Hi there! My fiance and I are at our wits end trying to solve this problem…we’ve tried everything from changing the battery to reformatting the computer(dealers idea) and nothing is really fixing it. We are tired of spending money on guesses and just want to get rid of the thing! However, a dealer told my fiance, not so nicely, that IF we wanted to trade it in as is we’d probably get no more than 500…I laughed at that. And what is worse is that it stalls out on me when I am by myself, no codes come up, and I’m just stuck until I can restart it and hope and pray it’ll get me home. Needless to say it hasn’t been driven in about 3 months because we don’t have time or the money to keep going round and round. Do you have any ideas? My mom lives in Wisconsin and is ready to co-sign a car lease and help with payments, but first we want to try one last time to see if anything can get fixed so that we can get more for a trade-in, or, even better, just drive it some more…it’s a fine car, it got me through 4 years of college! . My stepdad is a mechanic and thinks it might the sparkplugs or the fuel pump, but he is in Wisconsin and I am in Tennessee. I catch your show every now and then and really get tickled by what you guys have to say, but also think you give really good advice. Thank you for your time!!!
When was the last time that the spark plugs, the plug wires, the air filter, and the fuel filter were changed? If the answer is either “I don’t know”, or…“more than 3 years ago”, then that is where you should start.
Most car problems originate with lack of maintenance, and I suspect that this is one of those cases.
Well…the sparkplugs were changed about 2 years ago and everything else has been changed within the last couple of months…it has had regular oil changes and everything else that goes along with regular maintenance…
I had a 98 Ford Taurus. Someone stole my power antenna off of my car, and I was pretty mad about it but I fixed the problem by buying a cheap after-market antenna that I left in the hatchback. But the theft left a hole in my car’s body, and a little while after, one day driving to work in heavy rain, the car began surging and bucking and finally just quit. I had it towed, but my mechanic said it started fine for him when it came off of the truck.
So be aware that the fuel pump will fail if water is getting inside the body near the part by any means. In my case I put duct tape over the antenna hole and the problem went away.
Is any Check Engine light on?
I had a similar problem, ended up one of my fuel injectors was plugged up so I was running on 5 out of my 6 cylinders.