Eva Rae
New Member
- Joined
- September 20, 2012
- Messages
- 1
- Reaction score
- 0
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 2005 Mercury Mountaineer
Hi Guys, I’m a lurker in this forum but this is my first time posting. This forum has been a great resource for me, so I’m hoping someone can shed some light on my situation. I apologize ahead of time for how long this is.
I have a 2005 Mountaineer V6 4.0L Flex Fuel AWD with 91,000 miles on it
A few months ago I got new tires, oil change and some tire pressure sensors replaced at Sears. Immediately after the new tires were installed the car felt like it was always driving in 4WD. When I would manually engage the 4WD it felt exactly the same as when I would disengage it. I also noticed a low rumbling coming from the center rear of the car. To top it off the tire pressure sensors started to go off again, and I noticed my same old oil filter was still on the car.
So my husband took it back up to Sears, my temper wouldn’t allow me to be there unless I wanted to be spotlighted on the evening news. Come to find out they “accidently” replaced the tire sensors on the wrong tires, and somehow forgot to do the oil change. They apologized, fixed the correct tire sensors, and gave me a free oil change on my next visit (thanks). They didn’t see anything wrong that would cause the other issues I was having, and said I just wasn’t used to the new tires.
I didn’t trust their opinion so my husband took it to the shop we regularly use to have it checked out and get the wheels aligned.
Here is what they found/repaired-
1-Replace both front wheel bearings
2-Install new front axle pinion seal
3-Install new rear axle seals, install new pinion seal, and replace differential fluid
4-Replace front left and right outer tie rod end
5-Replace front fluid differential
6-Replace fuel filter
7-Perform fuel system clean
8-4 wheel alignment
9-Replace spark plugs
The following morning after these repairs I was driving on the expressway and watched my fuel counter that tells me how many miles to E drop from 31 to 5. I stopped and filled up my tank but instead of being able to fit in the usual 20-22 gallons, I was only able to get in 18 gallons. When I started my car back up the needle was at E, and I don’t remember what my counter said. I figured it was just due to them replacing the fuel filter and it would reset the next time I started my car. It took about 24 hours but the needle did slowly work itself back to normal. A week later when my car was down below 50 miles to E I filled up and was only able to force in 18 gallons yet again.
It has been a few months and it’s never changed, the most you can get in is a little over 18 gallons. My needle works correctly and matches what my counter is saying. My MPG is about the same as before. When I fill up I think my counter usually says around 330 miles to E and I'm getting about 300 miles before my counter reaches 0. I’m to chicken S*it to just keep driving until I run out of gas to see how much past 0 I can go.
Yes I know I should have taken it in when I noticed the problem especially since it started the day after being repaired, but we were going through a lot of issues at the time and it was the last thing I had time to deal with.
The car was running fine for the most part until 2 weeks ago. My husband and I were driving doing 35 MPH and it suddenly felt as if my car was floating. I said maybe there was a gust of wind, then I felt it again and knew it was not wind, something was wrong. The best way I can describe it is driving and the car going into neutral, I was giving it gas but it wasn’t doing anything. The car didn't stall, besides doing the floating thing it was driving fine and we were able to make it home without issues.
The next day my husband took it back to the shop that did all the work to find out what was going on and have them check out the fuel issue. They couldn’t get the car to recreate the floating. No warning lights were on. The only warning light that’s come on in the past few years was a couple weeks ago when my husband didn’t tighten my gas cap all the way. I tightened it and it went off about 100 miles later.
They checked my codes and wrote this: (Electrical) had fuel rail code in history. They did not provide me with the code. I have no idea if that code is from a few weeks ago with the gas cap situation or not. Upon further inspection they found a leak in my gas tank, and said I have a bad fuel rail pressure sensor.
List of repairs-
1-Replace fuel rail pressure sensor
2-Replace fuel tank
The tank is leaking where it meets the fill hose (I hope that’s the right terminology). A friend (mechanic but sticks to motorcycles) looked at the leak and asked me if I had any work done in that area. I told him about the fuel filter being replaced a few months ago and the issues I had after. He said due to the locations of the leak he suspects it was caused by someone, and not by materials, defect or age.
Here are my questions after this long story.
-Does this sound like something they could have done by accident while replacing my fuel filter or any of the other repairs they did?
-Does this have anything to do with only being able to put 18 gallons of fuel in after the fuel filter was replaced? If not any ideas what it could be?
-Are the same fuel filters used for flex fuel and regular? The fuel filter they used (#33243) is listed at RockAuto for use in the regular V6 4.0L and not on the V6 4.0L Flex Fuel. But some other sites say you can use it. I’m questioning this because yesterday I noticed on my invoice they have my correct VIN but I think my car model’s wrong.
It’s listed as
2005 MERCURY MOUNTAINEER V6 - 4.0L (245 CID): GAS: FI: N: E
When I’m pretty sure it should be
2005 MERCURY MOUNTAINEER V6 - 4.0L (245 CID): FLEX: FI: N: K
I have now pieced together myself that my floating feeling I experienced was due to inadequate fuel pressure. The cost to do these 2 repairs is really a lot more then I can afford right now. The owner of the shop is a very honest guy and if this was caused by something they accidently did, I know he will do what is right. I just don’t want to go in there questioning their work, if it really wasn’t anything they could’ve done. Any help is greatly appreciated and again I’m sorry for this being so long! Thanks guys
I have a 2005 Mountaineer V6 4.0L Flex Fuel AWD with 91,000 miles on it
A few months ago I got new tires, oil change and some tire pressure sensors replaced at Sears. Immediately after the new tires were installed the car felt like it was always driving in 4WD. When I would manually engage the 4WD it felt exactly the same as when I would disengage it. I also noticed a low rumbling coming from the center rear of the car. To top it off the tire pressure sensors started to go off again, and I noticed my same old oil filter was still on the car.
So my husband took it back up to Sears, my temper wouldn’t allow me to be there unless I wanted to be spotlighted on the evening news. Come to find out they “accidently” replaced the tire sensors on the wrong tires, and somehow forgot to do the oil change. They apologized, fixed the correct tire sensors, and gave me a free oil change on my next visit (thanks). They didn’t see anything wrong that would cause the other issues I was having, and said I just wasn’t used to the new tires.
I didn’t trust their opinion so my husband took it to the shop we regularly use to have it checked out and get the wheels aligned.
Here is what they found/repaired-
1-Replace both front wheel bearings
2-Install new front axle pinion seal
3-Install new rear axle seals, install new pinion seal, and replace differential fluid
4-Replace front left and right outer tie rod end
5-Replace front fluid differential
6-Replace fuel filter
7-Perform fuel system clean
8-4 wheel alignment
9-Replace spark plugs
The following morning after these repairs I was driving on the expressway and watched my fuel counter that tells me how many miles to E drop from 31 to 5. I stopped and filled up my tank but instead of being able to fit in the usual 20-22 gallons, I was only able to get in 18 gallons. When I started my car back up the needle was at E, and I don’t remember what my counter said. I figured it was just due to them replacing the fuel filter and it would reset the next time I started my car. It took about 24 hours but the needle did slowly work itself back to normal. A week later when my car was down below 50 miles to E I filled up and was only able to force in 18 gallons yet again.
It has been a few months and it’s never changed, the most you can get in is a little over 18 gallons. My needle works correctly and matches what my counter is saying. My MPG is about the same as before. When I fill up I think my counter usually says around 330 miles to E and I'm getting about 300 miles before my counter reaches 0. I’m to chicken S*it to just keep driving until I run out of gas to see how much past 0 I can go.
Yes I know I should have taken it in when I noticed the problem especially since it started the day after being repaired, but we were going through a lot of issues at the time and it was the last thing I had time to deal with.
The car was running fine for the most part until 2 weeks ago. My husband and I were driving doing 35 MPH and it suddenly felt as if my car was floating. I said maybe there was a gust of wind, then I felt it again and knew it was not wind, something was wrong. The best way I can describe it is driving and the car going into neutral, I was giving it gas but it wasn’t doing anything. The car didn't stall, besides doing the floating thing it was driving fine and we were able to make it home without issues.
The next day my husband took it back to the shop that did all the work to find out what was going on and have them check out the fuel issue. They couldn’t get the car to recreate the floating. No warning lights were on. The only warning light that’s come on in the past few years was a couple weeks ago when my husband didn’t tighten my gas cap all the way. I tightened it and it went off about 100 miles later.
They checked my codes and wrote this: (Electrical) had fuel rail code in history. They did not provide me with the code. I have no idea if that code is from a few weeks ago with the gas cap situation or not. Upon further inspection they found a leak in my gas tank, and said I have a bad fuel rail pressure sensor.
List of repairs-
1-Replace fuel rail pressure sensor
2-Replace fuel tank
The tank is leaking where it meets the fill hose (I hope that’s the right terminology). A friend (mechanic but sticks to motorcycles) looked at the leak and asked me if I had any work done in that area. I told him about the fuel filter being replaced a few months ago and the issues I had after. He said due to the locations of the leak he suspects it was caused by someone, and not by materials, defect or age.
Here are my questions after this long story.
-Does this sound like something they could have done by accident while replacing my fuel filter or any of the other repairs they did?
-Does this have anything to do with only being able to put 18 gallons of fuel in after the fuel filter was replaced? If not any ideas what it could be?
-Are the same fuel filters used for flex fuel and regular? The fuel filter they used (#33243) is listed at RockAuto for use in the regular V6 4.0L and not on the V6 4.0L Flex Fuel. But some other sites say you can use it. I’m questioning this because yesterday I noticed on my invoice they have my correct VIN but I think my car model’s wrong.
It’s listed as
2005 MERCURY MOUNTAINEER V6 - 4.0L (245 CID): GAS: FI: N: E
When I’m pretty sure it should be
2005 MERCURY MOUNTAINEER V6 - 4.0L (245 CID): FLEX: FI: N: K
I have now pieced together myself that my floating feeling I experienced was due to inadequate fuel pressure. The cost to do these 2 repairs is really a lot more then I can afford right now. The owner of the shop is a very honest guy and if this was caused by something they accidently did, I know he will do what is right. I just don’t want to go in there questioning their work, if it really wasn’t anything they could’ve done. Any help is greatly appreciated and again I’m sorry for this being so long! Thanks guys
