2003 Ford Taurus SES...stalling out issue...

rickf · 05-29-2007, 12:27 PM

Anybody that can help please help!!! I would greatly appreciate it! The Ford Dealership has had my car for 7 days now and cannot duplicate the issue I am having. I never had any major problems with my car until this one. I will be Driving cruising speed 75-80mph and all of the sudden my car will try to shut off, then turn on again and will go back to cruising again no problem. My indicator lights will turn on, speedometer and tach go bezerk for a couple of seconds while it trys to stall out, then it will just come back on again like nothing ever happened. The symptoms are or feels like I'm just shutting my car off while its driving. It hasn't stalled completely while driving, but it has stalled completely when I stopped to get off an exit at a light. It can go days or weeks without it happening, then in one day it will happen 4 times....Going crazy! Seems like an electrical problem, but not sure! All your help is greatly appreciated. The Ford Mechanics have replaced an Idle air control valve on a Friday and thought that did it, but the next day (Saturday) I drove it happened again. It was fine on Sunday and on Monday as I drove it to the dealership...but its been a week now and they can't duplicate the problem or pull any codes....PLease help and maybe I can suggest your tips to them! Thanks!

ABE · 05-29-2007, 06:20 PM

Poor ground(s) can create problems. Most of the dash instruments would be under PCM control and may share ground with the signal lights, etc.

The 2005/6 Ford Freestyle has a problem with the instruments going crazy. Many clusters were changed, but the problem persisted. Ford now figure it is a grounding issue. In this case a ground for the instrument cluster and other functions under the front passenger seat.

Check the battery connections and grounds at starter bolt and body near the air filter. Check the grounds for the dash functions and the PCM and also the ground connection at the PCM.

Hope this helps.

rickf · 06-02-2007, 01:31 PM

Sorry for the delay getting back to you, was out of town! Thanks a ton for getting back to me with some suggestions. Previously I also was thinking it was a bad ground or bad alternator issue so I took out the alternator to have it tested to find out it was fine and when I installed again, I made sure all my connections were tight, to battery, starter, grnd to engine block, and after that I thought it was fixed, it didn't act up for two weeks, however sure enought it did it again...sucked! You mentioned the PCM ground, and I'm not sure what that is, "power control module"??, please let me know what that is and where I can find that to check the ground connection on it, hopefully that can fix the problem. Thanks again so much for helping and giving advice and tips! all your help is greatly appreciated!

ABE · 06-03-2007, 11:50 AM

The PCM (Powertrain Control Module) controls all engine functions and transmission shifting and many accessories such as instruments display, etc. It is located just under the cowl in the center of the firewall, on the engine side. You will see the very large electrical connection behind the intake manifold. The electrical connection is held in place by a bolt and has a large sheath of wires that curve out over the right side of engine beside the PCV valve. PCM is held to the firewall with two bolts.

Disconnect both the pos and neg terminals on the battery and wait a few minutes for the PCM to discharge before working on the PCM wiring.

According to my Haynes electrical diagram there are 6 ground connections. One black wire and 5 black/white wires. The black wire connects to the ground for the crankshaft position sensor which is also a black wire. The other 5 black/white wires connect together with the black/white ground wires for the camshaft position sensor (where the distributor used to be located) and the mass airflow sensor and then a single black/white wire connects to ground.

Hope this helps.

ABE · 06-04-2007, 06:36 AM

Here is a link to a post regarding strange behaviour of radio and other components due to a faulty Transmission Range Sensor (TRS). It appears that the TRS is connected to the instrument cluster and the ignition system which relates directly to your problem.

http://www.ford-forums.com/ford-taur...ge-sensor.html

The purpose of the TRS is to ensure transmission gear selection, act as a neutral safety switch, etc. This unit will ground the ignition starter system if the lever is not in park or neutral. Since the dash guages and ignition system are also connected into this sensor it will be capable of grounding those circuits too.

The TRS is located on the transmission bellhousing near the firewall on the drivers side under the air filter hose. The sensor is under the lever that the transmission shifter cable is attached to. You will see a large number of wires on the electrical connector. The TRS costs less than US$50 and is easy to replace (I think).

Hope this helps.

rickf · 06-04-2007, 07:32 PM

thanks for the tips bud, I will share them with Ford service tomorrow. I brought my car back to them this morning in a raging bull state of mind, with all my 35 pages of printed information I pulled from this forum and another forum. I asked the service writer who was it that couldn't find any related issues similar to mine...he blamed the mechanic! I said its a shame that I have to do all the research regarding this problem and the dealer that represents ford says they never heard of this...Bullshit, they are liars!!! I also mentioned the PCM issue as you explained previously and printed the Ford Service Bulletin regarding that. As I was pulling into their service drive, guess what...it happened, my Taurus acted up, teft light lit up, rpms going wacky and actually stalled right there. I didn't touch anything, I left the ignition and keys alone and went to the service writer and said "its ready for you"...some warning indicator lights on, check engine light..etc. Me there with my two kids and the anger in me, they didn't hesitate to give me a comp rental until they resolved it. I called again at 5pm, and guess what still nothing, running some tests... If they don't fix it, I'm telling them give me letter in writing that they can't find anything wrong with it, signed by them and when I get into an accident as I almost did on sunday, I can assure them that my Attorney will contact them!!! I couldn't believe how many people are having the same problem as me, seriously printed 35 pages of forum posts with the same problem, with the 2003 Taurus, some even a 2007, unbelievable!

sjteep · 05-05-2008, 08:57 AM

Did anyone ever resolve the 2003 ford taurus stalling issue (stall while cruising then restart all by itself) if so please reply thank you

rmj8601 · 06-21-2008, 11:18 AM

I too am having stalling problems with my car. I took my car to the dealer over a month and half ago but they could not duplicate or find the problem after having my car for five days (at least they did not charge me). I am going to take it to Pep Boys to see if they can do a diagnostic and find anything wrong. If anyone has other ideas or suggestion on how to fix this please let me know.

I have enjoyed my car but if it keeps acting up like this I am going to have to consider getting another car because I can not afford to keep pumping money into the car if the problem can not be fixed.

ecasey1981 · 07-26-2008, 06:58 PM

I also have the same car, and two years ago I had a very similar problem when the car only had about 35k miles at the time. It started out by shutting off and then automatically restarting while driving, but it slowly got worse; it would then shut of and I would have to pull over and shift into park and THEN restart. THEN, it just wouldn't restart at all... I noticed that I didn't hear the fuel sender turn on. All of a sudden, after doing the latter two or three times, it went back to normal, and I haven't experienced the problem ever since. It sorta fixed itself, so I never did find out what was wrong... good to know.

winderslaven · 07-28-2008, 01:23 PM

Hello everyone , new to forum and saw this and was wondering if anyone might have any suggestions. My 2003 Ford Taurus is stalling out to. So far they have replaced all 4 oxygen sensors. The vacuum hose has been replaced too. All fluids and plugs have been checked also. The check engine light is still on and when you are still for a long red light it will stall out. It also will die if left in park and running the ac seems to make problem worse. The 1st diagnostic came back that the 1 oxygen sensor was bad so replaced that one and seemed fine for a day then engine light came back on and started to stall again. The next test showed 2nd sensor was bad so replaced those 2. Now light is still on and still stalls out but last two diagnostics came back normal????????? Please help, I'm at my wits end and Ford says they can find nothing wrong.