Keegan Sutton

I have a 2000 Mustang V6. It is auto trans and about 128k miles on her.
I just got it this past Feb. and it has been giving me issues that I have been trying to figure out the cause for.

It has problems with rough idle.
It hesitates when accelerating.
It jerks/surges while I am in 4th gear.
It struggles to change gears and sometimes the ignition hesitates.

I have taken it to quite a few places from Gateway, Firestone, and Bridgestone and neither of them have given me the answers I need. A family friend got me in touch with a local mechanic who works out of his backyard with all of his equipment. I gave him a call and he told me that it sounds like the torque converter. I really could use help figuring out what the problem is and get it resolved soon. I need my car for my job as a delivery driver.

Please and Thank You.

Helo-tech

I doubt a torque converter will cause a rough idle, I would start with the easiest and work your way up from there, I would start by changing the fuel and air filters, they are easy to do and if it's been a while they likely need it, if that doesn't help, then I would check the plugs for proper gap and see if they all look similar, one that's different in color can indicate a problem with that cylinder. I'm not sure if the V-6's have plug wires or not, if it does, take an inductive timing light and go around while it's idleing and hook it to each plug wire, watch the strobe and see if it's consistant, if you find one cyclinder that the light seems to "miss" once in a while that could be your issue. try these and check back to let us know what you find out.

Keegan Sutton

I actually just took it to the shop this morning and as it turns out, it doesn't have the proper gaps. I got a tune up from Firestone about a month or two ago and they didn't gap the plugs right. Because of that error, it messed up cylinder-2 and caused it to "miss". However, the mechanics that I took it to were able to fix Firestone's error and bring her back to working order.

Much appreciated for the reply Helo-tech. If you lived in my area, I would be honored to deliver you a free pizza for the suggestions. Haha

I hope you have a good day mate!

Keegan Sutton

The gentleman that did the work on her just told me that because of my low budget right now, I can fix the gaps myself. But, the mechanic said that they did the big job of fixing Cylinder-2 and doubled checked the plugs and everything, all I have to do is get a simple tool from a local auto parts shop like Riley's, NAPA, or Autozone and with my family friend's help I can fix the gaps.

I was honestly worried that it was the transmission of some sort, which he stated would've been around $1,300 to $2,000 for all the work on it. But with the issue being so simple, it only costed me around $300. It is still not cheap, but it is a whole lot better than having to pay over a grand.