1994 Mercury Villager from North America - Comments

The car had a stalling problem at low speed. I had O2 sensor, fuel pump and another sensor replaced. This ran me a big chunk of change, like $1000. The problem persisted. Dealership was unable to fix. Started using BP gas and problem went away. I didn't believe it so I tried another brand of gas, and sure enough, problem came back.

Some minor annoyances such as front door hinge wore out, the lights on climate control are intermittent and ironically, the intermittent windshield wipers are sometimes more intermittent than designed. Additionally, when brakes get wet, they squeal when backing out of my driveway after sitting over night, the blower motor chirps at low speed, and the sliding door window rattles a tad. The windows fog up in cold damp conditions to the degree that AC is mandatory.

Overall, I like the car. It is quick, quiet and comfortable. If not for the crazy stalling problem, I would have ended up putting little money into this car. I am planning on getting another in three years when I hit 200k miles.

I have a 94 villager and so far its been a good car,150,000 miles on it so far. I had an oil leak problem, rear main seal area and water coolant leak on heads total bill about 400.00 cost. drivers door hinge also worn causing door to sag, also door locks won't open with a key.

Purchased a used 1994 Mercury Villager last summer. It had a rebuilt engine with 60K km's since swap. The crankshaft broke three weeks after buying it. Despite Fords attempts at using low lift cams and dished pistons to make this a non-interference engine, there was exhaust valve to piston damage. The first engine also had piston and valve damage from a broken timing belt.

Finding a low mileage used replacement is harder than you think, even with so many rusted out Nissan Maximas sold for parts. A 3.0 ltr V6 Ford engine could be found for $200, but Nissan engines are around $800 (not including taxes and installation), plus I would still have to buy hoses and new timing belt.

The engine mount is also broken, but that's common on these and new ones aren't too expensive.

These vans are even heavier than Fords larger Windstar and guzzle gas in city driving. Highway fuel mileage is better and large gas tank means good driving range (It got 16-18 city mpg and 23 hwy mpg or 20 combined, over half of the 1900 km's we put on it was hwy driving with 4-5 adults).

I've driven a lot of minivans, and this one handles better than most, but braking distance is really long and front rotors tend to overheat and warp easily. New rotors were installed for safety inspection when I bought it, less than 2K later they were warped again, calipers weren't sticking and it wasn't driven hard (rotors are too small for the vans 3980 lbs, as they were designed for Maximas).

There's lots of electrical problems, but most can be repaired by a DIY owner. It's like you get Fords bad electrical and rust problems mixed with high cost Nissan parts and unreliable under powered engine. I would rather buy a newer and yet cheaper Dodge Caravan next time. And I could put the extra money away for repairs.

P.S. I fixed the common stalling and hard start problem by cleaning the throttle body and MAF sensor with throttle body cleaner, and I replaced the old fuel lines and evap cannister vacuum hoses.