New member/Owner

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Sussexoval

Club Member
Aug 15, 2024
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Hi Guys,
Dipped my toe into Cougar ownership just over 3 weeks ago. I remember seeing them when I was younger but then like most people I forgot they existed until I decided recently to get a second car for some fun that didn’t cost the earth which is where the Cougar idea came from.
I saw one for sale locally & after having a drive decided it was for me. It’s an X reg V6 auto box with the X pack.
So far so good with the first few weeks of ownership. I’ve sent it into a garage near me that’s familiar with working on these cars. I asked them to give it a thorough going over & unsurprisingly the 24 year old car has a couple of issues. Looks like I need a transmission speed sensor & some new parts on the front suspension. Finding these parts isn’t a euro car parts job so if anyone can help point me in the right direction I’d be very grateful.
Looking forward to getting it sorted & some god use over the coming years

Cheers
 

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Tell us exactly what you need suspension-wise, and we'll tell you exactly where to get it.

As it happens, most of it is easily available and not particularly expensive anymore. For example, genuine wishbones are like 1/4 of what they were 10 years ago.

Out of interest, did they tell you why you needed a new speed sensor?
 
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welcome! and i must say that's a very nice looking silver frosty u have there, mechanical issues are no worries on these cars as they borrowed a lot from the mondeo.

was there any mention from the garage about corrosion? we can see she's very tidy outside but do check her belly quarter areas sills and the subframe...if she's still on the factory rust proofing get some new underseal on there when u can.
if the auto box has a bad speed sensor she will mess up her gear changes or (if its the other sensor) your speedo wont work.
if shes just showing an error code for the speed sensor id erase the error first and see if it comes back b4 worrying about that.

you have come to the best place to get any info or advise on these cars, we love people who ask.
but if u want to just learn all about them look in the projects area ,there's loads of info on where rust occurs and ways to improve performance and MPG.
 
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Well I collected the car earlier after a few days in the garage. Managed to see it up on the ramp & it’s pretty much rust free from what I can see. It’s clearly spent most of its 24 years in a garage.
As for the problems the list isn’t too bad….

1) The guys at the garage were unable to get the transmission fault light to flash at them despite bringing it out for a good few drives over the week. I’m hoping it’s just an electrical gremlin but to be sure I’ll try to get it along to a local auto box specialist for a check on error codes & possibly a reset (as suggested above) if she keeps intermittently showing the fault afterwards & messing up the gear changes I’ll get a speed sensor ordered up using the above link

2) I need new front lower suspension arms on both sides as both ball joints & all bushes are done for. The Ford part number for the right hand side one reads 97BG-3042-BA. The garage was unable to source new parts so if anyone can point me in the right direction it’d be very helpful

3) New belt for the alternator required

4) Fuel filler neck corroded

5) Front suspension top mounts are corroded & could do with being replaced

6) Annoyingly the washer bottle is full of muck so needs a clean out as the jets are blocked

Overall it’s far less than I was expecting. Hopefully get it all sorted over the next few weeks.
 

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That does look to be very clean underneath. (y)

There are a pair of new, aftermarket front wishbones available here:

www.ebay.co.uk

NEW FOR FORD MONDEO/COUGAR WHEEL SUSPENSION ROD STRUT PAIR SET L&R | eBay

FITS: FORD COUGAR 2.0/2.5 08.98-12.01, FORD MONDEO 2.5 ST200 99-00. PLACE, SIDE:FRONT LEFT + RIGHT. We can assure you that we will do our best and will find the best solution for you. ORIGINAL PART NUMBERS:1130577, 1130576.
www.ebay.co.uk

and a selection showing on RockAuto here: (note you will require the 4 bolt variety with horizontal mountings)

1999 MERCURY COUGAR 2.5L V6 Control Arm | Shop Now at RockAuto

Suspension Parts and More for Your 1999 MERCURY COUGAR at Reliably Low Prices. Fast Online Catalog. DIY-Easy. Your Choice of Quality. Full Manufacturer Warranty.
www.rockauto.com

The longstanding belief is that the mounting bolts should always replaced at the same time as the wishbones but finding OEM replacements is starting to prove to be difficult.
The larger bolts are still available here: (if you can get them shipped from Germany)

www.ebay.co.uk

Original Ford Mondeo MK2 Vorderradaufhängung Querträger Schraube 1057478 | eBay

Lenkung & Aufhängung. Elektrik & Beleuchtung. Diese Rechtsgrundlage ist beispielsweise gegeben, wenn Ford bzw. der Rechte und des Eigentums Dritter sowie zur Erkennung bzw. Verhinderung von Betrug oder Sicherheits- bzw.
www.ebay.co.uk

Failing that, the dimensions for the bolts are listed in FINIS codes thread here:


The How-To for replacing the wishbones is here:

 
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I had a full set of wishbone bolts I gave to somebody on here but I can't remember if they used them? Could still be stashed somewhere!

Underside does look very good, I have used both Bilt-Hamber and Lanoguard in recent years for underside protection and would recommend both if you fancy giving it another coat, they would prolong the life of the filler neck too.
 
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So that's what they're supposed to look like underneath! Yeah that thing is mint.

Do only the lower arm ball joints need doing? You can get bolt on replacement ball joints without removing the arms. That's what I did. General consensus is not to waste your time with that but my arms were absolutely fine so wanted to keep the genuine ones on as you can't get them anymore. Something to consider if it's only the ball joints.

To be honest all fuel filler necks are corroded. They're really solid metal so just clean it off and paint it, I wouldn't worry about changing that unless it's particularly bad. Considering how clean your car is underneath my guess is it'll be just surface rust.

There's a couple of other things you ought to do too to preserve the life of the car, such as checking the water pump and also removing the sponges that sit in the rear sills. Lots of info on the forum or post if you're stuck
 
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backseateducation said:
I had a full set of wishbone bolts I gave to somebody on here but I can't remember if they used them? Could still be stashed somewhere!
Click to expand...

That was me! The bolts are now on Wildcat.

David` said:
Do only the lower arm ball joints need doing? You can get bolt on replacement ball joints without removing the arms. That's what I did. General consensus is not to waste your time with that but my arms were absolutely fine so wanted to keep the genuine ones on as you can't get them anymore. Something to consider if it's only the ball joints.
Click to expand...

They mention that the bushes are gone as well, so total replacement is probably required. I bought Wildcat's ones from the same link that Andy provided above; the vendor is excellent.

I know those balljoint replacements are perfectly safe, but they absolutely creep me out and I refuse to use them.
 
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Nice one Chris. I'm glad they're not gathering dust!
I really wish I hadn't given all my parts away to the people who bought my Zetec, I'm sure it ended up on the banger track 😡
 
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Thanks for the links, I’ll get them ordered up tomorrow

Can I ask for a few other pointers.…

Where is the best place to source a new water pump & alternator belt?
 
There are two different lengths of aux belt for the C1 V6 depending on build date.
The engine build date is on the label on the rocker cover nearest the front of the car, on the end nearest the driver side wing. It is in the US date format of month - day - year.

Is the writing still visible on your original belt? It should have the part no. and size on it.

Recent water pump query here:

 
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That looks very clean to be fair. One piece of huge advise I will give you is get rid of every single piece sound deading you can find on these. There are 2 huge ones behind the rear door cards. Take these out ASAP as they absorb water and rot the car from the inside out. There are also some in the front wheel arches as well that run down the front wings, once again get rid of them. I also believe there are more in the sills if you can get to them and some under the rear bench seat as well. I know from seeing other Cougars over the years that all these sound deading blocks end up rotting the car and killing it off, seen it happen to so many now. Other than that you will have no issues at all with this car really, just try to keep it in a garage and it will last forever. Good luck.
 
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