2002 Taurus shutting off at random
 

I have a 2002 Ford Taurus that has me racking my brain. the main problem I am having with it is, it seems to like randomly stalling and dying, doesn't seem to matter if driving down the road or sitting at a red light. its not anything thing I can predict as to when it will do it because it gives no warning of any kind and will just shut off. I have replaced spark plugs, fuel filter MAF sensor TPS sensor and a few hoses. another thing I have noticed but may or may not actually be helping is, it seems to run good ( not shutting off) for a few days after I pull the battery and reset everything. it has also started this very slight backfire that I noticed yesterday while sitting in the yard. rev the engine a little, let of the gas and you can hear a very slight popping from the exhaust. the idle at times also feels a little rough but the RPMs stay steady. it's been to Ford once and they did an inspection on it when it had a coolant leak, told us they couldn't find anything wrong with it and then half assed put the plastic guards back on which fell off while driving causing an accident. so I won't take it back there. any help would be appreciated. I don't have a lot of money to keep throwing into this car right now
Thanks

so it stalls while driving and stopped. Does it restart ok immediately after its stalls or does it no crank, crank but won't start?
Is the ses light on? If yes, what codes?
How random...once a week? No shop will find this unless it happens while they have the car.
Ideally, a shop would put a recording device into the dlc and they would be able to review what dropped out when the car dies.

well, as I said it's pretty random, one day just driving a couple miles it shut off about 6 times, it starts right back up with no problem after it stops. some times it will go a few days and not do it at all and then some times it will do it a few times a day for a few days. there is no CEL (SES) light on at the moment. more often than not, when it does die, it happens while driving but it has done it a couple times while stopped or stopping.

Just a question, I know you stated it happens while driving.
Is the brake pedal depressed/ brakes applied when this happens?

it happens whenever it wants to happen on days it wants to do it is the only way I can put it lol. I has done it while stopping, it has done it while stopped, it has done it while just driving down the road at a steady pace, it has done it taking off from a stop. some times it will do it once a day, some times it will do it several times a day and some days it won't do it at all. but one thing I thought about, the last two times we filled the gas tank to full it did it more often until the gas level dropped to about 3/4 tank. fuel pressure was tested and was fine. battery is new, alt was tested fine. new spark plugs, new fuel filter, oil changed, new MAF, new coolant res. ( cause the sensor fell off the magnet and kept giving a coolant warning light) computer/ECU has been reset. when it dies, it just flat out dies. no stuttering or any type of warning at all, and its only the engine that dies, everything else keeps working (radio, lights wipers, windows) but then it will crank right back up as if nothing happened or is wrong with it

The recording device that primem mentioned is the better way to locate the cause.
Do you have a large key ring with many keys in the ignition switch ?
I am trying to reason this thing out until you can have addl eqip to verify the cause.
Usually, if the fuel pump quits and the engine shuts down , it doesn't always start right up.
Some of the possibles are related to the electrical system for the ign system.
From what you describe it occurs just like when you turn the key off.
If you lose power to/from the ign system it might cause this.
If for instance, the crank sensor is temperamental and the RPM signal to the computer is lost , the engine will shut off.
If there is a loose/poor connection anywhere in that system it can do the same thing.
Electronics are great in vehicles, but when they act up , especially intermittently, they can take some detective work to pin down.
If and when the problem is solved , we would appreciate if you would share the solution with us. Thanks.

ok, well it would seem the problem was a bad ignition switch. after a friend of mine and I spent some time thinking about it, he came up with the idea of seeing if we could recreate the issue. put the keys in, started the car and the jiggled the keys around slightly pulling and tugging very little in all aspects as if they were swaying around while driving, hitting bumps and turning... well first while doing this the dash lights actually started working again which weren't working before, then a little more messing with the keys the car did die.. started it back up and spent another 8 to 10 minutes messing with the keys and it did it again... so today I pulled the ignition out and behold! there was a ton of gunk in there and the contact pins were slightly bent. so I cleaned all the crud out, straightened the pins, cleaned all contact points, reapplied graphite, put it all back together and so far so good. will know for sure if that was the actual cause after driving it a few days, but if it doesn't cut off within a week I think I got it taken care of

thanks for posting the fix. it will help others.