Ford motor company mr. Mike mcmullin district manager august 29,2005 dear sir, I purchased a 1998 mercury 5.0l mountaineer in july 1999 and it currently has some 85,000 miles on it. Long before the 36-month/36k miles warranty ran out, I complained to my ford dealer that I heard an engine noise that sounds something like a hydraulic valve lifter sticking. In taking my car into an independent service center lately for some non-warranty minor service work, the mechanic there asked me how long I had been experiencing the engine noise that his trained ear was hearing. I informed him that it had been clicking like that for a good long time. Just for curiosity he checked the federal safety agency web site for technical service bulletins (tsbs). He found to my amazement and disgust that the federal safety agency showed tsb #14489, issued november 01,2000, contained the following: ??some 1998-1999 explorer/mountaineer vehicles built through 01/1999 and equipped with a 5.0l engine may exhibit a cold start or hot engine deceleration noise coming from the #5 cylinder. One possible cause has been identified as the left A/C compressor bracket coming in contact with the engine block. The bracket can apply pressure onto the cylinder wall and overtime cause the cylinder wall to distort resulting a noise described as piston or lifter noise. The noise will be worse on cold starts and hot deceleration, but will be less severe at operating temperatures. If the vehicle has over 12,000 miles please replace the bracket with f87z-3c511-ca and install a far engine replacement (f77z-6006??arm for 1998 m/y vehicles, xl2z-6006-aarm for 1999 m/y vehicles) from your local supplier. The bracket and the engine must be installed at the same time.?? I conclude that the repairs for this problem which has been estimated at $4,828, should not be born by me. I feel that equal cost sharing in this matter would be a fair and equitable treatment. Sincerely, paul g. Barboza.
1998 Mercury Mountaineer engine complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 22 of 22, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Ford refuses to honor extended warranty, program # 01m01 on 1998 mountaineer; VIN [xxx], " any other engine damage clearly resulting from a worn or broken front cam chain guide is also covered"! Rear cassette bad, engine needed to be replaced at my cost.*ak updated 07/30/2012 *js information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6)
1998 mercury mountaineer transmission repairs. *mr there was no third gear and the transmission had to be replaced. Engine light stayed on and the egr sensor had to be replaced. *tt
Mercury claims a recall was mailed on two occasions, a year apart. Other recalls were received and work completed. Other mercury owners reporting same problem and they have never received this recall. The federal safety agency website has no information about such a recall or warranty on the timing chain of this vehicle.
Engine compartment caught fire without warning. Damage was estimated at fourteen thousand dollars. Dealer and manufacturer have been contacted. Please provide further details.
Vehicle stalls intermittently at any speed. Taken to dealer once a month since purchase in march 2000, cannot find cause. *ak
I did proceed to the mercuery dealer for seat belts, our right rear seat belt was on order for 10 months and mercury dealer wouldn't do anything about it . I had problems with the front seal bealts not retrating and they would stick, I did follow up with a law suit and lost because they thought my seat belt wasn't a problem. The rear right was on order for almost 10 months and still nothing was done .in nov 1998 I had knocking noise coming from my engine and the dealer ship there was nothing wrong. I complained about it a couple more times and nothing was done. Will june 2000 a new engine was put in because uptown could't find a problem. The most I want is to have ford take this truck back and forget that lawsuit. Why should I pay for something that the retractor assembleys are not work . Its a saftey matter (dot number: vd tiresize: p225/75r75)
Vehicle has stalled/hesitated upon accleration several times. It has done this at least 10 times (stalled 3 thus far...today 8/23/00 was one incident of that) despite efforts by ford to remedy. I've had the dealer replace the recalled throttle, re-orient my fuel lines, and eventually replace my engine without any remedy. This could be a very dangerous issue (once it stalled while making a left across traffic lanes. Fortunately it was clear). I've owned explorers in the past with no such incidents.( dot number: )
Vehicle driven in forward and comes to a stop (I.e.- at a stop sign, toll booth, or traffic light) will stall/hesitate without warning when attempting to proceed forward again. This has happened multiple times since we purchased the vehicle new. Vehicle was taken to several different dealerships in three states and they say "ford/mercury is aware of the problem but at the current time there is no fix." radio when tuning would not pick up any radiostations due to radio not hooked to antenna. Door molding on drivers side door came loose and prevented the door from being opened more than three inches. Driver was not able to enter drivers side door to drive vehicle. Rear windshield wiper engine burned out and rear wiper did not work. Brake stuck when attempting to place vehicle into gear after initial start of engine.
Was driving up a ramp when the vehicle stopped dead after entering intersection. Had no prior warning. Turned vehicle off & shifted into park to restart. Had it towed to dealer & mechanic could not locate cause of stalling.
Drove vehicle and parked it, had no warning signs, about 5 minutes, vehicle exploded and caught on fire in the engine compartment. The vehicle was totaled. Aaa inspected vehicle, and said it was a defect in the engine. Please provide further information.
Upon acceleration the engine stalls and loses power ,and completely stops without warning or any prior notification. Incident occurred about five times. The dealer cannot duplicate the problem.
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