I have a 97 Ford Escourt and it was a used car and i got it a few months ago.
Twice already when im driving on the highway, when I go above 20-30 my car will give this big “putt” then when I get to 70-80 sometimes my car putts furiously then I think my gears change and my speedometer dies. Sometimes it comes back alive and sometimes it doesnt. But there are other times when it will flucuate between 20 and 40 then die again… the it’ll try again, and die. Its weird. I told my father about it and he took it for a test drive and he was doing all sorts of things with it, changing from drive to overdrive… speeding up FAST and slowing down and nothin happened. Someone told me it could be “plugs”. It hasnt happened in a while now, but im just curious as to wtf that was… lol.
My car is an automatic. Which throws me off. I thought at first maybe my gear shift wasnt in the correct gear fully… but when it happened the second time, I made sure it was.
Thank god is hasnt happened in a while, but its still a bit freaky when it does. It would suck if i was pulled over by the cops and he asked if i knew hwo fast I was going… i would honestly have to say No cuz my speedometer died lol :x
Thanks
//Cynnamin
If I’m following your post correctly, it sounds like the vehicle speed sensor (VSS)may be acting up. I’m not sure if your car is actually going the speeds listed, or if the speedometer is just SHOWING those speeds. The VSS (among other things) tells the transmission when to shift. It also tells the speedo how fast you’re going. It’s all tied together by the car’s main computer.
My father and uncle have the same car as mine, model & year AND color… lol and they told me the same thing has happened to thier car once or twice but never again since they have had it. My father has owned this car for about 5 years now. Im not sure of my uncle.
It seems kind of funny how the same type of car has the same thing happening to different people.
I know my post was a bit confusing but its the only way I know how to explain it without drawing pictures in MS Paint… lol.
I dont know anything about cars, esp when it comes to technical stuff…but i know my dad had a Plymouth Van and he had all sorts of problems with the computer with that. Eventually he trashed it so is my car on the rits too? I just got it a few months ago (private buy) and the paper I had to sign that tells you about the car (its blue with some weird squiggly lines going through it) says “Rebuilt” on the top, so im wondering if something happened to it that maybe is causing this reaction?
Thanks
//Cynnamin