windstar loss of power

[mizban]

Hey there,

I have a '98 3.8 liter windstar. in march the wife drove 800 miles in two days. during the first half of the drive she called complaining that on the expressway she experienced intermmitent loss of power. She topped of the gas tank and it ran fine. It ran fine on the way back a week later. For the past 3 months it has run fine, and this included a 6hr expressway trip. However, on our last road trip - another 880 mile trip one way, I experienced the loss of power syndrome. On the first leg it only happened for a few seconds and would stop after I turned off the cruise control. Once it started as I tapped the set control button on the cruise control - and stopped when I disengaged the cruise.. On the way back - the first 400 miles it ran fine, the second 400 miles were a night mare. The car was running perfectly for the first half tank of gas. I stopped to let the dog releave himself and figured I'd fill up the tank with gas. within a few miles the car had major power loss. and had nothing to do with the cruise control being engaged. on some inclines the car slowed to 40 mph. I had to get off the expressway it was so bad. I removed the gas cap - no help - added octane power boost - thinking the gas was bad in alabama (the problem seemed to happen after filling up in alabama in march and the last orad trip). At idle it was fine and getting going was not a problem, but upon loads it loss power. the more gas - the worse it got. I had about 3/4 of a tank and decided to top it off. leaving the gas station it ran fine. and ran fine on the expressway for a while. then the same thing started happening. It got bad again and topped off the tank and it ran better. I had to top it off one more time and got home. The check engine light eventually came on - but it did so hours after the problem started. After unloading the car I took my son to a friends and the car ran fine for a few miles then i experienced some minor intermittent power loss upon loads

in march i was snooping around the web and saw a post somewhere (not here) suggesting a transmission sensing module might be bad and that a replacement might fix the problem. I cannot find that link anymore.

any ideas would be appreciated.

thanks

mike

any suggestions

[BroncoJoe19]

Your engine and trans are computer controlled. The computer stores error codes in memory. You can get it checked for codes for free at a number of parts stores such as AutoZone. Those will usually point you in the direction that you need to be looking. IF your CEL check engine light came on, there should be a code stored in memory.