I have a 2001 Ford Taurus and it stalls while accelerating. Sometimes it works fine but minutes later the problem returns. I was told that it might be the transmission or the MAF sensor. What could it be?
Realize that modern cars are really complex. Even though that car is 15 years old, it’s still a pretty modern car. There are all kinds of data, that’s hidden inside the computer. You get a mechanic like me, any good mechanic and we’ll hook up a dealer level scan tool and we’ll check for any kind of codes and look at the live and mode 6 data, to see what the problem is. If your Check Engine Light isn’t on, you’re going to need a professional mechanic, because you’re going to need a really good scan tool and someone who can analyze the data.
It could be the transmission doing it and it might have a transmission code. That isn’t going to a lot of times turn the Check Engine Light but a mechanic can analyze that stuff. It could be the MAF sensor isn’t working right. You can clean them but sometimes they break electronically. It takes a mechanic to look the live data on the screen to see if that sensor is bad also. Get yourself a mechanic to check that data. You can of course clean the throttle you can take the air filter off, and the housing it goes with that throttle, get some spray MAF cleaner.
You’ve said you cleaned the MAF sensor but you haven’t cleaned the whole throttle assembly too and get any carbon off and see if that helps. But a lot of times you’re going to need a good mechanic to look at it and do an analysis that comes intermittently.
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