but something else stops working, then that means that the relay was bad.

Once you've ruled out the relay, go to the next least expensive item - vacuum hoses. Be careful, because not all of them are easily visible. You will need to check your manual to make sure there are no obvious problems with them.

Once you've ruled out vacuum leaks, check for a code. You may be able to borrow a code scanner from an auto parts store, or buy one for about $100. It's worth it. See if there are any codes, but don't take them at face value. For instance, let's say your code says you have a bad oxygen sensor. If your engine is running too lean or too rich, it will sometimes blame the oxygen sensor. Do some research to see what the most likely culprit is. The last thing you want to do is to replace a bunch of sensors and components, spending a ton of money, just to find out it was something simple like a loose wire or a worn hose.
Good luck.