So I live in Canada where it can get fairly cold. I have a 1992 Taurus L and when I start it up it's always cold, I've always just let it warm up to a certain point before driving because if I drive it cold either it stalls out the moment I touch the gas or the throttle lags for a second before going. Being new to cars I was wondering if I put it in first (1) instead of putting it in drive (D not over drive) will that help get rid of the stall or throttle lags I'm experiencing. I know I shouldn't drive on highway in first but like for the first little bit when I'm leaving home in mostly 30km/h zones will it make any difference
TL
R... Will driving in 1st gear get rid of stall/throttle lags that shows up in cold temps?
Well you probably have an issue with the head gaskets or evap system. After 3 months of changing items on my car, I found out after 75,000 it was a recommended service. I was at 105,000 in December when it stared stalling in the cold temps and low speed. Also although the oil is 5w-20 the expected environment temperatures play more of a role in the oil choice. (Side note: Ford doesn't warrant engines if they have the wrong oil for the temperatures.) Order the gaskets seemed to fail was rear head gasket, front head gasket, coolant reservoir was darkening and cracked, PCV valve dirtier, opposite end of breather tube started melting in the engine intake manifold (both the vacuum connector and intake manifold must also be fully replaced), then evap system vacuum errors with a sound of sucking when accelerating car (how bad the wear on the vacuum tube connector to intake manifold) and finally O2 sensors and catalytic convertor errors. My friend's 2014 ford fusion (borrowed while my taurus wouldn't start) was 80,000 miles and I experienced same issues on acceleration and start and sucking sound when driving but no stalling. Upon further internet research and searching salvage yards for the new intake manifold and vacuum tube connectors, almost all were with the same exact issue (melted connectors inside manifold) which just leads me to believe its a defect in ford brand. Finally found a metal vacuum connector on an earlier version of the model that worked. Basically it gets melted when engine temps exceed 500 degrees F, the melting point of the plastic, because the car is telling the engine to inject more fuel while the vacuum leak near the MAF sensor is showing high air flow.
Sure you can replace everything else around but the issue with the gaskets remain the same, I was going to use a head gasket liquid repair kit but on my ford they had the brilliant idea to remove the radiator entry point (as the liquid cannot be added to the coolant reservoir), I'm convinced ford did this on purpose so you had to bring the car in to get the gaskets repaired manually (2000-3500 USD). I replaced everything including transmission oil and pan gasket ( also recommended - change not a transmission flush which is very different ) for $500 which includes new fluid with mine, buying a torque tool [in-lbs and ft-lbs] and a friend's time over a 3 day period not including the 3 day search at different salvage yards for the manifold (LKQ salvage yard 60USD vs 150+USD used online and new 250+USD).
Quite frankly, if I had taken notice of the sounds, sight of the blackish coolant and reservoir and initial evap errors then the manifold wouldn't have had an issue and I probably could have replaced the gasket parts and bolts for under $100.
Don't ignore this issue and you can see the signs around the engine and reservoir. It really is a pain but way better than getting ford to do it for 1000s of $$$.
