1993 Mercury Villager LS from North America - Comments

Since we got the van it has been sputtering and jerking when you drive. it idles fine, but when you start to drive that's when it does the sputtering and jerking. We changed the distributor, ditributor shaft, distributor cap, the catalytic converter was plugged. Can someone pleases tell me what is wrong with it. It also backfires sometimes!!!

The van is comfortable and we really don't want to get rid of it.

You basically purchased a vehicle with 200 thousand miles on it. That is why the previous owner sold it. He or she ran it to the ground. They got there moneys worth and then some. I would look for something reasonable if the repair is going to be expensive.

Pure mileage should not make it run poorly. Find someone who knows cars and has some problem solving skills to find the problem, it can't be that hard.

My wife's Villager is still running strong at 273,000 miles, so don't toss it out at only 200K. In all my years of Villager maintenance I've not seen that particular problem. My guidance: if the engine sounds fine, you might have a tranny problem. If the engine is spitting and bucking, work on ignition. If it's sagging and surging, think fuel.

Our 96 Villager has the same problem. Unfortunately, there seem to be several things that can cause it. I cured it last time (at 90K) with new plugs, wires, rotor and cap. Now, at 122K, I suspect the distributor (it's making that rattling sound). O2 sensors, mass flow sensor, fuel filter, fuel pump, cat converter, bad fuel, air filter and throttle plate sensor are some other possibilities.

If you search the various forums you will note this to be a common problem with the villager. You will also not that dealers don't have any better luck pinning it down with a diagnostic computer. The usual approach is to keep replacing things until you get lucky.

I know all this sounds cynical, but I have yet to hear of a proven simple solution.

Doug.

I have a 1993 Mercury Villager GS, and it had similar problems to yours. I changes all the spark plugs and plug wires. I also changes the fuel filter. All these changes removed the stubling and hesitation and made the car run extremely smoothly. Also try getting the fuel injectors manually clean (I.e. take each one out and clean it your self or a professional mechanic rather than a market fuel injector cleaner, because those are just preventative maintenance rather than full pledged cleaning.)

I have a 93 Mercury Villager and it shakes pretty violently. At first, it was just when braking, then when braking and idle, now it seems to do it even when I am pressing the gas. It shakes as if it is running out of gas and is about to cut off although it isn't. Also, when it shakes and I am pressing the gas, it will not go over 20 or 25 mph. Is this the same kind of problem you all were talking about? I cannot afford to have a mechanic examine it right now, and hope that it is nothing too expensive. We are temporarily going to try to put the fluid in the fuel injector and maybe change the filter and hope that we get lucky. I wonder if this shaking could cause the van to actually cut off.

I would like to buy my friend's 1993 Mercury Villager. The only thing wrong with it is that the speedometer is not working. Does anyone have any idea how much it would cost to have that fixed? Anyone, has any advise for me?

Thanks.

Angelica.

I have 1993 Villager van and we have did a major tune up and my van has rough idling. Please help me.