# 1999 Mercury Cougar: fuel in the air cleaner **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Tags:** mercury, cougar\ **Created:** [July 24, 2018, 12:51am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1999-mercury-cougar-fuel-in-the-air-cleaner/121577 "2018-07-24T00:51:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MarkHedge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@MarkHedge](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MarkHedge)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 12:51am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1999-mercury-cougar-fuel-in-the-air-cleaner/121577/1 "2018-07-24T00:51:25Z")
Car won’t start. Fuel pouring into air cleaner ---
**Author:** ![Mustangman](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/mustangman/32/44130_2.png) [@Mustangman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Mustangman)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 12:39pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1999-mercury-cougar-fuel-in-the-air-cleaner/121577/2 "2018-07-24T12:39:19Z")
> [@MarkHedge](#): > > Fuel pouring into air cleaner From where? This car should be fuel injected directly into the intake runners, not down the air intake. Are you sure that’s fuel? And which engine do you have? Or is this car NOT a **1999** Mercury Cougar? ---
**Author:** ![Rod-Knox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a183cd/32.png) [@Rod-Knox](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Rod-Knox)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 1:15pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1999-mercury-cougar-fuel-in-the-air-cleaner/121577/3 "2018-07-24T13:15:20Z")
POURING??? Yes, from where? Give us a few small clues. ---
**Author:** ![Purebred](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/purebred/32/46796_2.png) [@Purebred](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Purebred)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 2:05pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1999-mercury-cougar-fuel-in-the-air-cleaner/121577/4 "2018-07-24T14:05:28Z")
A video of that should be interesting, but would want the fire department standing by. ---
**Author:** ![MarkHedge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@MarkHedge](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MarkHedge)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 2:28pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1999-mercury-cougar-fuel-in-the-air-cleaner/121577/5 "2018-07-24T14:28:25Z")
When cranking over with the throttle partly or fully open, gas pours out of the air intake seen here in the attached photo. Where’s the fuel coming from? I thought it went direct to the injectors! Thanks Mark ![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/original/2X/d/dbc67f517206c90485b89fc922557d6a21bcf7b0.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![MarkHedge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@MarkHedge](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MarkHedge)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 2:39pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1999-mercury-cougar-fuel-in-the-air-cleaner/121577/6 "2018-07-24T14:39:53Z")
When cranking over with the throttle partly or fully open, gas pours out of the air intake seen here in the attached photo. Where’s the fuel coming from? I thought it went direct to the injectors! Thanks Mark ![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/original/2X/d/dbc67f517206c90485b89fc922557d6a21bcf7b0.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![VOLVO-V70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8e8cbc/32.png) [@VOLVO-V70](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VOLVO-V70)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 2:44pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1999-mercury-cougar-fuel-in-the-air-cleaner/121577/7 "2018-07-24T14:44:05Z")
I have no idea why this is happening. But if was my problem I would stop cranking the engine and have it towed to a repair shop with a full warning so they don’t burn their shop down. ---
**Author:** ![Tester](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/tester/32/15976_2.png) [@Tester](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Tester)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 3:02pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1999-mercury-cougar-fuel-in-the-air-cleaner/121577/8 "2018-07-24T15:02:00Z")
Locate the fuel pressure regulator on the fuel rail. [https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=320032&cc=1356498&jsn=383](https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=320032&cc=1356498&jsn=383) Remove the vacuum hose from the regulator. If gas leaks from this connection, the fuel pump is pumping gas into the intake past the ruptured diaphragm in the regulator. Tester ---
**Author:** ![MarkHedge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@MarkHedge](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MarkHedge)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 3:32pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1999-mercury-cougar-fuel-in-the-air-cleaner/121577/9 "2018-07-24T15:32:19Z")
I will try this and report back. Thanks