2000 Mercury Cougar from North America - Comments

I have a 2000 cougar V6 mtx.

Won't start this morning, Cranking and struggling, but doesn't start...

And tonight after I came back of work, Start perfectly well...

Any Idea?

Other is habitual:

80 000km fuel pump

Alternator replace for nothing because of crack on the housing (I want to resolve dimming light).

To resolve dimming light, ask your dealer to look in the service bulletin (internal notice from Ford and they will found they have to replace a part of cable between alternator and battery (for almost 100$)

Front end suspension.

Thanks!

Nic.

I have a 2000 Mercury Cougar. Two weeks after buying it (I bought it used two years ago) I had to replace the oxygen sensor. Three weeks after buying it, I had transmission trouble. Five weeks into it, (of course, after the warranty ran out) The cat converters had to be changed. I've been through two alternators, 3 batteries, and still have problems with flickering lights. At night, my headlights look like strobe lights. My latest: This morning I was leaving for work and stuck my key in the ignition, and it wouldn't turn. I pulled out my key, and it was bent. Every time I stick my key in the ignition, it bends, and my car won't start. I am so sick of this Cougar.

I had to get my engine replaced, after that was done my lights began to flicker like yours. I took it to ford (who didn't do the engine swap) and they said there was a TSB (technical service bulletin) about that. There is a spot in the alt. cable that has strong resistance to the current flow. They cut that part out, rewired a wiring harness and said it was working fine. I pick it up today at 5 so I hope it works. My alt. was surging between 13 and 14.5 volts causing the lights to flicker.

I've had a 2000 mercury cougar for about 6 months and it has only ran for 2! I can't get in to the driver's side door, even with the key. It will start up and run, but I need to get it back to Ohio (from Georgia) and I don't want it dying on the road. I know it's something electrical because the key-less entry does absolutely nothing. If you know what this problem is would you please be so generous to e-mail me at joshhodapp@yahoo.com!

Thank You!:)

I have had a 2000 Mercury Cougar since 2001 and have had continuous problems with the car stalling, especially when on a slope. This would occur say, once every few months and when the fuel was low. Also have had problems with the battery and brakes. Just had the fuel pump replaced under recall notice. Am going to proceed to get the brakes and electrical system/battery/cables fixed under recall also. For more information go to the NHTS Office of Defects Investigation website www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/recalls

I've got a 2000 Mercury Cougar. I was going down the highway with my sunroof open and the slide track on the passenger side broke. Now I can't seem to get replacement parts. Anyone know where or how I can?

I've had my 2000 Cougar for about 5 years, and for the last 2 years it has been a mess. I have spent over $4200 in the last 12 months alone on emissions sensors and idle problems, but now the catalytic converters are bad and the dealer has told me I need to spend another $1500 for new ones.

Needless to say this car has made me rip out my hair. Everything is more expensive to fix on this car than I could imagine. Tires are $175 a piece, the battery is cross-negative, so it is not only hard to find like the tires are, but the battery costs $80.

I thought buying an American car was going to make it easy for me to find parts, but I was wrong. I also have never had very cool A/C in the car, and I work at a car dealership (unfortunately not a Mercury dealership), so I have had it checked and it has always held freon well and never needs a charge, but it starts out cool and then gets hot.

And has anyone noticed how hard it is to get frost or fog off the front windshield?

I think I am just posting this to let anyone interested in buying a Cougar know that everything costs 3 times what you expect. They are beautiful cars and are quick, but they come with fuel and emissions issues.

It's me again, I posted back in April with the strobe lights and transmission issues, My car is currently in the shop because of the power steering and (hopefully) the starter. I don't know what I'll do if it's the alternator AGAIN. At least it's still covered under the 1 year warranty. Isn't that pathetic?? My alternator couldn't last a full year...

I'm putting in a bottle of power steering fluid each day, it practically gushes out of my car when I'm parked with the car off. When I drive, it stays in the reservoir, go figure...I'm sick sick sick of Mercury. Isn't there something that can be done because of these vehicles? Why isn't Ford liable? These cars are poorly made, and they include careless mistakes.

There is a TSB that your ford dealer should now about. The spot of high resistance in the wiring from the alt. to the battery needs to be cut out and the wiring harness re-wired. I had the strobe light effect, then had this done and they don't flicker at all. They don't even dim at a stop light and brighten when I accelerate from the stop.

I bought my 2000 Cougar and all was good... for awhile. I have all the same problems as everyone else, but I need some advice. I can start my car with me giving it gas, but once I let off the gas it stalls, and it won't start unless I give it gas. HAS ANYONE HAD THIS PROBLEM? If so let me know what you did to fix this problem. Write back or send me an e-mail at Ted.Hanson@wpafb.af.mil Thanks.

My car seems to lose power sometimes. Colder weather it sputters. At 1/4 tank it wants to quit if I take a hard turn, especially if I am going up hill.

Sent to mechanic several times, they can't find a thing.

I want to thank those that posted about the dimming and strobe light effects as I too had the same problem. I took my car into a Ford dealership and told them what I was looking to have done.

Funny thing is when they found out that they would not be able to sell me anything else like a new alternator in the process they were not very interested in fixing my car (Shame on them) but they did give me copies of the TSB instructions and figures to do it myself. Which I did about a month ago and I have had no problems with it since then.

So if anyone is in need of these instructions I would be happy to email them to you. The cost of the repair was $35.00 for the part-ordered through the Ford dealership- and then you need Some Rosen Core solder and a shrink tube.

My email is windsor643@yahoo.com.

Thanks again!

Regarding comment on 7th Nov 2007, 19:56.

This is a fuel pump problem. I had the exact same problem twice. It's just that your fuel pump isn't quite dead... yet.

I everyone,

I've had a 2000 Cougar since 2002. Got it with 46000 miles, now has 118000. I generally like the car (nice engine spur, no rust at all, nice tight steering) but have experienced most of the troubles posted on the site (definitely seem to be design issues) :

- Windshield air vent pops out

- fuel pump replaced after the car would stall when tank was under 1/4 or cornering. Ford has a recall campaign on this so replaces for free if you tell them those symptoms.

- AC just quit on me (does anyone have a suggestion, thanks?)

- heater blower only works on position 4: From some of the comments, looks like blower resistor issue is common, please confirm. Also let me know if there is a common resistor or relay between blower and A/C

- Trunk does not open with the remote anymore and does not stay up either (does anyone have an easy solution?)

- Changed the alternator, belt and battery at 115,000 miles. This seems a common issue, but was root caused to an oil leak that soaked the alternator. I saw on one site that a common issue with this car was a joint that would leak. Please let me know if you have experienced this).

- Latest issue: my car would sometimes not start at cold temperature or sudden temp variations. Then start the next day. Starter turns, battery is fine, just looks like fuel is not getting to the cylinders. Let me know if you have a solution to this.

Thanks to everyone for posting these comments, they have been very useful to me. It is always better to go to a garage shop with some idea of what the problem might be. I was the one telling to the dealership for example that my stalling issues were linked to the fuel pump and covered by a recall campaign...

I've had my 2000 Cougar for 3 years. Haven't had too much trouble with it. Replaced the battery a couple of times and had the sensor in my transmission fixed.

But now it's doing something new. I was driving it the other night and noticed that the interior lights looked dimmer than usual. Then a few minutes later, my battery light came on and faded out. It never stays on, it just fades in and out. Same with the interior lights and headlights. It seems to get worse when I brake and not so much when I'm driving at a steady speed. And to top it all off, there is a strange whistling coming from under the hood.

I have made note of the TSB about the re-wiring of the alternator cable. Is there something else I should bring up to my repair shop??? Anyone else had this problem and gotten

a proper diagnosis???

Please help.