i have a 2000 ford expplorer xlt 4x4 with the six cylinder engine. last week i was driving to work and it just started dying out. it took some time to get it started and when i did it would die as soon as i put it into gear and gave it a significant amount of gas. it will idle and drive as long as you feather the throttle so light as if you arent even touching it. when it is in park if you give it a decent amount of throttle it just seems like it is misfiring. but when it is in gear and you give some gas it dies out. i replaced the pluggs wires and the coil pack last month and i checked them again and they were fine. someone told me it sounded like a frozen fuel filter so i did that and that wasnt the problem. i took it to autozoneand used their diagnostic computer and it said there was a whole list of **** but at the bottom it said dtc pending codes 02 heat sensor bank 1 and 02 heat sensor bank 2. any ideas?
i just dont want to waste money that doesnt need to be wasted. if anyone has any tips or info on this problem any help would be great. thanx

 

I might have a look at the IAC (Idle Air Control), this is basically a solenoid that the PCM uses to regulate the engine idle and allow air to bypass the throttle plate when you don't have your foot on the gas. It could be sticking or carbonned up. Possibly if it's sticking the engine can't pick up the idle fast enough when you put it in gear, but it is unlikely this would cause the engine to die while your driving, it would make it hard to start if it is sticking closed, if it had failed completely ( open or shorted ) the PCM would set a code.