1999 Mercury Sable cylinders not working

ROBINV

MEMBER
1999 MERCURY SABLE
6 CYL
FWD
AUTOMATIC
14,000 MILES

Yesterday I had the AC compressor replaced, the belt, freon, antifreeze flushed, etc. Today, the mechanic test drove the car and explained that it was skipping alot. He checked the engine and explained that cylinders #2 and #6 are dead, they need to be replaced. He can get them off a used engine with 81,000 miles for about $1600. This is added to the $600 fee for labor and repair from yesterday. The car was skipping slightly when put in reverse in the past few months, but not badly. No other problems other than the belt. Does this sound reasonable?

5 Replies

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,744 POSTS

Hi robinv. Welcome to the forum. Something has been lost in communication here. You do not "replace cylinders", you replace an engine. Replacing the engine seems kind of extreme for a misfire condition. The place to start is with a diagnosis of the cause. A cylinder can misfire due to something as simple as a worn spark plug or defective spark plug wire. Those are the few parts left that are replaced as part of a regular tune-up. Burned valves that don't seal properly will cause a misfire that is felt more at idle that on the highway. A problem with the camshaft can cause one or two valves to not open properly but again, replacing the entire engine is REAL extreme compared to replacing the camshaft. That would be comparable to replacing the winshield because one bug got splattered on it.

To give a better-informed opinion, can you list the exact diagnosis the mechanic gave you? If not, a second opinion is definitely in order from another shop. You should not have been ignoring this misfire for months because little problems turn into big ones real fast.

Caradiodoc

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Wednesday, June 30th, 2010 AT 1:48 PM

ROBINV

MEMBER
3 POSTS

Per the mechanice, "the #2 and #6 cylinders are dead". We asked another mechanic who said if that was the case, the car wouldn't be driveable. My daughter, who has been driving the car, said that the car wasn't "skipping", there was a slight hesitation when she backed up occasionally. He's now saying that it's skipping badly as he's driving it around the lot. I would hope that he checked the spark plugs, etc. Before coming to the decision that the engine needs to be replaced.

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Thursday, July 1st, 2010 AT 7:19 AM

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,744 POSTS

Yup. Something is wrong here. From what I've read, I don't believe you need a new engine. There could easily be a running problem that is getting worse, but I can't think of very many things that are so serious that someone would recommend replacing the engine.

Caradiodoc

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Friday, July 2nd, 2010 AT 1:45 AM

ROBINV