2001 Ford Escape. Strange symptom........

Every once in a while, when at 40-50 mph, it feels as if the engine or transmission badly "misses" or something. It jerks badly enough that it feels as if it is hitting a bump. But it only does it once, and then not again for as much as several days. A couple things I thought it might be:
Transmission slippage?
Water is gas?
Car has 140,000 miles on it.
Any ideas or similar situations and what you did to fix?

Thanks

check the trans fluid.
trans issues can usually be traced back to the fluid somehow.

Every once in a while, when at 40-50 mph, it feels as if the engine or transmission badly "misses" or something. It jerks badly enough that it feels as if it is hitting a bump. But it only does it once, and then not again for as much as several days. A couple things I thought it might be:
Transmission slippage?
Water is gas?
Car has 140,000 miles on it.
Any ideas or similar situations and what you did to fix?

Thanks

Does the rev counter dip or climb when it happens?

Dipping is an engine problem, climbing is a transmission problem.

torque converter shudder... the tribute/escape had a common problem with this. flush your fluid out and it should take care of it for a while. in some bad cases i had to replace the torque converter.

its the torque converter clutch inside the converter shuddering when its applied. you can verify this by going about 45mph and lightly tapping the brake, you should see the rpms go up, and then it will shudder when it re-applies