2002 Mercury Sable Electrical - Help!

[vicki.billick]

My 2002 Mercury Sable only a little over 38,000 miles on the car is experiencing an intermittent problem.

The first time my problem occurred was during a snow storm in mid-December 2005 I was driving and about 20-30 minutes into my trip I heard a pop in my radio like static the fuel and abs lights appeared the interior and exterior lights dimmed and the car got sluggish. All of this lasted about 10 seconds accept the lights they lasted about a minute or two and then everything popped back to normal. It did this for the last hour of my trip in 5-10 minute intervals. It was also stop and go traffic and I had my wipers, headlights, radio, defroster and rear defroster were running. I drove it to my mechanic and the car never did it the next day and no codes where found diagnostically.

Since then the problem has occurred intermittently about once or twice a week usually gas and abs light pop on and disappear right away. But, I have also noticed that the gas gauge will dip from a full tank down to half and then it will very slowly crawl back up to full.

The car has been in and out of three shops and nothing is showing up diagnostically, it has only stalled once during this time and it started right back up. Also, the problem never occurs on the highway, it is always in stop and go traffic. The worst it has occurred was during the snow storm but I have driven it through sleet and heavy rain and it has never occurred during the wet weather since.

Can someone please help, very frustrated with this situation.

[drdisque]

it could be the multifunction switch, some of those problems are indicators of that.

Very strange problem, though, intermittent problems are the hardest to diagnose.

[wilsonistheman]

Hi,

From the description of your problems, year of your car and the fact that this happened when it was cold out I am fairly sure you have water in your dash that is shorting out your electrical.

it's actually a common problem in 2000-2005 sables. There are several Technical service bulletins out on it. As well as a windsheild leak recall on certain vin ranges.

They rarely think of this in the shop because it's hard to recreate if it's not cold or if the water has evaporated. The good news is that there is a rainhat extension kit that the dealer can set up for you, possibly on the cheap. Also, you may be eligible for the recall! Just google ford tsb and you should find all the details relatively easily. Good Luck!

[Stevo2]

If it were me I would take a very,very slow running garden hose to the engine in a selective manner and see if I could reproduce the problem. soak each part/area real good. Start at the lowest areas and work upwards to eventually include the windshield. The engine must be running.

[Slade901]

ABS lights, check engine lights, battery lights coming on for a few seconds and the car becomes sluggish when this happens for a few seconds?

My bet is the alternator. As the alternator weakens, it would still provide power to the battery needed by your electrical systems but would not be able to provide consistent charge and power demand.

I've seen this and experienced this myself. I did not believe it before. All I believe before is that if the alternator is still providing amps to the battery/engine electrical needs then the alternator is fine. Now, I believe it now after experiencing it a long time ago with our other vehicles and just a few days ago with our 1997 Mercury Sable.


I have known this symptom before on my other vehicles. Just a few days ago, our 1997 Mercury Sable exhibit the same problem. I went immediately to Autozone and have it tested the battery and alternator amp output. Confirmed that even though the alternator is working, it's not providing enough amps as it should. I've replaced it with a Lifetime warranty just in case I have another bad alternator and all I have to do is bring it and autozone will replace it free of charge. So far, the problem is not showing up.

Failing alternator is what most mechanics fail to diagnose and they immediately check the engine and check for any error codes and replace $$$ parts