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[merenu@yahoo.com]

I recently bought a 1991 Mercury Capri, non Turbo, automatic transmission with 139,000 miles, off a local dealership. This car was advertised on Craigslist. The advertisement stated that the car runs hot.
Upon inspection, I discovered that the Water pump/Alternator belt was missing, which let me to conclude that it might be the reason for it running hot. The car wound start and idle without problems.

I bought and installed the water pump/alternator belt, but now the car starts and dies. It does not idle as it did before the belt was installed.  The belt installation was done right and I do not know what is causing the car not to start/idle.

Please help. Thanks in advance.

[blueamber]

Welcome to the world of 20 year old car problems.  I would suggest you pull the belt and see if the car starts and idles again properly.  

If it will idle, then get the alternator checked.  It could have bushings that are binding, making it harder to turn (and bogging down the engine), or the internal voltage regulator is bad, letting high voltage play havoc with the car's electrical system.

If it won't idle as before, then get the alternator checked.  High voltage from a bad regulator can damage the ECU, causing any number of bad symptoms...Chris

[merenu@yahoo.com]

Thanks for the idea Chris. I will definitely do as you suggested. I was also thinking about pulling the belt and seeing if the car starts, but I was not aware of the other suggestions you made about the internal alternator problems. Once again, thanks.

[Zachreligious]

Might want to check vacuum hoses too. A big leak will cause this if you disconnected something, or knocked something loose while you were working.

[merenu@yahoo.com]

Thank you very much for the reply. I will check the vacuum hoses also and will report my findings.  intend to work on the car this weekend.

[gary scott]

Welcome to the Joy of owning a Capri

Does it run as long as you press the accelerator? and die after you let off?

Also, along the line of vacuum hoses, don't overlook the intake piping from the VAF to the throttle body...


I let one of my sisters drive my Capri, now she wants one, not to mention rides along whenever she can. My top stays down from sun up to sun down these days. Beautiful weather here in NC.

 

[Gostlrs]

Simply take off the belt & see if it returns back to the way it way. That should let you know if the Alt is bad. It might of been like that for some time & the battery could be toast as well. Replacing both might be worth it & can be done for about $200