I have a 2000 Mercury Sable V6 3.0L OHV, with about 72,000 miles. The A/C compressor went out recently. To replace the compressor and accumulator would cost about $600....for me to do it myself. Instead I opted for a bypass pulley that only cost about $45, altogether.
However, The car now has high RPMs, almost as if it's not shifting gears. At 3500 RPMs, I'm doing about 40MPH. It's not in overdrive either. Could this be related to me swapping out the A/C compressor?
The Check engine light is also on, and there's a gear with an ! in the middle that keeps flashing. I'm guessing that's my transmission light.
If it's nothing with the transmission, how do I fix this? If it is with the transmission, How is it that the transmission was fine until I changed the A/C compressor out for the bypass pulley?
You may have disconnected 1 or more vac. lines on accident in the process of swapping to the bypass pulley. the transmission light is never a good sign, however it is a very common problem on the AX4S transmission that is in your car as they are about the most problematic front wheel drive trans there is. try also pulling all the fuses and relays that control the a/c system. it should only cost about 300$ for a compressor and drier for your car (dont buy it at the dealer! )
the cars computer may be confused because it is not getting a signal from the wire harness to the compressor and is stuck in high idle mode due to that.
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check engine light and the engine is shek
Well, I figured out the issue. I had checked the vacuum hoses, wire connections, and even put a meter on the harness to make sure it wasgood and no wires had been broken. I almost thought it was the harness because it's right by the exhaust manifold and some of the connectors have been melted/fused together from the heat. [nice job Ford, of protecting your cables to avoid fire and auto trouble] But this wasn't the problem. I checked fuses, but not all of the fuses. There are SEVERAL spots where fuses are located. I don't remember doing anything to blow a fuse, but it's possible a contact may have touched something on the alternator. I replaced the fuse (one of the larger ones in the panel by the battery), and all is well.
The sad thing is, I only found this out this Monday. The car has been sitting for about a month.
FYI - A refurbished compressor for this car is $300+, and the dryer is another $120-$175. Had the compressor been replaced, it STILL would have had the high RPMs due to the fuse. Call me crazy, but I'm not seeing any genius behind the engineering of this vehicle.
I got it fixed. Shame on me for not immediately posting the fix, but I travel a lot for work.
Anyway, it was a fuse. A fairly large sized fuse in the panel under the hood, but a fuse nonetheless. I also had to replace an emission control device on the exhaust manifold, but that didn't have anything to do with the transmission issue.
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