1995 Mercury Villager GS from North America - Comments

The power lock in the sliding door does not work, and makes a loud buzzing noise. AC compressor went out at 80000 miles, and the car stumbles a little from a stop,

A good vehicle for carrying a lot of people, and is very comfortable, but I wish it was more trouble-free.

Update on the 1995 Villager review posted above.

The van now has 96155 miles and several new problems have come up.

1. Two of the window latches on the rear windows broke, had to order new ones from the dealership cost was between $70-80.

2. The sliding door is a joke. It has never closed correctly, and is starting to rattle on trips. I wouldn't be surprised if it just fell off while driving down I-5.

3. The front headlights have become very dull and yellow in color, just need to buff them out.

4. The gear selector has always been sloppy, you can have the transmission in Drive, and move the selector both ways so it isn't even on the D anymore. A couple months ago, the shift linkage got loose, so the selector wasn't accurate at all, it got so bad that the trans. wouldn't go into Park, so you just had to find Neutral and put the emergency brake on. Cost of repair was about $55

5. Someone either ran into or leaned on the rear wiper, causing a large dent in the back hatch, causing the wiper to catch on the window handle, fixed the dent, wiper works fine.

6. Just recently I have noticed an unusual amount of wear on the left front Michelin tire, I think it must be caused by bad alignment.

7. Sometimes the "intermittent" windshield wipers act as if they have a mind of their own.

8. The fan makes a chirping noise, especially when on a lower selection.

Before getting this particular vehicle, I was amazed to find out that it only had 150 horsepower! But after driving it, I have discovered it isn't quite as slow as I thought it would be, but it certainly isn't fast! I haven't tried a 0-60 run, but I saw on a web sight that it is between 13-14 seconds, which wouldn't suprise me, ours may be a little faster, though, because the engine was replaced about 10000 miles before we got it. I drove it full of seven people in a city with extremely hilly streets and didn't notice any loss of power, which suprised me, also the torque rating is 174lb.ft.

Actually, most of the above mentioned problems are minor, and are just normal wear and tear. And from what I have been seeing from other Villager reviews, these vehicles can last for hundreds of thousands of miles, so I am confident that our Villager will be mostly reliable for the time that we own it.

I recently bought a '95 Villager with 187K on it. I agree with your comments on the sloppy shifter. Same thing here. What parts did you get for your $55 fix?

Had the fuel pump replaced since the van was having a hard time starting and was making a loud humming noise. That fixed both of those problems.

I'm getting a strange little squeak out of the transmission when it upshifts into what is probably 3rd gear. Doesn't happen on the other shifts - just the one shift. Ever have that happen?

Rear door rattles quite a bit on bumpy roads - have you had that problem? Side door seems to work fine. Lot of wind noise around driver's door.

Otherwise, van seems to run fine. Taking it out of overdrive helps quite a bit in the mountains. Recently put on Yokohama Avid Touring tires - rides smooth as silk now.

For the $55, a mechanic adjusted the shift linkage which fixed the problem of not being able to find Park, but it is still sloppy.

No noticeable squeak when shifting from 2-3, but sometimes exibits the harsh 1-2 up shift others with Villagers have complained about.

The window in the rear hatch rattles, haven't fixed that yet.

Poor Performance since buying Used. 1996 Villager is going back into the trans shop again, reverse gear is non-existent, again. Had the trans rebuilt a few years ago (because of a reverse seal), now the reverse acts up (dangerous when backing out of parking spots). The van still has a hesitation, even after replacing the O2 sensor.

I have a 1995 Villager which displayed the sloppiness in the transmission selector. After looking at the trans. itself, I found that behind the dash there's a "thing" which connects the lever to the cable or whatever that actually selects (on the transmission, under the hood) the gear. That "thing" was loose - it's gold-/brass- (or bronze-) looking, and held by two brass (bronze?) torx screws. If you lie on the driver's side floor, looking up behind the dash, and have someone shift the gear selector for you (MAKE SURE THE EMERGENCY/PARKING BRAKE IS ON!) you should be able to see the piece I mean as the gear selector moves. I tightened up the two torx screws (don't recall which number torx bit I used) and the sloppiness was mostly gone from the shift selector. Hope this helps if anyone's having the same issue - pretty easy check/fix if you are, only costs you a few minutes (and perhaps a torx driver set; I already had one).

I have a 1995 Villager Nautica. I got it used from my sister at 50k miles; now it has 105k miles and I'm having some issues.

1. Sometimes when you turn the key to start the engine, the starter barely turns. Let go of the key and try again, and the starter turns normally.

Replaced the battery (was 7 years old). Found corrosion on positive terminal and cable, replaced with new one same gauge.

Took starter out, brushes were well worn, put in new one. Undid negative cable from where it attaches to the engine and cleaned it, and put it back together.

It still is very sluggish to turn over the first crank of the day.

Do you think the new battery could be shot?

I've been having issues starting beyond the starter motor issue described above. The fuel pump runs, but doesn't change note until I've tried cranking the engine over once. Then it goes from high pitched to low pitch as it builds pressure.

I changed the fuel filter recently, also the fuel pressure regulator (that's NOT a fun job). Now my only other option is to drop the tank and replace the pump assembly.

Do you think it might be a bad check valve or pump? I put a pressure gauge on the fuel line and turned the key and got 60lbs of pressure.

Thanks in advance.

RC.

Update on my issue, the brand new 3 week old battery was BAD!

Took it back to autozone and had them do the load test on it, it dropped down to 8 volts during the load test. I got it swapped there and then and now the van starts much easier.

You wouldn't suspect a brand new battery of being bad, but there you are.

I have a 95 villager, 213k miles that has had very little problems... love the car, BUT, I do have a phantom starting problem... every so often I will get in, hot or cold, engine warm or not, and turn the key, and nothing happens. radio and lights come on, but no crank, no click no nothing. Later with no reason, it will start right up. Sometimes minutes later, sometimes hours. I have been stranded for hours, had it towed MANY times, just to start with no obvious problems at the shop. I have replaced everything electrical, battery, battery cables, ignition switch, starter... Any suggestions?

I have a 95 villager, 213k miles that has had very little problems... love the car, BUT, I do have a phantom starting problem... every so often I will get in, hot or cold, engine warm or not, and turn the key, and nothing happens. radio and lights come on, but no crank, no click no nothing. Later with no reason, it will start right up. Sometimes minutes later, sometimes hours. I have been stranded for hours, had it towed MANY times, just to start with no obvious problems at the shop. I have replaced everything electrical, battery, battery cables, ignition switch, starter... Any suggestions?

I had the same problem ---- It was the fuel pump. Good Luck!

We bought a Villager van used with 99000 miles. It now has 147,000. Fuel pump was replaced before we bought it.

We have had several mini vans, The last one was a Honda Odyssey, which was a tranny eating piece of crap. In 2002 we traded it off 3 weeks after we bought it.

Now the Mercury van is an awesome ride, average 20 mpg, smooth, plenty of power, room for all my drums, pa. lights, speakers etc.

Very dependable. I was told the engines and especially the transmission were made better than the Windstar, etc any truth in this or are they junk like the other Ford mini vans?

November 29, 2008.

The engine is made by Nissan. The Villager was the twin to the Nissan Quest. I believe it is a very good engine. Definitely not junk.