New Cougar Owner (Defected from the BMW camp)

A

alvin.wd

New user
Sep 18, 2012
3
0
birmingham
Hi All,

My Name is Alvin and I am the proud owner of a Ford Cougar.

I used to be a BMW/Mercedes owner and decided after getting through 7 of them in the last 3 years that I would pop over into the Ford camp and see what the crack is like over here!

The Cougar hits all my requirements for a car, good looking, quick and practical (though no one I know likes getting in the back, and one of my colleagues said she was about to have a claustrophobic panic attack sitting in the back behind me!).

I have got a couple of questions, if the good people of this forum, could help me out

1) Why does it seem to whistle through fuel, the range seems to drop down and I go through what is a massive amount of fuel, in a very short space of time, I went to Tamworth from Birmingham and the range went from 150 to 30 on a round trip and I don't think I was particularly giving it the beans (even though the engine note is pretty good ;) ) and my previous car was a 535 BMW so I am used to spending time at the pumps, but this is ridiculous!

2) Why does it seem to struggle getting power, if I pull off in 2nd then it will pretty much stall, and when it idles it drops from 1000rpm to say 7-800 and flutters there nervously with the dash and head lights flickering, the lights dont flicker when I am moving (not noticeably) but when I am at the lights it feels like the car is always on the verge of stalling, and I have to rev the nuts off it when pulling off. Again this may be just because the BMW was so powerful that a little tap was enough to get it going, I feel that I am working it quite hard to get it moving.

3) it feels a little like the steering is heavy, sometimes like the power steering is off, mostly when walloping around car parks, I think it may be to do with the power thing but maybe it isn't getting power?

Any way thats all for now, I think any help would be massively appreciated and I hope the banter is god around here;)
 
Hello and welcome aboard, you do have a couple of problems and everything is here in the forum, if you subscribe you'll get access to all matters related and meet some like minded people on the way.
 
Yeah I'd go with a good service first. You shouldn't be short of power like that.
The flickering lights thing can happen when the engine is cold and you are drawing electrical power and it's exacerbated by cold temperatures. Mine does it a bit, but it was better after I changed the alternator. If your alternator is OK there is a fix for it involving a small amount of wiring.
As has been said, if you subscribe here it's all in the extra forums you get access to.

Oh, and welcome by the way.
 
Hello
Looks like your in my area
1)sounds like mine of late, £20 fill up last night drove from south Birmingham to Tipton and back and it says I have 67miles left. Fail!
2)another related problem to the above I'd say. Check plugs etc. Like guys say a service
3)could be uneven tyre pressure, to low maybe or low power stearing fluid
 
Hello and welcome Alvin

What does the average mpg say on the trip, if you are not sure how accurate it is reset it and see what it shows after a run

Manual V6 should do 30+ easily on an out of town run, mine averages 33-34 on A roads

Once you have given it a good service see what faults are still present

Do the revs drop further when you turn the steering wheel, could be that the idle air control valve is faulty

Good luck with it anyway, you will always have a huge grin
 
Thanks for the replies fellas, always good to be at a forum where people are active and actually paying new users attention.

I think I will subscribe, I would like to know what happens behind the paywall ;):beer:

On the way from Birmingham to Walsall today, it was averaging about 16 on the way, and then on the way back I was stuck in the average speed cameras, and that dragged it down. When I was driving at 50 in 5th, and wanted to accelerate the engine would judder from 2000rpm, and up to 4000 and would really struggle to get there.

I have found through a little bit of digging on the net, a couple of possible causes for the flickering (high resistance in the battery wiring harness from the central junction box(CJB) in the engine compartment, to the B+ terminal on the generator) and also carbon deposits in the engine could be causing the juddering on the throttle, I have put some Redex cleaner and some high grade fuel, and it was immediately a bit better, So I think that has started to clean it up, I think another couple of tank fulls and that should clear it out a bit.

I will take it to have the IMRC checked as well as that could be one of the issues, does anyone know where I can pick one up? I will be taking it for a service next week, on the weekend, can anyone recommend a good Ford dealer (not a stealer ;) ) in the Birmingham (city center) area, where I could get someone to check it out, my normal chaps are mostly German Cars specialists and I could do with someone who knows what they are doing!
 
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I know a very good and trustworthy garage in rubery just off of jct 4 of M5 I would never use anyone else for mine. Nice little independent garage run by two good guys. The only other place I use now is in Bolton now I live in Manchester.

JJ
 
No need to pm.

It is called venture mechanical and is run by Tim and Simon who look a little like the Mitchell brother lol.

It is on whetty lane, rubery, Birmingham, B45 9DR 0121 453 1661

There is a garage next door which is called Rubery garage it isn't that one!!!.

You will need to give them a call to make an appointment also make sure you mention Jason with the orange cougar put you in touch, it is a little village but very accessible they do not do courtesy cars etc but they do know what they are doing and prices are fair and will never carry out work without Iraq calling and getting the go ahead. You will need to drop car off for 8:30am and collect towards the end of the day.

JJ
 
Hi Alvin, welcome to ukcougar.com, your in the right place for all things cougar related, as well as some crazy banter. You will also be able to find all the fixes you need in our subscriber sections. Have a browse around the open forums and get a feel for the place. Remember! ukcougar.com is the only workshop manual for the big cat.
 
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