Your description of "no power" indicates the power assist vacuum booster. Constant vacuum must be maintained in the booster in order for the power assist to work. You may have a leak in the booster itself. However you said that the brakes worked fine after a the first application, that would indicate that possibly the One Way Check valve may not be working. In that case the vacuum from the booster would leak back to the intake manifold when the engine was not running. Once the engine was restarted the vacuum would be created in the booster, and after the first few applications operate normally. The valve is usually located where the vacuum hose connects. The valve cost is a fraction of the booster replacement. So check that valve first. Good Luck.Willie
Dear Willie:
My 1989 Mercury Marquis runs fine and has only 48,000 miles on it, but there appears to be a vapor or steam emanating from the tail pipe. Water drips from the tail pipe as well. An article I read suggested that this could be caused by a leaky headgasket or cracked engine block. But wouldn't there be other symptoms, such as lost water\coolant or ruff running, if either of these were the case? Paul
Dear Paul:
Your right about the other symptoms, if you had a headgasket leak or a cracked block that was causing liquid to drip from your tail pipe, you would definitely have other symptoms. As a mater of fact, you would be smoking out the tail pipe like a crop duster. Your probably seeing simple condensation coming from your exhaust. The temperature inside your Catalytic Converter is in the neighborhood of 1700 degrees. Similar to warm breath on a cold night, the drastic difference in temperature can cause a vapor or steam to appear. As long as your not having any other problems, what your seeing is probably normal. Good Luck. Willie
Dear Willie:
I own a 1991 Dodge Spirit with a V-6 engine that has 53,000 miles on it. Occasionally, when I turn the key to start position, all I hear is a clicking sound. I release the key and retry; sometimes it will start on the second or third try. I have taken the car to two shops and neither can find the problem. Colleen
Dear Colleen:
Sounds like a bad starter. Since the problem does not happen all the time, the shops you brought your car to probably could not see the problem to diagnose it. In a case like this we need to see the problem to make a definite diagnosis. Although the most likely cause is your starter, it could be the relay or even a bad connection. Most likely, this problem will become more frequent and therefor become easier to diagnose. Good Luck Willie
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