It's really hard to say, but it could be as simple as installing a new gas filter.

You may also want to purchase an additive that helps remove water from the gas, just in case she got some bad gas / has water in the tank...

TJ

When was the air filter replaced last? If she can't remember, it may be a good time to do it... :-)

TJ

This is not one of these vehicles that has never been serviced, is it ?

Often wonder what the record is??

I've heard it is about 36K miles - the hood was never opened, the car, a Chevrolet, finally ran out of "oil"...When the manufacturer states 100,000 miles until the first "tune up" - much trouble is being asked for...

Posted by: earthworm (My Page) on Sun, Jul 17, 05 at 9:37

This is not one of these vehicles that has never been serviced, is it ?
Often wonder what the record is??

I've heard it is about 36K miles - the hood was never opened, the car, a Chevrolet, finally ran out of "oil"...When the manufacturer states 100,000 miles until the first "tune up" - much trouble is being asked for...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WHAT are you talking about ????

As far as the original question, has anyone done anything under the hood recently ? If so, it could be a simple fix. Check your vacum lines, wires, etc. By your description, it almost sounds like a vacum line has been accidently left off, or removed. Post back with an update and good luck

GMC, read my post again - I am talking about some of these "service free" cars.
The state of tune , for a new car, being good for 100,000 miles, and people believe this and why not ??

So, except for oil changes, the hood stays shut and everything deteriorates, until the engine either runs poorly, if at all...

If you car has an Manifold Absolute Pressure Sensor (MAP), check this item. But first, check the condition of the vacuum line and connections to this sensor. The vaccuum line may be cracked, or pulled off. It's easy to pull this line off by intention or by accident during engine service under the hood.

Also, read the trouble codes. There could be a clue.

Tanama, IMO, the services of a good tune up mechanic are required.
As a guess, the idle air control may be clogged.
All the necessary service must be bought up to date..

As above, the fuel system doesn't seem to have enough vacuum and that's why it won't idle.

Check the lines, also PCV valve might have failed or fallen out at some stage.

Thank you for all the help and advice. She had a tuneup about a year ago (I didn't know that anyone could ever imagine a '95 Mustang as a "service free car" ::smile::), and we'd already eliminated air filter. Visual inspection didn't show anything amiss. We looked at the instructions for changing the fuel filter ourselves and decided to finally give up and bring it into the mechanic.

What he said was the fuel filter was fine, but there was a hole in the intake manifold. He patched that up, but said we needed to look at getting that replaced "at some point."

My questions now are,
1) Can that "some point" be left until the car starts acting up again, or should she be looking to get it replaced before things start acting up again?
2) Any clue as to a rough estimate for how much it should cost to replace this? She didn't ask at the mechanic she brought it to, and would probably go to someone else for this anyway (original mechanic chosen by distance from house).

Thanks!

Tanama:

"1) Can that "some point" be left until the car starts acting up again, or should she be looking to get it replaced before things start acting up again?"

I'd advise getting it dealt with ASAP. A patch job is only something that is an emergency fix.

" 2) Any clue as to a rough estimate for how much it should cost to replace this? She didn't ask at the mechanic she brought it to, and would probably go to someone else for this anyway (original mechanic chosen by distance from house)."

There really isn't enough informtion here to give an estimate, at least an accurate one. When people ask me to try and estimate something like this over the phone the only guarantee I give them is that the "estimate" is likely to be wrong. :)

As far as the "mechanic's" distance from the house, do you mean he is too far away to use on a regular basis? Or was it that he was real close, but not someone you would rely on normally? Frankly, unless circumstances did not permit him to do anything else, I don't understand why this left with a "patch job" in the first place. There are only two legitmate reasons for him not completely repairing this, one is your daughter couldn't or wouldn't authorize the work, and be able to pay for it. The other was he was not comfortable doing the work and turned the car away.
Barring the last possibility, why wouldn't you support a shop/tech that has apparently made the correct diagnosis? I have to think he is also quite capable of doing a complete and correct repair. So why would he not be the first choice to service the car? IMO price should not be any of the top considerations, you should be making your choice for this repair based on a shops ability, how comfortable you are dealing with them, and their history of completeing repairs on time and correctly. From there what they need to charge in order to be sucessful and stay in business is up to them.

I don't see why you can't wait ; it's not a safety problem, and the car will still go with a vacuum leak.

A second-hand/recon manifold shouldn't be too expensive, but a mechanic won't do anything much for less than $300.

A hole in the inlet manifold ??
This is hard to imagine..
Providing coolant is not involved, I do not see why this could not be patched(JB Weld or an epoxy)..
Or a man could drill, tap, and plug..
BTW, if you find a good honest mechanic, unafraid of work, it matters not if he is 50 miles away !

RE: "A hole in the manifold?"

Yup. It's possible. The intake box(es)/mainfold may be plastic. Put an open-ended wrench on a mounting nut and turn the screw until the wrench interferes with the manifold, then force it some more. The box can be broken when it has several years of heat aging.

And I am still thinking of cast iron or cast aluminum manifolds.
I'd say a plastic unit with ten years of heat is very, very fragile - a throw away item..

HAs the check engine light came on.Sounds like an Oxygen sensor from the description. How about spark plug wires My car ran the same way and new plugs made it run like a new car. Probaly it is time to replace for $40 anyway if they were not replaced in the tune up. Check the reciept.

Btw, Dont forget to post back us so we know the answer.