My car did the exact same thing. However, I have a 96 Contour 4 cyl (2.0 L). This is a very dangerous condition as my wife almost got hit from oncoming traffic. Fortunate for me, I had a CEL (check engine light)on. Since my car has high mileage (over 100,000 miles), I performed the following.
Replaced both O2 sensors (about $80US each).
Replaced fuel filter.
Replaced air filter.
The CEL returned with the car having slight improvement, but still stalling.
I then hooked my car up to the computer and read the code P0171 - System too lean (bnk 1). After reading many post on this site, I found the MAF (Mass Air Flow sensor) to be possibly dirty. Sure enough it was extremely dirty. I did not remove it from the housing, I simply removed the entire unit and sprayed the very fine metal ends of the sensor with carb cleaner (always remove your negative cable for safety and for resetting codes). DO NOT use cotton swaps or anything to touch the sensor, let the cleaner do the work. It should be nice and silver when cleaned.
That fixed my problem, and my car runs like it was new. I think the combination of preventive replacement of 02, fuel filter added the process, but I think the dirty MAF was the real cause of this problem.
Clean your MAF or replace it is my suggestion.
Cheers!
Andre
