1999 Mercury Cougar Needs Help! - Ford Forums

whiteout · 03-24-2006, 10:45

My 1999 2.5 V6 Ford Cougar has a problem.
It is hesitant and shaking on acceleration between 2000-3000 rpms. It does not matter whether the car is in drive or overdrive. If I drive the car at over 3000 rpm it does not shake. Only problem is that I can't do that because in order for the rpms to be that high I would have to speed.

At first they thought it was a miss in the engine or the torque converter, but it has been into a Ford dealership and hooked up to a computer, and that is not the problem. I called the Ford Garage as well as the Ford Motor Company themselves and there are no factory recalls of any sort on my vehicle. I have new break pads/rotors, the tie rod ends have been replaced, new fuel filter installed, and the car was given a full tune-up.

The only other problem I had was that the air control valve "died" and had to be replaced. I am not sure if this problem was linked to a bigger one.

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.

whiteout · 03-27-2006, 06:55

For everyone who has this problem with your car, this information should be very helpful.

The problem with this cougar is the torque converter shudder. Apparently it is a common problem with the Mercury Cougar and Sable, so someone else here may have this problem too. The Ford Garage quoted me about $1000 to replace the torque converter. It is pretty pricy because they have to pull the engine out to replace it. They also said they could flush it with mercon. They said that in some cases flushing it solves the problem, but not always. The cost of flushing it was quoted at $150.

I was told that if the torque converter does go out I will only lose over drive. I honestly don't know if that is true, but that was their response to the question.

I would first recommend taking your car to a ford garage and have them put it on a computer (will cost about $60) and have them do a complete scan. After all, it could be something else, and you don't want to waste money on something that may not be the problem.

Hope this information is useful!

whiteout · 04-06-2006, 06:31

The transmission flush worked great. My car runs like brand new now. I couldn't be happier. It cost me $151 and some change, but that's still a lot cheaper than replacing the torque converter.