Transmission, timing, or what?
 

1996 taurus with 119,000 miles. Just bought the car and i know 0 about the history, all i know is "it has some problems".


1. Check engine light is on

2. when stepping on the gass hard to moderatly hard from a dead stop there is a loud bang (like a backfire from the front)

3. 1300-1600 rpm it feels like either the timing is off or the spark plugs are bad (runs like it has bad gas). the problem is not there at idle, only when a load is applied i.e in gear (usually 4th going around 40 mph).

The loud banging up in the front is not the motor mounts, I replaced those last week thinking thats what it was.

Changed the oil and transmission fluid 100 miles ago (if that makes any difference?)

Thanks for any and all help!!!