Just bought a 97 T-bird with the 4.6 it has alot of miles but wel,l taken care of the problem im having is the car starts fine runs down the road fine but when im sitting at a stop and put the car into gear the car starts missing almost like a plug wire is unhooked, but as soon as i get off the brake and give it some throttle it smooths right out and it also does it running down the road with the cruise on when it comes to a little grade and needs only a small amount of throttle it will miss until it levels out and then it runs fine. Im stumped. Why is the miss intermittent? checked the basics plugs, new fuel filter. what should I be looking for? no check engine light on even when it misses. Could it be coil packs or plug wires? seems like if it was wires or coil packs it would miss all the time. Any suggestions on what to look at and replace? Thank you ahead of time for the help

 

If the engine is also missing while idling, it may be the IAC (Idle Air Control) valve acting up, or a vacuum leak problem. Please confirm whether it happens when the engine idles, this detail could point us in the right direction (or away from it, as it sometimes happens :-)

It can also be a bad spark plug cable ... if the cables look worn I would replace them (along with the plugs) anyway, as a regular maintenance step.

HTH ...