Mercury - Sable :: 1997 - Hesitate / Dim Headlights And Flicker - Battery Or Alternator?
Jun 29, 2011
My 1997 Mercury Sable has been having a rough time starting lately. It will turn over, but 2 out of 3 starts will be labored. It will crank, but hesitate and finally give enough to start. When I start it at night and turn on the headlights they dim and flicker until the engine has been running a bit.
This car was originally my wife's, and she can't remember the last time it has had it's battery replaced.
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Bought this car, drove it home, when I went to restart it nothing happened. Put in a new battery and still nothing. The starter will arc with a screwdriver but not engage. All the lights and and electrical work so I am thinking its either the neutral safety or the ignition. Is there a way to figure out which one it is with out buying both of them?
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I have a 97 mercury sable, we recently replaced the battery, and alternator but there's something draining the battery. The car was not ran for three days, and the battery was dead.
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I have an '05 Mercury Sable with not quite 40,000 original mi. on it....recently I thought I needed a new battery, car was not turning over well. Make a long story short, it didn't start well 2 days later with the new battery. Mechanic said the instrument panel is doing something that is draining the battery.....I will be taking it in this coming Monday, and he will be taking, and sending it to be refurbished by a company he said they do a lot of work with. Said it will take about 10 days till I get car back.
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I have a mercury sable 1997. It stocks a first gear and doesn't change more. Before, it was change the rotation ( sometimes the stayed higher and sometimes low) without I pull or push the accelerator. The transmission oil is ok, and the car didn't have noisy or other symptoms of transmission problem. What Are doing it? What I need to do?
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my mercury sable had a leak in the lower intake manifold, so I got on it and finished it last saturday, on monday I was on my way home when I stopped to turn on my road and my speedometer just stopped working, it dropped to 0mph, what can I do to fix it?
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Recently purchased a 1997 Mercury Sable and all because my Camry after 13 years finally gave up the ghost. "SES" light came on, and I filled up with gas and used Lucas car product as well. The light went off 2 days later. 5 days later, it came back on. Purchased CRC spray and cleaned the air mass flow component. Light goes off. A week later and it's back on again. I figure an 02 sensor needs replacing. Took car to the mechanic that sold me the car and their diagnostic test stated 1 sensor in bank 1 and another sensor in bank 2. Okay, fine. ordered only 1 sensor and told me that it was the "most imporant" sensor as it relayed to the catalyst. fixed it and no more than 7 miles up the road, YES, it came back on. Unhooked the battery cable, light off all day until about 30 minutes ago. Pulled into an Advance Auto Parts store. Diagnostic test showed the 2 errors that the mechanic YESTERDAY was getting before he "fixed the problem."
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I put a re manufactured alternator in my 2000 f150 with the 5.4 liter. Now all the lights flicker, go dim and then come back on bright again. I noticed when the lights dim, the heater fan speed also drops. The light flickering is constant and bad enough, that I can notice it in daylight also with the headlights on. It is really noticeable at night with the truck in drive (or any gear for that matter) sitting at a stop sign or sitting still in my driveway. I changed out the old alternator because it was making a loud chattering noise. I didn't have any trouble with the lights or fan with the old alternator. Why doesn't the battery volt gauge in my instrument cluster fluctuate all the time while it is doing this? It reads in the normal range all the time and doesn't move. The flickering lights are also noticeable at highway speeds, its just not as bad.
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I was taking my '94 Caprice to work yesterday morning in the rain, when my headlights started to flicker, then the car died. I lost everything electrical, but the starter and the change oil light, which is on constantly. When I turn the key in the ignition, nothing turns on which means no fuel pump, but car still cranks over. I have checked a lot of places for a loss of power but can't find anything. All fuses are good, fusible links are good, unless I am missing checking one somewhere. Battery keeps draining also, but I don't think it is just draining from the check oil light being on. Drains quick too. Never had this problem before.
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I replaced my alt. because in the morning the bearing would squeak and the head lights flicker. It was a life time alt. Put the new one in now it wont charge. Took it back and got another, same thing. Also replaced the starter relay and battery. I checked the fusible links and replaced a terminal connector. The wires look good. There is 12v on the alt lug and pins 1 and 3 on the connector with the key off. Turn key on and 12v disappears form pins 1 & 3. Also checked all fuses in both boxes. I ohmed out the wire harness from the alt back to the connectors, all good. What am I missing? This is a 99 f530 5.4l.
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I recently acquired a 2003 Mercury Sable from a friend and there is a problem with the air conditioning. The car has digital controls. I select the Max AC button, turn the temperature all the way down (60) an the fan all the way up, but it only blows warm air. I can hear and see the AC compressor cycling fairly quickly. The clutch (I think) engages for about one second and it will reengage after about 5 seconds, but again, it only says engaged for about one second.
What could be the problem? I've read the AC system might not have enough pressure and needs to be recharged. Or... the orifice tube is clogged, bad AC pressure switch, or the actuator that closes the heater door might be disconnected.
How quickly should a properly functions AC compressor cycle? The car was not driven much over the past year or two as it was my friend's grandfathers. I may end up taking it to a shop but I don't want to get ripped off. How should I approach this?
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I bought a 99 f350, that already had HID's in it, i found out i was running the wrong batters (weren't 800 cold crank) I just had to replace the alternator. Ever since the new alternator when i turn on my headlights my truck shuts off. IT fried my IDM and i just put a new IDM and 2 new batteries in it today. Thinking i had fixed the problem i drove around no issues, finally i was leaving someones house and turned on my lights, and truck shuts off!!! It restarts but now im trowing a code!!!! im guessing the HIDs are wired wrong and that's why its shutting down the truck but OEM IDM from ford is 1300$!!!!! brand new one installed today,
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Got a 2002 mercury Sable.. Always stalls out at lights.. Won't idle will stall if you don't give it gas... Also gas pedal cable broke and a spring is broke too.. What might be wrong with engine.
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i have a 2001 mercury sable what im getting is its will not start but starts on occasion like today it started fine this morning did errands before work drove it turned it off short period and then started just fine and then drove to work after work it did not want to start tried every thing check engine light is not on and has not come on im am getting stumped i had to leave it in the parking lot at my work so my question is what could make it do this where it starts on occasion and then when sitting for a period of time will not start it cranks but just does not start
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I have a '99 Mercury Sable with the 3.0 24 Valve DOHC V6. The car occasionally will not start. It only happens after the car has been driven and warmed up, shut off, and then an attempted restart. This problem has occurred in all sorts of temps. Sometimes it will start within 30 minutes, sometimes it takes overnight. But it will start. I have already replaced the fuel pump relay. Is the fuel pump needing to be replaced (b/c it is failing slowly), or is this problem located somewhere else?
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92 mercury sable 3.8so the car just started this on the 4th. it not able to turn off, switch the key to off pull it out car keeps running, been pulling the battery cable, but was told I'd hurt my alternator if kept doing it that way. just trying to fix it, so I tired switching out the ignition cylinder. that didn't fix it and also checked all my fuses they were all fine. My next idea is to change out the whole ignition switch instead of just the cylinder.
Now the second problem that i was trying to nail down before the other started was a issue with the car stalling at idle. it only happens if the car is up to temperature and it's a hot day. plus 75 Fahrenheit. just trying to go with cheapest parts and work my way up i change the air and fuel filters. then this other issue started and took priority.
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A month ago I was pulling onto Hwy 5 and the car stalled. I pulled over and restarted the car - no prob. But, the check engine light came on. I took it to the shop and they said that the check engine light code said there was a problem with the fuel pump. Unfortunately they couldn't find anything wrong with the pump. They reset the check engine light and it didn't come back on and the car ran fine...until Sunday.
On Sunday, I tried to start the car. It would start but only ran for a second or two and then shut down. I took it back to the shop thinking it was the fuel pump failing but they say the fuel pump seems ok, they've replaced the fuel filter but it still won't start. They seem to flummoxed. What might be going on?
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I recently purchased a 2004 Mercury Sable with about 112K miles on it. I am having some troubles with my car and I'm not sure where to start first in repairing it. I recently took my car to a mechanic because accelerating on the highway or going up hills made my car sound engine run very hard and loud, my RPMs went up to 3K and my speed dropped to 15 mph (which is a disaster when you're on the highway and hit a steep grade). My car absolutely cannot do any sort of hill so the mechanic suggested that either he or I replace one of the catalytic converters. He showed me which one he thought was throwing the error code. I replaced that catalytic converter and I thought my problems were solved because I could accelerate without difficulty.
However, a day later I tried to drive it up a hill and got the exact same response as before. RPMS jump up and the speed drops down to 15 mph and I've just about got the pedal to the floor. I have friends who repair cars as a hobby and they disagree with each other where I should go from here. One friend says replace the muffler and resonator (possible blockage that cannot bear any stress under a load...like going up a hill). Another friend says replace the third catalytic converter (one was replaced when we bought the car by the dealership, and I just replaced another one). He says when one catalytic converter goes the others are not far behind.
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One of the possible locations for the CD changer for my 2004 Mercury Sable in the Owner's Manual said right side cargo area storage compartment. Is that the back of the wagon?
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This morning I went to start my car and it wouldn't start. So naturally I had it jumped and it started. When it did there was white smoke coming out of the tailpipe. I do want to mention that 2 days ago it was really low on oil and I added 3qts. It is almost 3,000miles over its oil change but this is the first time since I have had the car that the oil has not been changed when it should be. Do you think it just needs a tune up and oil change? My car is a 99' Mercury Sable with over 100,000 miles.
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2001 Mercury Sable? I recently have gotten to use a 2001 Sable that is a perfectly great car. Low mileage, (43,000) fully loaded etc. However, it was obviously not driven very much, once a week back and forth to the beauty shop, but it was not garaged... mostly parked under a carport or a tree. What keeps happening is the Low coolant light comes on after it has been driven a while. The car has been checked out, and the coolant levels are fine... that's easy to see... no leaks were found. Recommended repairs were Trans Flush, Belt, and Fuel Injection service. I have noticed that after the light comes on the AC stops working as well on the Max setting and I lose fan speed adjustment ability. The way I know that is because when I turn the AC to AUTO and the fan on high, it blows harder. I have also noticed that after driving it with the light on, when I stop the car I can smell radiator fluid - but I haven't spotted any leaks - but I haven't looked very hard because mostly I just stop driving it. What may be causing the light to come on? Is it actually related to the AC, or is that a separate problem, OR is it a computer problem? Has there been a recall on this? Is it something that I need to worry about?
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