I drive a 2005 Ford Taurus SE which has about 98,000 miles. Recently the car has been having performance problems, characterized mainly by hesitation and jerking when going from one gear to the next higher one. It is especially noticeable when I am not putting a decent amount of pressure on the gas pedal. It has not occurred recently but there have been times when starting up the car that the car does not immediately respond to my foot pressing on the gas pedal, causing an initial pause in power, after which it will jerk to life and accelerate in speed. The "service engine soon" light has come on and then gone off as well. Putting a higher grade of fuel in the car has caused the light to go off on occasion but the other problems still seem to persist. The car also generally sputters when I turn the key for a second or two before starting up. Furthermore on occasion I have noticed a noise coming from under the hood that sounds like a belt making something of a whining noise.

Any ideas as to what the problem could be/steps to take to figure out what is wrong? Took it to a trusted mechanic, said he took for a test drive and didn't notice any problems.

 

What kind of routine maintenance has been done to the car? Has the fuel filter been changed lately?

See if you can the stored codes from the computer. That may help direct you to the system giving problems.

 

I'm not sure when the fuel filter was last changed so that probably means it is time for a new one. Thanks for the tip.

Got in touch with a parts dealer and they said the check engine light had to be on in order for them to pull up the codes. Is this true? If not, what can I do to find the codes? Thanks.

 

The light does not need to be on to retrieve a trouble code. You will need a scan tool to get the code.

 

Thanks for the info way2old. I will look further into the matter with this information.

 

If you don't have access to a scan tool, it is my understanding that Autozone will get the codes for you at no cost. If you decide to go this route , make sure you get the code numbers and not just what they say they involve. Armed with the numbers , most of the time someone on this site will be able to suggest possible remedies.