Okay, third time in three weeks this car has been in the shop...the dealership shop I bought it from (not a Ford dealer, so don't tell me it's because of the Ford dealership... it's still a dealership, though, so I share some of your resentment against dealerships)... and I've only had the car three weeks. First time, it was the water pump and coolant level sensor...second time, knicked a curb and did about $700 in suspension/steering damage on the right side, including a whole new rack & pinion... and then they didn't even get the steering wheel centered...
Now, this week, I was stopped at a place, shut the car off, and when I got back in, two minutes later, tried to start the car, and it started up, but something felt weird, and when I tried letting off the clutch and stepping on the throttle, the highest it would go was about 600 rpm, with the throttle pedal all the way to the floor... and I was able to get it out of the 5-minute parking area I was in and into the regular parking area, but the car just died about three feet from a spot, and I had to push it the rest of the way...
While it was heading there it managed to give a couple larger bursts of power but most of the time it stayed at about 600 rpm, just barely above stalling...and the oil light came on and I just decided to let it die by letting off the throttle instead of burning up the engine.
Okay, so the symptoms seemed a lot at first like the car was running out of gas, or maybe some form of vapor lock (if fuel-injected cars still have that problem? I've heard of it happening, but not in a car as new as 1997)... but the fuel tank is more than half full, according to the gas gauge (considered already that it might be at fault), but I've only gone about 66 miles since I filled up last, which was Sunday, and now it's Friday.
So...the gas gauge could be not working properly...but it's been working as far as I know since I got it, because it's gone down to almost empty at a normal rate, and it didn't die, and I filled it back up and it went to full... and that was about 200 or more miles per tank... also, I tried putting some gasoline into the tank when my dad brought a gas can with him, with the same result... the engine will crank, and there seems to be ignition power...but no fuel...or maybe there's no air... Either way, there's enough fuel in the tank, and the engine cranks when the key is turned.
I have it in the shop, like I said, so hopefully they'll figure it out, but any further diagnosis on this from what I've told you all, or advice, or other options...etc... would be very helpful and appreciated. Thank you. I think my car hates me. I should really give it a nice wash and wax...but I just haven't had time...it's been in the damn shop so much...I don't want to wash it and then it just breaks again and has to get dirty from being in the shop... doesn't make sense to me.
