hi i have a 1997 mercury tracer and when i drive it it wont go past 65 mph but before that it runs fine it just wont go past 65 anyone know what that could be and answer is really appreciated.

it may have a speed governor on it. It restricts the speed to a certain amount and will not allow speeds in excess of that. If this was a fleet vehicle before you bought it, that may be the reason. Removing the governor may not be an easy issue, but then I only know what they are supposed to do, not how they are actually applied.

another reason may be the transmission getting stuck in lower gears. Does the engine sound like it''s revved real high? If not, it''s probably the governor issue.

it might be. if you put the car into neutral, does it still want to go forward? if so, then the problem is the shift linkage (cable). it may have slipped and need to be realigned.

if not, then you have a transmission problem and it may require being rebuilt... which can range from a few hundred dollars (3-400) for filter, fluid, and clutches, to a few thousand dollars (2-3000) for a full rebuild with hard parts like pump, torque converter, bands, etc. Since it''s a computer controlled transmission, it may also be a sensor (throttle position sensor, etc) that is sending the wrong signals and telling the transmission to stay in a lower gear.

I wouldn''t drive it very long like that though. My first car destroyed itself because the transmission started downshifting into lower gears while on the highway. finally downshifted into first gear while I was doing about 70mph and blew the head gasket, destroyed the distributor gear, trashed the transmission, and that just the stuff we know was wrong with it. sold it to a guy down the street that just put in a new engine and trans and went on his merry way.

ok cool thanks but how would i find out which one it is?.