Mercury Mystique 98 reving problem

[KnifeEdge_2K1]

i was in my parent's 98 mercury mystique (ford contour/ford mondeo) and was doing about 80 kph, went on the highway and started accelerating, (in canada the speed limit is 100 kph on freeqays but anything less then 140 means cars honking the hell outta u) so i pushed the gas, at about 5000 rpm the engine starts wizzing (sorry i cant find a better word for it) as compared to the normal low freq hum, the car stopped accelerating (looked at speedo and weight shifted forward) while engine speed continued to climb

i quickly let off the gas and started accelerating again but at a lower rate (it's an automatic tranny, my O/D was engadged)

its pretty wierd, after i got to my destination i pulled over, put it in neutral started revving the engine, got to 4000 no problem, got to 5000 rpm no problem got to 5500 no problem, my brother warned me i shouldnt pass this because this car has had a history of problems so i just decided not to push my luck, since the engine had no signs of any failure like a blown head gasket (which would involve lots of smoke, which did not occur) i'm assuming this is somethign to do with the transmission

perhaps my tranny decided to go into neutral for some reason, perhaps the torque converter is broken

someone said it could be the throttle positioning sensor (which is weird since im pretty sure this car doesnt have an electronic throttle, just a normal cable)

can anyone help?

[TheOne]

check tranny fluid.

[Renesis]

Originally Posted by TheOne

check tranny fluid.

thats one way

you might also want to check the filters if they're dirty, as there might not be enough air going through when its needed.
When it wheezes does the needle droop, indicating a loss in engine movement?
if it does its probably something in the intake thats blocking air and limiting power for a small instant.
if it doesnt droop then it could be something tranny or torque converter. like theone said there might not be enough fluid to move the damned thing

but before you jump to conclusions check the droopyness

[cmcpokey]

ive topped out a contour at 104 mph, and it did the same thing. hit the governor, and cut the power going to the wheels till i got down to about 98, then it accelerated again. so this may be an answer, but you neevr said how fast you were going when this happened.

[d-quik]

Originally Posted by KnifeEdge_2K1

...but anything less then 140 means cars honking the hell outta u

I would like to note that this is not always true for most parts of Ontario.

[KnifeEdge_2K1]

Originally Posted by cmcpokey

ive topped out a contour at 104 mph, and it did the same thing. hit the governor, and cut the power going to the wheels till i got down to about 98, then it accelerated again. so this may be an answer, but you neevr said how fast you were going when this happened.

like 120 kph, thats about 70 mph

[KnifeEdge_2K1]

Originally Posted by d-quik

I would like to note that this is not always true for most parts of Ontario.

just toronto more or less
its insane, even my sister does this and she's like wimpiest driver ever

[KnifeEdge_2K1]

aight, ill check the transmission levels when my parents get back, thanks for the tip guys

any tips on how to check the torque converter?

filters were changed about a month ago but ill check neways since my brother broke one of the clips to the airbox

hopefully it's not a blow head gasket (which would be easy to check with the white smoke and tendency to overheat with bubbles coming out of ur radiator)

[KnifeEdge_2K1]

OOO, if the throttle butterfly suddenly shut while under hard acceleration woudl this happen? since the vacumm would suck like hell and the air blowing in past the shut butterfly could cause that kinda sound cant it?

[KnifeEdge_2K1]

Engine oil level was fine

i couldnt check tranny oil since the manual said it needed the engine to be at operating tempreature which is drive about 30 km and i dont have much gas left in the tank (gonna check tommorow after i fillup on gas)

air filter was fine but one of the clips to the airboxes was broken and the other was loose so at high rpm air the wheezing coulda been the box vibrating or disrupt in airflow

reved the engine to about 4500 and it started studering but that was prolly cuz ive only been idling it for about 30 seconds and it hadnt warmed up yet (yeah i know stupid me)

ill try again later, any other sugustions would be helpful

[Renesis]

a blown head gasket does not necessarily mean that the coolant becomes frothy and boils over..
i dont know what to say really because im not there and i cant hear/see the car. you might want talk to a professional mechanic about it.

another thing you might to do in case of a blown headgasket is you might want to check the oil and see if it is either chunky in places or frothy, meaning air is leaking into the block. im not sure how to do this without changing oil, because ive never had a problem like this. maybe just use the dipstick. also if you've got a guage (and i dont know if your car does), check the oil pressure.

one last question, did you do anything aftermarket to the car? even changes to the exhaust system can throw off ECU and throw off your car's firing sytem

[KnifeEdge_2K1]

nope

a blown head gasket usually means the engine over heats easily and loss of pressure right?

it's been driving ok today so hopefully nothin is wrong n it's just my parinoia

[Renesis]

Originally Posted by KnifeEdge_2K1

a blown head gasket usually means the engine over heats easily and loss of pressure right?

a lot of the times yeah. but it can also result in coolant spilling out of the exhaust or boiling the oil (it looks like chocolate mousse )

[KnifeEdge_2K1]

yeah, coolant in the exhaust, im gonna check that
it's suppose to smell sweet or something, wutever that means