The contact owns a 1997 Mercury Tracer. The contact stated while driving 45 mph, she lost control of the vehicle and drove into the median to avoid oncoming traffic. The engine shut off and the cylinder head was blown. The dealer was unable to diagnose the failure; however, they stated that the engine needed to be rebuilt.. the contact stated that the cylinder head in the engine failed and caused her to lose control of the vehicle. The vehicle has not been repaired. The dealer and the warranty company stated that they were unable to honor the warranty to repair the vehicle. The warranty information is available if needed. The failure also caused damage to the front driver and passenger side tires. There were no injuries. On October 8, 2007, the contact drove to the dealer because the vehicle was leaking coolant. After three hours of inspecting the vehicle, the cause of the failure was still undetermined. The dealer advised her to bring the vehicle back in a few days. A couple of days later, while driving 45 mph, the vehicle began losing speed and the engine failed. The vehicle was towed back to the dealer and they stated that the engine failed. The vehicle has an extended warranty through another company. The vehicle was inspected by the warranty company, but they refused to pay for the repair work. The dealer refused to perform the repair. The contact believed that this was because she reported the dealer to the better business bureau. The current and failure mileages were 91,698. The fuel gauge was inoperative. The ac did not blow out cold air, the front brakes were replaced. Updated 12/12/07

- North Las Vegas, NV, USA

My girlfriend owns a 1997 Mercury Tracer. At the time of the incident the car had been driven for approximately 110,000 miles. Here engine light came on and we had a diagnostic analysis conducted on the car. The analysis said there was a misfire in the 4th cylinder and before we could change the spark plugs the car was no longer driveable. It turns out that Mercury makes a piece of junk car and that the valve seats were manufactured with a powdered metal. It appears that the valve seat cracked and dropped into the cylinder resulting in the piston hammering down into that cylinder and destroying the engine. This car was only six years old and was kept in excellent condition but thanks to the incompetent craftmanship of the people at Mercury my girlfriend was extremely inconvenienced (temporally and most of all financially) due to the cheapness of the engine. It is safe to say that we will never purchase another car manufactured by the Ford company. Foreign all the way. Thank you. Salmaan toor

- Williamsburg, VA, USA

While driving the engine light illuminated and there was a sudden clunky noise. It was later determined that the engine burned out.

- Oxnard, CA, USA

I began having engine trouble last July. Whjen I turned the ingnition the engine began to buckle and make a loud noise. I would have to attempt starting it a few times to get a clean start. Then the engine would make a tapping noise and the engine light would come on. I took it to the dealer - they said it was a dirty cylinder and that it needed to be cleaned. They cleaned it but a few months later the same string of events occurred -- but the engine light went off before I could get it to the dealer. The dealer took the car anyway -- they kept it for almost 3 weeks and the car would not "act up" for them. They re-sealed some wires and gave it back to me because they couldn't find anything wrong with the engine. Well, needless to say the car kept having trouble starting and the engine light kept coming on and and going off by itself. I became fed up -- so I took it to precision tune instead of the dealer. They told me the wires that were sealed actually needed to be replaced and that's what the problem was. I paid them $318 to do it. I picked up my car -- and drove to work -- and what do you know -- the engine light came back on again and I had trouble starting it. I took it back to the shop -- I turned the car off and turned it back on for the mechanic and the car made a hidious sound and died right there in front of us. Apparently one of the cylinders stopped working and something was loose in the engine is what I was told. Now I have another car -- it wasn't worth fixing. I also had a coolant issue with the car -- I had to replace the radiator. That wasn't fun either.

- Hanover, MD, USA

Crankshaft/pulley fell apart, causing the belt to separate from the vehicle, and damage to the timing chain. Dealer has repaired the vehicle at the owner's expense.

- Houston, TX, USA

I own a 1997 mecury Tracer, that has been in Ford, Lincoln, Mercury authorized dealership for almost 3 weeks in the service department. The first time I brought my vehicle in was when my " engine check light came on. This was on 1/18/2000, the service department informed that my #3 was misfiring and that they need to repplace my sparkplugs and give the car a tune-up. On 1/27/200, my engine check light light came back on. I took it back to the dealship and they found an oil leak and told me the computer read out was the same as before "#3 was misfiring". well that night after I got the car back, the "service engine soon" light came back on. So the next day I called tthe dealership oce again and I brought the car back to them and they said that it was the same code and that they would check into it. They gave me my car back and informed me that yes the engine check light would probably come back on again and that to inform them if the car started to run rough. Well the next week, I informed the dealership that the car was actually starting to stall when I was driving it and they made me an appointment for the following Tuesday 2/7/2000 to bring the car in. Well, the car has been there ever since. First I was told that it was the valve guide that needed to be replaced and that my extented warranty company would pay a portion of the cost including only seven days on a rental car. Then on 2/22/2000 I was informed by the dealership that Ford no longer makes the valve guides for the 1997 Mercury Tracers and it is no longer available on the secondary market. I have already paid out $340 to have the car fixed, which has not been fixed, plus no what ever the costs are going to be now. Plus I have to pay for the rental car, because the extended warranty company will only pay for 7 days. I am extremely frustrated and think that for a 3 year old car to have this type of problem is definitely a manufactures problem, but when talking with for

- Cadillac, MI, USA

The crankshaft pulley "separated" ruining the belt and the pulley, requiring that both be replaced. I did not think that I should have these type of problems with a car that only had 40,600 miles on it. I feel like I should be compensated by the manufacturer or the dealer who worked on the car. I am reluctant to believe that I will not have further problems with this car or the same problem again. I would like to know exactly why and how this happened, other than being told that I am not the first one it has happened to. I feel like this could have been a lot worse than it was, only because I noticed it when I did and took it to be repaired did I not have more extensive damage than I did. But, I still don't think I should have had this type of problem to begin with. The car should have been fixed for free. I do not know whether or not I will keep the car after having had this type of problem with it.

- Jacksonville, NC, USA

When started cold the lifters tap for a while, until it warms up.

- Riverview, FL, USA

Engine taps and cuts off while driving. Engine check light comes on. Dealer contacted and is aware of the problem. Stated the problem caused by cracked crankshaft. After engine replaced, problem continued and dealer said the transmission needed to be replaced.

- Murrieta, CA, USA