My 1996 XLT, rear wheel drive, straight six, 300 fuel injected engine, seems to jerk or sort of stutter when it I think it maybe should be down shifting when driving. It shifts up just fine and then down when it reaches a shift point. Using the "overdrive off" button on the shift works fine and I'm wondering if I really have a transmission, a fuel flow or an ignition problem. If I press on the accelerator to pickup speed it will "jerk" a few times and then smooth out. It doesn't matter if it's cold, hot, wet or dry. I still get the same symptoms even if I use the front or the rear fuel tank. Other than this annoying quirk it runs fine. Any ideas out there? Thanks...

 

Start by going over all of your vaccum lines.

Check/clean your IAC as well

 

A good tune up that includes cap,rotor,plugs,wires, and fuel filter will fix you right up

 

Checked hoses, no problems. Pulled the sparkplugs and found that all had worn to a gap of over a sixteenth of an inch. Don't know how it was running like that. Changed plugs, wires, distributor cap and rotor. Runs like a sewing machine now. "No jerks, no stalls when up to speed. A little bit of help was all I need". Apologies to Cheech and Chong on that one. Thanks for the information.

 

great!!! Glad you got it fixed.