2001 Taurus goes dead

when was the last time the engine was tuned up? if if was recently and the problem just started it could be bad gasoline, clogged fuel filter or clogged air filter.

ALWAYS check the body grounds first. Ground to the dash gages could be faulty, dirty, or just not tight enough to make a good connection.

i recently had this issue with my 2001 taurus dohc engine. when you drive it seems that everything is fine. when you stop, the car will idle very low and somethimes shut off. there is a hose under the throttle body that is attached to the pcv valve. over time, this hose will collapse and eign to tear. i replace that hose (autozone for $10) and it solved my idling problem.

either your battery has dead cells and wont take a charge or possibly your altenator is faulty

Fuel pump is located inside your fuel tank.Sometimes if you have involved in an accident there is automatic shut off switch that will kill the fuel pump operations and prevent fire durring accident.Chek your manual for fuel pump shut off switch. Sometimes is located in the Trunk or in front of vehicle on driver side under dash on left side panel.

Check your idle air valve, maybe your air filter needs to be changed. EGR valve may need to be checked at as well.

Your problem is that the transmission has gone beyond it's life expectancy with 235k. A host of Internal complications can be expected; seals become brittle, clutch plates become worn, pumps become weak and etc. Any remedy outside a replacement or rebuild will be temporary and indefinite. I have tried, (with limited success) adding a pint of brake fluid to transmission oil to soften the seals. With 235k, it can't hurt and may get you some extra miles out of it.

perhaps you need a new cap and roter a new spark plug wire set. they don;t like moisture. also check to see if you have any broken or leaking vacuum hoses. the worse case senerio would be that your head gasket is leaking--at cold temps a little antifreeze will enter until everything warms up and it seals shut due to metal expanding. but since you say it's cold weather only--this probably wou;dn't be the case. good luck.

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Don't know if this has anything to do with your problem, but it could be worth a try.
My 2001 turbo had a similar problem when it was low on oil.
The oil light never came on, but it was low enough to cause it to stall.
Seems there has to be enough oil circulating on the camshaft (I think they told me the camshaft, now it has been so long that I am not positive).
Either way, a quart and a half of oil solved my stalling problem.
And the problem got bad enough before I had it towed to the VW shop that it wouldn't start, very much like it had a dead battery or an electrical (starter/ignition) problem, but i still had plenty of power for horn, lights, radio, etc.

Hope this helps!

Peace,

Rob

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Idle air control valve