1994 Taurus Wagon with no power on take off

[DonWontheLibra]

my 1994 wagon has a slow take off and losses power and speed on hills. I have replaced every sensor on the intake exccept the distributor itself. It barley passed emissions. I have had the exhaust redone in three inch pipes, no mufflers, cats still installed. The transmission makes a sucking sound when I first start it. The idle will drop low enough to almost stall it when I first start it as well but then it returns to normal. It jerks from first to second if I dont get in the gas. while driving it seems as if it is holding back when I take my foot off the gas. I'm lost. No check engine light on either

[shorod]

Has the fuel economy changed recently? Have you performed a tune up on the car recently? Does the engine idle smoothly, or might it have a misfire?

-Rod

[DonWontheLibra]

I have had a full tune up, fuel system cleaning, new fuel filter. It dosent seem to have a missfire. It does have an irratic idle upon first starting it after it has sat for a while. I was wondering If I should replace the distridutor for the sake of it. The gas mileage isn't that great but I do feel as if it could be better.

[shorod]

I think you need to check closely for vacuum leaks, check the PCV valve if your car has one (which engine does your car have?), and clean the MAF sensor. If you have a fuel pressure tester, you should check the fuel pressure too. Why wasn't the distributor cap and rotor changed as part of the full tune up?

-Rod

[DonWontheLibra]

I have a new mas air flow sensor, the cap and rotor button were replaced with tune up. The pcv is new and the rubber hose has been checked for cracks. I have even taken the intake off and cleaned all pasages and ports. My only reason for wanting to change out the distributor is so that I can change the module on the side of the distributor.

Another replacement was going to be the o2 sensors. I haven't checked the fuel pressure. No tool to do so.

[plymouthsrock]

What's the engine vacuum? It's old school, but may be helpful in checking for clogged cat, etc. The engine braking thing sounds trans related.

[DonWontheLibra]

I'm concerned about the transmission being a big part of my problems. However, when i put the new spark plugs in it ran okay for a few days. tThen it went back to turtle mode. I'm wondering if I may have a fuel issue as well. AAmco did a diagnostic on the transmission and said that the transmission should be rebuilt but, there was an issue with engine performance. Of course they wouldn't volunteer any information on anything. If I was to do something with the transmission. What other years could I swap with and would it be better to use the transmission out of the SHO model?

[shorod]

I don't believe the transmission from the SHO ATX was any different than the ATX in the Duratech SLO Taurus. If your wagon doesn't have the Duratech, then the PCM may not play nicely with a different transmission.

I forgot about the ignition control module in that vintage of Taurus. You might be on to something there.... At one time, some of the chain auto parts stores, like Autozone, claimed to be able to test the ignition control module.

-Rod