99 cougar loosing power over 80k

[sallyb123]

I am having trouble with my car it drives no prob. aorund town at 60klm per hr. but when you get on the highway and get up over 80 klms the car seems to lose power and the taco first of all goes down then up and then back to normal it is like there is a surge of power then nothing sometimes it does it other times it does not, it is so annoying anybody have a clue what is going on, have had it serviced reg. leads have been changed, I am at my wits end

[Davescort97]

To me, it sounds like the car has a fuel starvation problem. To remedy this I would put a bottle of fuel system cleaner in a full tank of gas and run it til the gauge gets down to 1/2 then I would repace the fuel filter. Putting the cleaner in first will loosen all kinds of stuff in your fuel system. That's why I reccomend doing this before you change the filter.

[sallyb123]

Thanks but this has all been done to no avail, we tried switching the overdrive button off it worked for a while but then it was doing it again. Could it have something to do with the automatic transmission, it only seems to do it over 80klms and then not all the time.

[JenBug]

My Cougar is having similiar problems but at around 50 mph. At first I thought is was my fuel filter so I got that changed. I seafoamed the gas which is a gas additive to clean your fuel system. It seems to be getting worse. The problem started about 4 months ago when it would happen randomly and now it is very frequent. I have no idea what it is. I have changed my spark plugs. It just seems like its miss firing or not getting gas. Its like a shaking hesitation. Can someone please help me?

JenBug

[rhandwor]

Try using an ohm meter the plug wires should be appx. 1/2 scale. Look on the fuel rail for a pressure regulator pull the vacuum hose to it if full of gas replace.

[beyondloadedSE]

Which fuel system does it have? Early model 99s had return fuel systems which do have a fuel pressure regulator and in late 99 switched to a returnless system which does not have a fuel pressure regulator. However, you can check the fuel pressure at the schrader valve on both. The returnless fuel pumps are more prone to failing, but I'm tending to think its not a fuel issue. Generally, bad fuel pumps either work or they don't.

Just another tid bit...Generally with Contours, if someone is noticing sputtering and thinks it might be a fuel issue, throwing in a full tank of gas will remedy the problem and then return as the fuel level is low. I imagine the same would apply to Cougars since they are essentially the same. But like I said above, I don't think this is a fuel/spark issue.

FWIW, 80 KMH is almost dead nuts 50 MPH, so your symptoms sound identical.

I would put money on the MLPS sensor. I bet that fixes your issue.

[beyondloadedSE]

FYI...

MLPS Replacement How-to
http://www.contour.org/ubbthreads/sh...=&fpart=1&vc=1