94 T-bird Shudders At Cruising Speeds (4.6 v8)

[ZZRICH]

HI. i am having a problem similar to the one posted below. when cruising at 40 to 50 mph the car jerks real hard (seems to lose power) and then returns to normal. this all happens with the check engine light on. i am leaning towards the tranny, but would a transmission problem cause the light to go on ? does the tranny have a vaccum modulator ? this car has only 70k on it. thanks in advance for any help here as this is my mothers car and i dont want her to get stranded !

[RickwithaTbird]

thats about exactly when my car started doing that (70K), I had my transmission flushed, my torque converter cleaned, and all new fluids put back in it. 36000 miles later I havent had that problem again even once. Its a pretty common problem, that should fix it for you.... oh yeah... i personally dont know if that will fix the check engine light for you though. My check engine light wasnt on when I had that problem.

[thunderbird muscle]

Seems to lose power and check engine light. Have you run it for any codes?

[ZZRICH]

thanks for the reply guys. i am looking for a code reader for this vehichle, or i may take it to autozone to have the codes pulled. what do these code readers cost ?

[RickwithaTbird]

you can get some for around 40 bucks, and there are others for around 150$... the expensive ones you will find in a parts store.. you may have to order... the cheap ones can be found in autozone, or sometimes even wal mart.

[ZZRICH]

Thanks Rick, I Will Check Arround For The Scanner.

[cudaz101]

You may have a bad MLPS "Manual Lever Position Sensor"

The scenario of Shudder almost always leads to this part. It is simple to change and runs around $60 at 5-star ford.


Brad

[ZZRICH]

Thanks Brad, i will take a look at the sensor.

[flewthecoupe]

If you do have to go with a trans flush and fill, don't forget to use Mercon 5 and change the filter.

[ZZRICH]

Hey guys, im back. i went to autozone the other day to have them pull some codes, but they dont do it anymore. instead they rent you the scanner for $180.00, then when your done they refund your money. there were to many local shops complaining about lost revenue. any way i pulled up code p0102 maf sensor low output(somrthing like that). anyways i cleaned the sensor but it didnt fix the problem. do you guys think i am looking at a new maf sensor here ? any advice is appreciated. also i want to add that the car sometimes stalls at idle and hesitates upon acceleration from a dead stop.

[compewterman]

IF its the MAF sensor I might advise to go to Advance I just got 1 from them at a steal for 66.88 + tax.... I have found that AutoZone is higher in price for MAF's OxygenSensors and such.. just an opinion

[ZZRICH]

thanks computerman, i will look for an advance auto parts in my area.

[ilcowil]

I'll throw this in since my MAF just went out. Just disconnect the plug that connects to the MAF and drive the car to see how it runs without the MAF connected. It worked on my car (but my engine problems were much more obvious). Anyway, running the car without the MAF sensor on shouldn't hurt the car in any way, but it will not make the Check Engine light disappear of course. In doing this, you're only check the drivability and performance of the car.

This site has a list of vehicles with MAF sensor contamination problems.
http://autorepair.about.com/cs/generalinfo/l/bl827d.htm

You might also try to google the error codes and see if you pull up any alternative solutions. That's how I stumbled across the forum actually. Or you might just try cleaning the MAF with brake cleaner or an electronics cleaner before buying a new one.