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what would cause my car to stop shifting without lifting your foot off of the gas to make it shift and now its blowing white sweet smelling smoke, a lot of smoke when you rev the motor which is running just fine “a bad vale body”

Greetings:

I have a 1987 grand marquis with a 302 engine- 467,000 miles.  Engine seal replaced twice- once at 105k and again at 295k. Rebuilt trans at 387,000 miles due to 4th gear being junk.

I have been having a couple of issues with starting and constant running. First let me describe my issue with starting:

When the car doesn’t start when you attempt it: It just sits there spinning. Like there is no ignition/no catch. But the starter is engaging. So far it has been completely random in terms of timing and weather. It seems the only way to get it to start is to play with it. This can range from hitting the gas to turning the car in the run position and moving the shift lever back and fourth. Also attempting to start the car in “N” sometimes works.

Now when the car just shuts off or dies:

This has happened to me a couple of times now… You will be driving maybe holding a constant speed or maybe a slow acceleration. And the car will just die. Nothing- boom dead. No noise, no shaking, no hum, no back lace, just dead. When you try to START the car it doesn’t start. Starter engages but there is no ignition or catch.

Things we have changed and replaced since the start of this issue:

-oil (for the heck of it)
-oil filter-spark plugs
-spark plug wires
-battery leads- including cleaning the battery leads and cleaning the starting solidend
-distributor cap
-Component on the side of the Distributor (not sure of the name of it) – it controls the timings?
-Also changed the “COIL” pack part – (that connects the the middle spark plug wire in the middle of the distributor)
-Checked for bare or broken wires leading to or away from the distributor- repaired if damaged
-Checked Fuses

** NOTE: When ever the car was not able to start. We did check to see if the fuel pump was turning on or was active. The fuel pump as far as we can tell is perfectly fine. Except it does have over 400k miles… But yea…

At this point we have no idea what is causing this. If any one has any ideas that would be great. I don’t really want to get rid of this car for possibly a dumb problem. Father bought the car in 87 before my parents got married. I was even taken to and from the hospital with it, and run across the back seat when i was younger. So this car has a lot of memory’s. So far the local Ford dealer doesn’t even want to look at this car and local repair shops have no idea what it could be. They just want to throw parts at it and get it out the door. But that doesn’t help me when I’m an hr away from home and this happens. She’s been good to my family and I want to be nice back to her. ^_^

Thank you for your help in advance!
Kyle!

do i have to remove the intake manifold to replace the  bypass hose

i have no driveability. i have changed spark plugs and switched out my 1996 cougar mass air flow sensor to see if any change and there wasnt. i dropped exhaust to c if cats wereclogged no change in problem. i unplug the the mass air flow sensor and i have driveability ne bogging what can i do next im lost?????

Just got a 99 Merc. C-280 it came with no manual, changed the spark plugs, to give it a tune up, it is still sluggish, got it checked, coil pack #2 bad, if I am looking down at the engine where would coil pack #2 be located, also could it be possible that if the codes were not properly cleared out, can the computer cause the same problem, and or if  the CEU is bad can it effect one or more coil packs, or would a DIO identify that the computer is bad.

Thanks to all who can help with this….

Had my son’s car towed to the shop on Friday because it stalled on him twice. On his check up sheet in August 2010, the only thing needing attention was his serpentine belt; everything else was green.

After they checked the vehicle, they reported that the timing belt needed to be changed. Some other things they noted was the front brakes and the rotors needed to be changed, transmission flushed, new spark plugs. Is it possible for all this to go wrong in the space of two months?

1998 Mercury Tracer, 4 cylinder automatic

Hello all, I have a quick question. I have a 2002 Mercury mountaineer
and I was just told that the timing chain is causing my truck to make a rattling noise and that it needs to be replaced. I am currently in bewtween jobs and I was told that it can be pretty expensive to repair. Any ideas on what I should do? Does it take an experienced mechanic to make this kind of repair or is it something I could do myself? Is is even worth it? Thanks!

gas mileage has gone from high 20′s to 12-14 I nee help? also is it possible for o2 sensor to be culprit with out sending a code?

i have a 1991 mercury cougar runs ok until you pull a hill then it creeps along and jerks. what could it be?

Hi, my friend has a 1999 mercury Cougar that has 140,000 miles on it, first she does not have the money to take it to a mechanic, last month the trans start slipping and it just got worse and now the car drives but after u but the car in D (drive) or R it takes about 1 minute then some times moves drives and sometimes it does nothing means it does not drive at all, the trans OIL is clean and did not need to add, the trans makes a little random noes only when put it in D or R, any idea I know the trans might gone but I just wanna see if that happened to some one before? could it be clutch? might be sensor or some other part in the trans
it’s my friend’s car and she needs help.
any idea or advice might help. and if u really know about cars what is the part name that makes that trans slip or not act properly ??? THANKS