96 Ford Taurus making noise with idle fluctuation and vibration?

[jjamiface@hotmail.]

My car has, for the last three weeks, been making a growling noise with a slight vibration. I noticed it started out light. The noise is growing louder and the vibraton is growing stronger each day...it is the engine making the noise by the way. The idle goes up when it growl/vibrates then idle drops low and car kinda muffles/sputters like it wants to die, and it is louder when a/c is on. The noise/idle raise and idle drop happens about every 15 sec. It also seems as though my gas mileage has decreased. What could cause this? I've been told oxygen sensor or fuel pump. Can I trust taking a 1900 mile trip with this problem? Oil and spark plugs are good. Sensors have been going out. First the transmission range sensor then the pcm box.There's also smelly exhaust smell when I start it if its been sitting awhile...thats new with the noise.

[shorod]

Welcome to the forum!

First off, which engine do you have, the 12V OHV or the 24V DOHC?

Can you describe the exhaust color and smell a bit better? Is the exhaust white with a sweet smell, is it black with a bit of a gasoline smell, or does it have a bluish tint and smell like oil/tar?

Do you use fuel injector cleaner on a regular basis? Have you noticed if the temperature guage ever goes into the "Hot" area?

How comfortable are you working on cars? Do you have the means to check the fuel pressure? Do you have a digital multimeter (DMM) and understand how to use it to make resistance measurements (ie: to check the value of the coolant temperature sensor)?

Also, you will want to check for vacuum leaks. Has the Check Engine Light (CEL) come on while the car was running? If so, have the diagnostic trouble codes read. Many chain auto parts stores will pull the codes at no cost. Get the exact code numbers and post them here for more guidance. The codes will be in the form of Pwxyz where "wxyz" will be a string of 4 numbers.

I would suggest against making the 1900 mile trip with the car running the way it is. With the added cost of fuel since it sounds like the economy has gone down, it might be cheaper to rent a car to make the trip.

-Rod

[jonnyredneck]

check your motor mounts, also, you may have burned through a vacuum tube at the egr valve. Check vacuum, check motor mounts.