so i need some help on this 2000 mercury sable. its the single cam V-6, with 165,000 miles. just had spark plugs replaced with OEM replacement plugs from autozone. also did the plug wires, thermostat, coolant change, battery service, oil change (castrol GTX high mileage), cabin air filter, engine air filter, fuel filter, and the transmission fluid and filter was replaced. i used castrol mercon V atf fluid and the duralast autozone transmission filter.

the car also had an idleing issue where the car would sometimes stall while idling but it drove fine if i was actually driving at a mph of any speed. my mechanic said it could be the poor gas from a crappy gas station i frequent, or something else in the fuel system or vacuum system. he suggested i rule out the bad gas and use shell gasoline before i pay him to diagnos the issue. it turned out there was a vacuum leak at the EGR thing (i forgot the exact name) and it costed me 30 bucks to diagnos and fix cause i just opted to plug the leak and fix the part later.

the car drove fine for 300 miles after my initial tune up of all parts i mentioned in paragraph one here. then i had trouble getting up to speed and i had a FLASHING MIL light on my gauges. my mechanic pulled the codes and got the following codes: P0135 (O2 SENSOR, BANK 1 SENSOR 1), P0750 (SHIFT SOLONOID A), P0755 (SHIFT SOLONOID B), P0760 (SHIFT SOLONOID C), P1451 (i lost the paper for that code description), P0743 (CLUTCH SOLONOID CIRCUIT ELECTRICAL), P0141 (O2 HEATER CIRCUIT BANK 1 SENSOR 2), P0155 (O2 HEATER CIRCUIT BANK 2 SENSOR 1), P0161 O2 HEATER CIRCUIT BANK 2 SENSOR 2), P0401 (EXHAUST GAS RECIRCULATION FLOW INSUFFICIENT DETECTED), P0402 (EXHAUST GAS RECIRCULATION FLOW EXCESSIVE DETECTED).

so my mechanic is looking into it but cant do it till monday so i was wondering if you guys might be able to help. i just wanted to know what i may be needing to be replaced. this was my first trip to a mechanic with my car and i have had it for 5 months. it is salvaged and my mechanic pointed out the structural damage from a major rear ending in the cars past, but i only knew the car was parked for a year before i bought it.

any advice would be appreciated. thanks

 

I suspect that the computer has noticed that the EGR part that you just had plugged instead of fixing it properly, & all of your other sensors are going out of their range trying to compensate for it. I would have the EGR fixed properly & then clear all the codes & see if they come back. I doubt they would.

In the days of the carburetors, you could get away with jury rigging fixes, but not with today's computer fuel injections system.

 

UPDATE-----
on my trans issues, the mechanic says that the dealer service advisor asked him (my mechanic) if the trans had high mileage? "YES". was the trans fluid dirty? "YES". was the transmission serviced every 30,000 miles? "most likely not. the car was bought from some old lady and had been sitting parked for some time." the most likely thing is that now with the transmission full of new clean transmission fluid, the parts such as the shift solinoids (A,B, and C) and the torque converter clutch solonoid, can now operate freely and show their wear and age. the old fluid probably was gumming up the parts and not allowing them to operate freely and set off the 4 transmission related MIL codes i have. the dealer service advisor said the transmission service should not have been done on this car due to possible issues like this. does anyone else think this is a good explanation of my issues on the transmission MIL codes?

in case you are wondering about my mechanic and his abilities, he says he has over 10 years experience working on cars. he has worked in shops and the dealerships as a tech. (all by his own claim however because i haven't checked.) he also said he has never had a car have a problem from a service he has done, and that he would warranty my shift solonoids and torque converter clutch solonoid, and do the labor. all for free.

he also said that he got into working on cars from his home garage because of all the unethical shop practices he seen and was told to do in the shops, and that this was his fault that he didnt know this would happen because he never had it happen before. which is why he is willing to pay for it and warranty the issue and pay for parts that he never touched.

so if this is all a very true and possible reason of why i now have transmission issues, and he made an honest mistake, should i keep him as my mechanic and have him repair my car under his warranty? let me know what you guys think. thanks

 

Any mechanic can make a mistake, even the best. As for your transmission problem, I find the dealers explanation hard to believe. The question I have for you is; are you having any transmission problems while driving it. If the transmission is operating satisfactory, then I would clear the codes & see if the reappear. I'm assuming you took care of the EGR problem that you know is or was bad.

As for your mechanic, that is your call. Just because he doesn't agree with the dealer's opinion, doesn't mean either one is wrong. Maybe the dealer is right since they work on that model. To me it don't sound right, but then I retired from the car business just as the electronic transmissions were coming on the scene, so I haven't worked on any.

 

thanks for the input bulldozer. man i wish i had one answer to go with on this issue but i know its a complicated issue. i had never had a problem with my EGR...the car would just shut off sometimes at idle. other that that it ran fine on the freeway and while driving it. same for the o2 sensors...they have always been needing to be replaced according to the initial scanner reading before my mechanic serviced the car. after the service i mentioned in my initial post here, the car drove like a dream for 3 days. then the car lost power, the trans service light came on (the flashing exclamaition point), and i pulled over and checked my fluids. the coolant looked a little low but everything else was fine. i took it to my mechanic right then and he thought the same of the fluids and he noticed the low coolant (i didnt tell him i thought it was low. i was kinda waiting to see if he would see it or even mention it). he looked for a coolant leak and i had not seen any but he found a tiny little drop working its way out of the top of the thermostat housing. he showed me and called autozone for a new thermostat and gasket (they delivered it to him. some guy on a harley davidson with tatoos. LOL!!).

then he found the new codes and thought about it a few minutes. then said he would clear them, but he thought they would come right back. they did. then he tried it again and got the same result. then he asked if he could spend some time looking into it, so i left it but he hadnt found anything wrong on the wiring harnesses and connectors. so he said he would look into it more over the weekend and on monday. its now at the same point but i dont drive the car right now. i want to get this problem fixed but soon. i have another car but this is just bothering me.

again, thanks for the input

 

oxygen sensors can get lazy & need to be replace. I use to test them by having the scanner hooked up, & then pull a vacuum hose off creating an air leak that should make the oxygen sensor respond immediately, & richen the fuel mixture. I also had a small camp propane bottle rigged with a hose & small tube, (I actually used a engine valve push rod that had a small hole thru the center for a tube.) I would then inject the propane into the air intake which would make the oxygen sensor respond & lean out the mixture. This also worked to find vacuum leaks, as the engine would speed up if you found one.

But you want to watch what you are doing when using propane this way. That's why I use a small camp propane with a valve on it. Only open it a 1/4 turn so it could be shut off quick.

It does sound like you have a complicated problem. As a rule of thumb, work on the first code that is listed. Then clear & see if the others come back.

 

thanks bulldozer.

i hope my mechanic dont use propane on my car. i need him to fix it still. LOL. but i havent decided what to do yet. he says he will order the transmission parts as soon as i tell him i want to try that, but he also suspects the EGR pressure sensor may be the whole issue. we both know it was broken before i went to him so he didnt break it, but he did also say that if i wanted to, he would buy the EGR pressure sensor and if it turned out to be that is the problem he would not charge me. (mainly because he says he feels bad about the whole thing and that he should have known weather or not that was the issue.-and its cheaper.)

but if it turns out that that is not the issue and it is really like the dealer says, then he would ask for 50 bucks for the EGR pressure sensor and he would buy the transmission solinoids and warranty that. so really, its on me now to make up my mind. maybe when i get back from my trip to Indiana (i live in southern california). but at least i think i have found an honest mechanic who's at least ethical.

again, thanks bulldozer

 

I pay him to diagnos the issue. it turned out there was a vacuum leak at the EGR thing (i forgot the exact name) and it costed me 30 bucks to diagnos and fix cause i just opted to plug the leak and fix the part later.