Just went through something similar to this twice in the past year. 2 Tauruses (or would that be Taurii???) that I deal with (a '98 and an '02 - both with the Duratec) exhibited similar behavior. Tried many of the cheaper fixes on both of them, but in the end it was the fuel pump going out on both of them. One had 64k miles (the '02) and the other had 155k. What I learned is that you can't predict when the pump will go as it works great and then it doesn't work. If my '02 Escape exhibits these symptoms I will replace the fuel pump and move on. Not cheap, but no sense getting stranded!