Ford Repair: 2001 Taurus suddenly stall while driving, intermittent fault, data stream
QuestionI have a 2001 Taurus purchased in August with about 120K miles. In January the transmission failed and was repaired by a dealer under a service contract. About two weeks later while driving down the road the anti-theft light began to flash and the car quit. The dealer then replaced the PAT sensor but it happened again about a week later. The dealer could not find anything wrong with it so it went to another dealer. They could not duplicate the concern but tried replacing the PCM relay. About a week later it happened again and I had it towed back to the dealer. By the time they got it, it ran fine again. It may go as long as 3 weeks without any trouble then it quits again. I don't know if this has anything to do with it but sometimes the doors will not auto lock when I put it in gear and when I use the fob to lock the doors, they will lock but the horn double beeps like there is a door ajar. The dealer says it may be a PCM but does not want to put a $300 part on and have it not fix the problem. Any ideas?
AnswerEric, have they found any codes related to this problem? Definitely sounds like a PATS or keyless entry problem. My daughters Dodge is doing something similar about every three months, as of yet I have not solved hers. A Ford is easier for me to diagnose with the right equipment.
Not knowing what the dealer has done or checked on yours kinda leaves me in the dark.
If I was diagnosing your Taurus, I would check all modules for codes, observe the PATS and locks data stream to see if I could find a fault there. This sounds like an intermittent fault, which are the hardest to find so it may take the right circumstances for the tech to catch it. But I would expect to see codes somewhere in the vehicle from the symptoms you are describing.
If you are still under that warranty there shouldn't be any question for the dealer to replace the PCM if that's what they think it is. I beleve the PATS is in the PCM on this vehicle.
