'03 Escape: shudder upon acceleration & gauges max/min out
 

My '03 Escape had been giving me problems on and off for the past couple of years. When I try to accelerate to merge, the car shudders a bit and seems to get stuck around 1400 rpms. If I take my foot off the gas then reapply, it kicks in, no problem and the shudder goes away.

Sometimes all my gauges like to max out while the shuddering occurs. Although this sometimes happens without the shuddering and vice versa. The gauges either all min out or all max then min out, then pop back to where they should be. Luckily this doesn't affect the car's performance at all, or else I'd probably be typing this from a hospital bed :p.

I took it to my trusty mechanic who could never find the problem until recently when he noticed the shudder himself. The comp diagnostics came back with nothing (shocker). He said I might have a bad comp which is masking any codes about the real problem.

Any thoughts if this is the case? He suggests throwing parts at it until it's fixed, but I want to be sure about the cause before I drain my bank account.

Thanks in advance!

fixed yet
 

did you get this fixed yet, i have a client with the same dash problem

Nope. Still have the same problem, I will probably wind up getting the computer replaced, but it's still not in my budget.

Will post when resolved!

If you find out what the problem is first, please let me know :)

You may want to go to a shop that has a Ford diagnostic tool to see what the problem is with the gauges. It may be related to the poor performance also. The IDS from Ford can access all the modules individually and isolate the problem easier than an independant shop. I am not saying independants are bad, just sometimes the manufacturer specific tool is needed to aid in the repair. I work for a government fleet and purchased the Ford scan tool to aid in our repairs. Ask your mechanic to see what they think. Sometimes the diagnostic fee is not really bad.

Thanks,

I will definitely ask my mechanic if he has this tool and if not, maybe he can recommend me to someone who does.

will do
 

Thanks for responding, and yes I will let you know if we figure it out! My client has no driveabilty issues just the goofy guage movement now and again.

RESOLVED....probably :)
 

Well, it looks like the problem has been fixed, here is how it happened:

Last Sunday (Easter) I turned on the Escape to drive home and it began to shudder while idling. It became worse as I backed out of my parents driveway, so I turned off the car, let it sit and then turned it back on. It was ok until I got to the end of the block then it started again. I turned it off then on again and it was ok driving.

It started to shudder while I idled at lights and stop signs, and finally while I neared my home, the check engine idiot light started blinking at me. Luckily my mechanic was a few blocks away so I pulled in and left it there for them for Monday.

The check engine blinking meant there was a misfiring cylinder and they had to replace my ignition coil (turned out to be a rear cylinder that was more expensive since the manifold had to be removed to get to it :rolleyes:)

Anyway, it's been about a week since I've had it back and I have yet to see any gauge problems or any shuddering as I step on the gas pedal while merging or changing lanes (I just took a 300mile trip this weekend with no problems!)

So I'd like to assume this was the problem all along since I have yet to have those problems again, but you never know :p

Thanks again for your help way2old and kensperf, lemme know if this is the same problem, I hope it works out for you.

chemchick

Okay, so it was RFI. Ford has us check for a/c waveforms from the alternators, too.