My poor Taurus, multiple issues...

[mavsfan0434]

So, first I wanted to say thanks to those who had input a couple weeks ago on my wife's Taurus, which was having starting issues some mornings. I replaced the old corroded battery cables with newer(nicer) ones, and so far no more problems.

But, alas, things are never completely fixed. Now that I (hope) have that problem tackled, I was hoping to pick your brains a little more. The car is a 2000 Ford Taurus SE 3.0 V6

1. Hard shift/jerk from 1st to 2nd gear: I have read through this forum and seen 2 major things over and over...VSS or MAF. The speedometer itself works, there is just a delay and a pull/jerk/hard noise from 1st to 2nd gear, so I was wondering if someone might be able to narrow that down. My wife had it checked out a few years back, and the guys told her "O that's just the transmission going out" but I don't know them/trust them from Adam, sadly I don't feel I can trust most mechanics now-a-days. Any ideas would be great.

2. The other day(after I replaced the battery cables) I was driving home and had a blowout on the highway. The tires stem valve all but popped off, hanging on by a thread. The tire was old, had it replaced, but it is a newer tread than the 3 she had replaced a couple years ago. Now, I noticed yesterday, the front end sounds very squeak/creaky when driving. My dad had said the front struts on that car might be going out/needing replacing, so could that be the reason for the increased noise in pair with the new tires? The car is from Illinois, so the struts were exposed to the elements/salt. I know you need a specialty tool to do the struts, which I don't have, plus I simply don't know how to do it myself.

Anyways, sorry for the long post, but I didn't want to crowd the forum with multiple threads.

Thanks in advance!

[The White Falcon]

Could be the shock of the blowout kinda 'surprised' the strut and now it's moving more than it did. An inspection certainly wouldn't hurt.

You could clean the MAF if you think it's a problem. Especially if you feel confident enough to do it yourself (really, it's not hard-loosen the intake hose, pull the airbox cover off, and spray the sensor), and a can of MAF cleaner is about $8. It could also be the Transmission Range-(TR) sensor is going bad. That causes all kinds of transmission problems. It's not too expensive, but it's supposed to be a mess to replace on the Taurus.

[mavsfan0434]

Now that you mention the TRS, it brings me to an old topic. The radio cuts out when going past/in reverse from drive or park. I have read somewhere else this might be a symptom of the TRS?

[The White Falcon]

Originally Posted by mavsfan0434

Now that you mention the TRS, it brings me to an old topic. The radio cuts out when going past/in reverse from drive or park. I have read somewhere else this might be a symptom of the TRS?

I'm not sure. I just know that in the case of the F-Series trucks, the number one source of transmission problems is the TR sensor. Granted, it's more of an issue there because the trucks are more prone to go off road, get silt/water/gunk in the connector, and corrode the contacts.

[mavsfan0434]

If it helps any, the hard shift can be somewhat lessened if you don't make a quick start from a stop position. Getting the RPM's up, letting off the gas, allowing it to shift without giving it more gas. But you have to time it right. I don't know if this might help diagnose, but I figure the more info the better.

[mavsfan0434]

One more thing...I don't remember where I read this(I believe an old topic here) but they were talking about when starting the car the RPM's running high at first and taking a while to come back down to idle level.

When I went to lunch today, I started the car and noticed at first start, the RPM's rev up to about 2 or a little over, then take about 30 seconds to fall back below the 1 RPM line. Does this help diagnose at all?

[it'sthatcar]

As far as the idle goes, it could be your IAC (idle air control). They tend to go out on these cars. You can clean it and see if that does anything, but it is usually just better to replace the IAC all together. They're cheap.

[mavsfan0434]

Originally Posted by The White Falcon

Could be the shock of the blowout kinda 'surprised' the strut and now it's moving more than it did. An inspection certainly wouldn't hurt.

You could clean the MAF if you think it's a problem. Especially if you feel confident enough to do it yourself (really, it's not hard-loosen the intake hose, pull the airbox cover off, and spray the sensor), and a can of MAF cleaner is about $8. It could also be the Transmission Range-(TR) sensor is going bad. That causes all kinds of transmission problems. It's not too expensive, but it's supposed to be a mess to replace on the Taurus.

BINGO!

Thanks to everyone on this forum who has helped me with this car, and a big thanks to you sir. Multiple people had suggested the TRS, and I finally found a good transmission shop(by family reccomendation) and turns out it was the TRS! $119!!!!

Just goes to show you have to find the right people to work on your car, as 2 other shops had told us it needed a new transmission and would be $2000+