Raw fuel smell in cabin of truck during idle. Truck has a looping idle and will sometimes stall and die. During startup throttle has to be wide open for first crank. Check engine light comes on at hig

SOURCE: surging while driving

This is a notorious problem with the Windstars. There are oodles of ground straps in them. Make sure they are all clean and tight. ESPECIALLY THE STARTER GROUND STRAP. If it's loose, the car may just die when you turn up into a driveway or parking lot or just go over a bump. If you notice the "Check Engine" light comes on momentarily, at the time of the surge or the engine kills completely, it's DEFINITELY the starter ground strap! My engine used to kill at odd times -- even when on the freeway going at 75!-- Then we'd go over another bump and SURGE_O_RAMA, the engine's running again or I'd restart it and it would be fine for a while. What's happening is the loose ground strap loses it's connection when you go over a bump in the road. The next bump jogs it back into the connected mode, albeit tenuous at best. All of the computer techs couldn't find the problem. It took a 70-year old seat-of-the-pants mechanic to make the SIMPLE fix. It took so long to find the common-sense mechanic, however, that the down-shot of all of the surging tanked my tranny, which I had to have rebuilt! AND then, after I drove away from the 5-star AAA BBB "transmissing" shop, I found that THEY HAD NOT TIGHTENED ALL OF THE GROUND STRAPS! I took it back. They had no knowledge of ALL 9(?) ground straps and had to take it to THEIR mechanic who tightened them ALL down! It's been 5 years since then and I haven't had another problem with it. RULE OF THUMB: EVERY TIME YOU HAVE THE VAN SERVICED have them tighten-down ALL of the ground straps! If your mechanic doesn't know what you are talking about, go find a new mechanic. Generally, the AAA "Top Shops" are your best bet. They fix things right the FIRST time. I still haven't found a manual that has all of the ground straps listed, by the way.

SOURCE: 1989 ford f150 w/ 5.0 liter..... engine light on

I would check the oil pressure of the engine. The reason is the timing chain tensioners are run with oil pressrue. I think your timing chain tensioners are leaking down when engine is getting to operating tempature . The oil is thinning down as warms up , as it should to lubercate . I would check compression and do a cylinder leak down test on all the cylinders. Then if the compression is good and the cylinder leak down is good. I would change all the timing components, ( chain, timing gears, timing chain tensioners )

Good Luck , I hope this helps.

SOURCE: Occasionally my 2003 Taurus stalls

check all of the vaccum lines and check for leak at the fuel injection unit and for leaks at the intake manifold also make sure the spark plugs are at the right gap and change the fuel filter and here is a couple of website to checout www.autozone.com and www.alldatadiy.com and i forgot one www.taurusclub.com and i hope i have been some help to you Michigan Man.

SOURCE: truck stalls at startup with

Without having the year, engine displacement (size), or the manufacturer, I will assume this is a ford 6 or 8 cylinder. I would begin by listening for a high pitched sucking sound (vacuum leak) this is a very common condition on ford products. If none is found I would l probably lean towards the Idle Air Bybass Valve which actually controls the idle speed, they are very prone to carbon buildup and failure. If you would like to send me more specific info on the vehicle, I will be glad to give more specific information to help you out.

SOURCE: I have a 2002 Ford

The "IAC" is not a sensor. IAC stands for Idle Air Control - it is an electric solenoid. These are not supposed to be "cleaned". If someone cleaned it, that is most likely your problem. You will most likely have to replace the IAC and get the engine to idle correctly so it will not stall at stops. This is a common problem for Ford 3.0L engines even if the IAC has not been cleaned.