I have a 2001 Ford Taurus with 62,000 mi. Serviced by Ford Dealership only. Car has stalled 3x’s since Dec.On 2 occassions it started after sitting for 3 hours or more. On 2x it stalled at dealership and they attempted to determine the reason for stalling but was unable to come up with anything.Car was in thier care for 9 days. For 2 days it would not start while in thier care.Car has been placed on analyzer and the only item of concern was the syncro & stator which I was replaced. I am being told bythe dealership they can find no reason for this stalling.At this point I am beginning to think it is a manufactures defect. Please share your thoughts.I use only the Ford Dealership for maint and have abidded by the suggestes listed in owners manuel relating to maint.I’m hoping you might have some thoughts on what could be causing this issue.Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts.
I will suggest that you might have done better by not using the dealer. Dealers are no better (or worse) than independent mechanics for almost anything you might need done on your car. They will almost always charge more per hour and often more for parts and supplies. They also tend to look at repairs a little different than the independent.
A dealer may well recommend work that strictly may not be needed, but could be connected to the problem or maybe replace a part when a little repair would fix it ALMOST as good a new.
There is no need to bring your car to the dealer for any service other than service that is going to be paid for by a recall or original warrantee. During the warranty period be sure to document all maintenance work.
I suggest that most people would be better off finding a good independent (Not working for a chain) mechanic.
Finding this problem may not prove easy, but I am going to guess that the dealer is not your best bet now.
BTW congratulations on reading and following the owner's manual. More people should do that. It IS the authority on the subject of care.I hope that they are smart enough to have considered the #1 problem for Fords stalling before replacing other parts. The IAC (idle air control) valve often goes bad. Have you tried starting it with just a little pressure on the accelerator pedal? If that works, it is the IAC. New ones will probably cost less than $100.
Go to another shop. This type of problem is not uncommon with the complicated cars today. Someone will be able to diagnose this problem. I had a similar problem years ago and the dealer finally found a bad part in the electiral system. I do not recommend replacing parts to try to fix this; there are just too many things that could cause a car to refuse to start on an intermittent basis.