Issues with my Ford
 

K, so actually it's a 99 Mercury Mystique, four cylinder, automatic, 89,000 miles but same thing.

So today I'm driving to school and I notice my battery light is on. I shut my car off at a light and turn it back on and it starts just fine. So I get to school and park it for about an hour. I am on the way to the bank after that and then I notice that my ABS light is on in addition to my battery light. Then I notice my RPM gauge is freaking out. It's rapidly jumping between 0 and 1000 RPMs. I turn off the radio and roll down the window (window's moving kinda slow and sounds like it's havaing a hard time) and rev the engine a little but it sound fine. So I go to the bankand get home ok but as I'm pulling into my parking space at my apt complez car just dies on me. Starts right back up though. So boyfriend gets home and we mess with it. He has an multimeter (mixed in with a little mechanical experience) and he determines my alternator isn't putting out as much as it should. It was putting out 9 and a half Volts instead of nineteen.

So, boyfriend thinks alternator is going bad. Oh, and there's a really really strong smell of gas when the cars running. And when I rev the engine, it doesn't rev right away it kind of hesitates then when I get the RPMs up there the car pulsates irregularly.

Thanks in advance for the advice. I'm taking it to the mechanic tomorrow. Warranty will cover alternator but wont cover anything to do with the sensors/computer so I hope it's the alternator.

I had a similar problem on my talon, sounds like the alternator to me. I'd bet on it.

I'll second the alternator comment, sounds like the problem to me too.

Good :) alternator is covered by the $1500 warranty I bought on it :) I'm never buying another Ford again. Or is it really not the cars fault? Is this something that just happens on a car that's this new?

I would never buy a Ford, but thats just me.

Remember, Fix or Repair Daily. :)

I've had more problems with my winstar than I can count on many toes and fingers. Fords just suck.

Well, the fucker only rolls downhill. Good call on the alternator... get a Honda next time.

I'll second, third, fourth, or whatever we're up to on stating that Ford's suck. I own 2 right now. A '99 Windstar and a '97 Explorer. I've had these vehicles in the shop or been working on them myself more than any other vehicle I have ever owned. All my previous vehicles were from Japanese manufacturers. The next vehicle I buy will be also.

I just had to replace the transfer case ($1700) on the Explorer in May. The shop told me its a common failure as it was a flawed design by Ford that they did not recall because it takes several years for it to fail. Basically th eoriginal transfer case opening does not align with the shaft and it enters at a slight angle. Over the years it simply wears the opening away and then bad things happen.

Be smart and rid yourself of the Ford as soon as possible.

Good call on the alternator. But at least it's a $400 dollar repair that I don't have to pay for. I'm also going to have him change some other stuff while he's in there so I don't have to do it later. But yeah, I wont buy another American made vehicle ever. It's all about Honda :) I want an Accord. Any negatives with that?

While fords may be junk (I don't have any direct experience), coming to that conclusion from a failed alternator is silly. Alternators very commonly fail in all cars. And you would not have to pay $400 to put one in at a regular mechanic. It's a ~$100-150 part, and takes less than 1/2 hour to install in most cars. Also, its often the voltage regulator portion that dies, which is much cheaper than a complete alternator.

Its not a Mercury Mystique, its a Mercury Mistake.
:lol:
But I digress, Ford's are just built and designed differently in comparison to other car makes. Thats the only way to explain Fords design flaws and malfunctions.

sounds like you need a new car, lol. ouch. thats alot of stuff to go wrong all at once.. damn those new cheap cars.... sorry about your troubles, it could be alot of things considering there is a computer involved.

That's my regular mechanic's price. The parts (he's got to put a new Serpentine belt on too) come to about $200 and the rest is labor, tax, ect. And I have a fifty dollar deductible. The warranty people are gonna pay approxomately $350.

Should I just wait for it to break the next time after that, and the time after that to arrive to my conclusion? :)

Low voltage will give all of those symptoms, so the alt is probably the only trouble

Stormberlin, I forgot how much mechanics overcharge. Changing the belt can be a pain though, although it's probably optional.

Your conclusion that Fords suck is fine if you want to base it off of everyone else's experiences. But my point was that an alternator is a minor and common failure in every make of car. Even Hondas fry them occasionally. If you said that your car is constantly breaking down, then I wouldn't have said what I did :).

Alternator, and it has NOTHING at all to do with the fact that it is a Ford.

I worked for a towing business for 5 years, and it happens on every make and model, not anything specific.

Get off the bandwagon about fords sucking, so does chevy, GM, pontiac, w/e.

I've had my 99 Ford Ranger since it was right off the production line, and a friend of mine has had thier 00 Mercury Sable since it was new as well. Neither one of us has had any issues what so ever. My dads business runs off Fords and thats for a reason, reliability. Others cant take stress like a ford does for when it comes heavy duty business.

I didn't mean to sounds harsh, I was just making a joke about the feeling I have that my car will give me trouble from now on :) Yeah, mechanics overcharge. The warranty people gave my mechanic grief because of the price (but they would have done that regardless) but he set em straight :)

FYI: the slow revving up is a symtom of low voltage. It takes a lot of voltage to create the 20K volts to light off the fuel and air in the chamber.

A virtually foolproof way to check for a failing alternator/generator is to get the car started (hard part if the batt is dead) and remove the + batt cable. Don't let it touch anything. If the car dies, the alt. is not putting out enough amps/volts to sustain all of the electronics (fuel pump, injectors, coil, sensors, etc.) in the car to keep it running.

If it does not die then you may have a batt that is failing and will not accept or keep it's charge.