2002 Taurus sputters

2002 Taurus, 12 valve engine

Occasionally (once every 3 or 4 weeks) the engine will sputter and sound like it's about to stall. It doesn't stall and a few minutes later it runs fine. It will do this only when the weather is very cold and the engine is warm.

Any ideas?

I know the cam position sensor needs to be replaced - it squeaks. Could these symptoms be related?

Thanks.

Unfortunately there are a lot of things that could cause the symptoms you describe. For Internet troubleshooting you'll need to provide more detail, such as what the engine speed does when about to stall, whether it's rough or smooth when idling, how it runs once it starts to "run fine," what the idle speed is when it's cold, and if you could provide the fuel pressure KOER when it is acting up, that would be beneficial as well. How is your fuel economy compared with typical? When was the last tune up performed? When it doesn't idle well when warm, is that only in park/neutral or does it idle fine if you were to shift to drive/reverse? Would it stall if you shifted to drive/reverse?

-Rod

The normal rpm at idle is about 800 rpm with a warm enging, about 1200 with a cold engine. When it starts missing, it drops down to about 500 rpm. Usually the missing/sputtering comes without warning, but it only does it when the engine is warm. When I give it gas, like when moving forward from a stop light, the rpm rises normally, but I can still feel it missing.

The missing is most noticeable at low rpm, it doesn't matter what gear the transmission is in, but it will cause the car to lunge when pulling out of a parking spot.

Engine speed when it sputters is near idle speed, it drops a couple hundred rpm when it sputters. When I give it gas, like when I want to move forward from a stop light, the rpm comes up like normal but I can still feel it missing.

Can't provide info about fuel mileage at this time, it's my wife's car and I hardly ever drive it, and even though she is smart enough to do it, she won't figure out the fuel mileage.

Last full tune up - I don't know. It has 112,000 miles, we've had it since 80,000 miles. I changed spark plugs when I bought it, keep the air filter clean, change oil on regular basis. I don't know what KOER means.

I know it's difficult to troubleshoot with internet format, but thanks for looking.

Try using Trade Marks & Pcodes during the internet, and forum search!
The code is probably at a pending stat, here's a good example.

Google ''AF Taurus P0141''