I'm the original owner of my 1998 Mercury Mystique VIN# 1MEFM6531WK638418. Mileage is 83,500 approximately. Lately, the car has been “hiccupping” in cruise control at any set speed and only in cruise control. It feels like the brakes have been applied during cruise control. The Goodyear I have gone to for years thought a “3-step fuel & induction system cleaning” would help $102.75. It did help for awhile. They also checked the transaxle fluid which was down a little and they topped off. On April 9, 2011, upon using the cruise control on the highway set to 71, it hiccuped in such a way that I stopped using cruise control. It felt like the brakes were applied then the accelerator. I Googled Recalls Mercury Mystique on the internet and found a component that may be affected is the “vehicle speed control” which can result in the throttle sticking, binding, or causing high engine RPM. Could this be it?

Also, I’ve never had the sparkplugs replaced, but the manual states that need not be done until 100,000. This car is only driven out of town 200 miles total every 4 to 3 weeks, so I don’t know if sparkplugs are causing this issue.

Thanks for your input.