Actually, it's most noticeable when I pull on to the freeway in the
morning on the way to work. I drive about two miles from my house to the
freeway and then usually have to idle along the on-ramp for a hundred
yards or so (we have metered ramps so the traffic backs up there). When
it's my turn and I accelerate onto the fway is when I notice it most.
When I first get on it, it will stumble a couple times and then takes
off and is fine after that. It doesn't seem like it's about to stall, it
just hesitates when I give it gas. I get off the fway about four miles
from work and I don't usually notice it at the lights there, altho
they're usually pretty short. Going home is the reverse path but it
seems to run OK then. Getting on the fway in the morning is usually my
longest traffic wait.

Then, the other day I had stopped at a store for about 10 mins and when
I came out it started fine but when I put it in R to back out of the
parking space it ran very rough and almost stalled so I slipped it into
N and revved it a little and then it was OK. That was about the worst
it's been. My Astro van behaved much the same way before I cleaned its
IAC...perhaps it's a similar problem, altho the IAC is different on the
Taurus (I don't think they even call it that).

Idle speed seems OK...about 750 rpm on the tach and steady. It doesn't
change when putting into neutral.

When I changed the oil last I also changed the air filter. While I was
at it I took the air intake hose loose at the throttle body and found a
lot of carbon on the butterfly and inside. I dosed it with TB cleaner
and swabbed it out. It seemed to idle & accelerate a bit better after
that (might just be wishful thinking :-). That was more than a month ago
and it was fine until a couple weeks age. I did check for loose vacuum
lines, etc, but will take a closer look at clamps, etc.

It's not real bad at the moment but I'd like to prevent something more
serious. Certainly not as serious as many of the tales of woe on here.
It is annoying, tho. The car has run fine until this started a couple
weeks ago.

Anyway, some more data. Thanks for the reply. If you have any other
ideas, they'll be much appreciated...