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1995 Mercury Villager

Sent to Car Experts July 19, 2006 12:46 a.m.

I have a 1995 mercury villager with 176K miles on it. 3.0 liter engine. I have owned the vehicle for 9 years and love it except I have this problem with it when the temperature outside is very hot, it is like the vehicle vapor locks. It loses all power and stalls. If I open the gas cap and let the vehicle sit for a few moments I am able to get it restarted and it does come out of it. This seems to happen about 1 time each summer on a really hot day. It seems to be less prone to act up if I keep a lot of fuel in the tank. If it was the fuel pump failing, wouldn't it have died by now since it first started doing this like 6 yrs ago and 80,000 miles ago ? I would appreciate any possible suggestions.

Optional Information:
1995 Mercury villager 3.0

Already Tried:
keeping tank close to full when it's very hot out.

Customer (name blocked for privacy)

Status: Closed Value: $12

Answer
July 19, 2006 5:36 a.m. (4 hours and 50 minutes later)

REPLIED

Not necessarily. The fuel pump can act up in funny ways. One thing it's not is a vapor lock. The nature of the fuel system prevents that.

The only way your really going to find out is by using a fuel pressure gauge and monitor the pressure during the problem. The fuel pump is very possible.

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Reply to Hammer Time
Sent July 19, 2006 7:28 a.m. (1 hour and 52 minutes later)

My problem though is that I can always eventually get the vehicle running so by the time I get it to the service garage it is back to running fine. I am not going to pay to have it towed in when I am always able to get it going again. I don't want to wait for this to happen again and be stranded several hours from home. Are there any service bulletins or problems listed of a similiar nature with the Mercury Villagers ?

Customer (name blocked for privacy)

Answer
July 19, 2006 5:52 p.m. (10 hours and 24 minutes later)

REPLIED

I understand your problem but unfortunately, with tests during the failure, there is not way to know what is failing.

This is a problem we face every day. Simply guessing and throwing parts at is will get old real fast. It just has to be test during the failure to be diagnosed correctly. I know it's inconvenient, but those are the facts.

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Hammer Time -- L1 Master Technician -- 98% Positive Feedback on 2710 Car Accepts
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Reply to Hammer Time
Sent July 19, 2006 6:29 p.m. (36 minutes and 27 seconds later)

You said in your first response that it clearly can not be a vapor lock. Why does the vehicle always again start and come out of it after I have vented the fuel system by allowing the fuel vapors to escape when I remove the fuel cap ? If it is a failing fuel pump and there is no such thing as a vapor lock in today's fuel injected engines...how can venting it suddenly make the vehicle run better ? The fuel pump also is very loud when it is running poorly which still leads me to believe that it is sucking vapors, or foam or something.

Customer (name blocked for privacy)

Answer
July 19, 2006 6:37 p.m. (7 minutes and 36 seconds later)

ACCEPTED

The fuel pump is your likely source of the problem but you need to use a fuel pressure gauge to diagnose that problerly.

The reason a vapor lock is impossible is because these vehicles use a high pressure recirculating system. The fuel is constantly flowing at high speed with 90% of it returning to the tank without being used. It just doesn't sit still any where where it could vapor lock.

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Hammer Time -- L1 Master Technician -- 98% Positive Feedback on 2710 Car Accepts
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