Ford Taurus 2000 chokes when accelerator pressed

[luis@perez.us.com]

I have a 2000 taurus with 86K.
It started to have the following symptoms, it seems to idle fine but when I put it in DRIVE the idling becomes rough and if I press the accelerator pedal to pickup the car just chokes, I have to press it ver slowly for the car to start going although with a very rough ride, if i get on the highway it seems to run fine at high RPM. Took it to a shop and after checking the codes they tell me that 3 saprk plugs and 3 coils hsould be replaced at a cost of $900.00 then took it to another place and they told me it could be the air mass sensor and that there is no way that 3 spark plugs and 3 coils would go at the same time. I have been looking at the engine and I think I can replace the plugs myself by removing the manifold first just to see if that does it.
What do you guys think ?

thanks for any feedback !!

[theoldwizard]

Originally Posted by luis@perez.us.com

...they tell me that 3 saprk plugs and 3 coils should be replaced at a cost of $900.00 ...

OH MY GOD ! You should have run from that shop screaming R _ P E !!

then took it to another place and they told me it could be the air mass sensor

Sure and it could be the kanooten valve !

... and that there is no way that 3 spark plugs and 3 coils would go at the same time.

Well it is not likely.

I have been looking at the engine and I think I can replace the plugs myself by removing the manifold first just to see if that does it.
thanks for any feedback !!

You DON'T want to remove the intake. Much more work than you think get it re-installed. The plugs can be removed without removing the intake.

Before you do anything you need to check for vacuum leaks. These will certailyn make the engine run rough and can run you around in circles with odd Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTC).

If you don't have the tools/expertise take it another shop and just have them change your plugs, your due. I can't imagine them charging more than $200 for all 6.

Then, take it to a large auto parts store. Most of them will pull the DTCs for free. As a matter of fact, after the new spark plugs (and when was the last time you replaced the fuel and air filters ?) disconnect the battery for a few hours (which will clear all codes) and then drive the car for a day before pulling the codes.

[luis@perez.us.com]

I am not a mechanic but I have a lot of tools and I have managed in the past to do work on my cars.
It just looked as a lot of work to remove the plugs with that manifold on top of the rear plugs.
I will start with the easiest which is replacing the fuel and air filters and see what happens.

Thanks for the suggestions and you're right, I did get out of those shops running !!!