# 2001 Ford Escape idles, but dies when you press on the gas **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Tags:** escape, rpm, ford\ **Created:** [March 12, 2009, 1:15am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2001-ford-escape-idles-but-dies-when-you-press-on-the-gas/27639 "2009-03-12T01:15:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mrwarp7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c6cbf5/32.png) [@mrwarp7](https://community.cartalk.com/u/mrwarp7)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2009, 1:15am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2001-ford-escape-idles-but-dies-when-you-press-on-the-gas/27639/1 "2009-03-12T01:15:13Z")
Hello Everyone! I am plagued with the following problem on my 2001 Ford Escape (which has around 86000 miles on it). The whole thing started a few weeks ago when the car all of a sudden did not want to accelerate past 2000 RPM anymore (it would drive at a max speed of around 20 mph). We took it home, replaced the battery (it need to be replaced anyways), put a new fuel filter and spark plugs. It still does pretty much the same thing, except that it will eventually just die (turn off) if I keep the accelerator pedal pressed. Any help would be highly appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![oldschool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e19adc/32.png) [@oldschool](https://community.cartalk.com/u/oldschool)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2009, 2:16am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2001-ford-escape-idles-but-dies-when-you-press-on-the-gas/27639/2 "2009-03-12T02:16:09Z")
This sounds like either a fuel pressure problem (is there a vacuum hose that can fall off the regulator?)or a plugged cat. ---
**Author:** ![cappy208](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/cappy208/32/31_2.png) [@cappy208](https://community.cartalk.com/u/cappy208)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2009, 2:21am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2001-ford-escape-idles-but-dies-when-you-press-on-the-gas/27639/3 "2009-03-12T02:21:59Z")
is the Check Engine Light on? CEL? ---
**Author:** ![mrwarp7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c6cbf5/32.png) [@mrwarp7](https://community.cartalk.com/u/mrwarp7)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2009, 1:06pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2001-ford-escape-idles-but-dies-when-you-press-on-the-gas/27639/4 "2009-03-12T13:06:24Z")
Actually, while I was writing this, the car was at the dealer. They are now telling me that the catalytic converters are plugged. There are three cats on this car and the dealer wants to replace all three for a hefty $2300. However, they did not say anything about why the cats went bad. What are possible causes for this? Something I could check myself? Is it necessary to replace all three, or could just one be bad? The Ford dealer insists to replace all three. The check engine light did go on at the time this happened first, but the car had a bad battery at the time (so it lost power). According to the dealer, they did not find any codes. ---
**Author:** ![oldschool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e19adc/32.png) [@oldschool](https://community.cartalk.com/u/oldschool)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2009, 1:32pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2001-ford-escape-idles-but-dies-when-you-press-on-the-gas/27639/5 "2009-03-12T13:32:16Z")
Its nice to know your diagnosis was appreciated. Where are my stars? Just past the 8/80,000 they won’t work with you? Maybe they think you continued driving the car when the car had a driveability issue and this driving with a driveability issue (check engine light was on) caused the cats. to fail You don’t need the Dealer for this work.