I have a 2004 Mercury mountaineer that has quite a few problems, but none that have ever stumped me quite as much as today when the "Engine FailSafe Mode" error suddenly popped up in the message center. The reason this has me stumped, is because after I parked my car and checked the manual, none of the things that the manual was describing of a failsafe mode were happening: my AC didn't turn off, I had no problems driving a couple of blocks to get to a safe parking area, and none of my gauges were in a bad zone. A glance under the hood showed my cool reservoir was half full, so I intend to have that amended when I have my oil changed next week, but nothing seemed out of place. And, when I turned the car back on, not only did it turn over perfectly fine, but the message disappeared and I was able to drive about fifteen miles back home without the error occurring again.

I know my brake pads need replacing soon after the icy winter my car just went through, and I've always had problems with the brake lights staying on; but I don't see how either of these things might have caused the error.

I intend to have my car looked at ASAP, but I was wondering if anyone has had this occur before. I can't get my usual mechanic to look at it until Monday, and I might be taking it to one of the dealers tomorrow (saturday) as a fallback, and I'd really they rather not take advantage of my status as a twenty-three year old who is ignorant to certain aspects of her car; so any solid input would be greatly appreciated.