71 cougar. when the car goes over a pothole or is driven moderately to fast over a sharp bump, e.g., street repaving cut line at an intersection, railroad tracks, the front suspension slams against the car frame. Shocks? Coil springs? Missing rubber bumper on frame? Shop had car up on rack, last look, and said nothing was wrong with front end suspension. Maybe it is tight on the rack, but driving it is another story. Smooth roads - smooth ride, sudden changes in road surface, brace yourself for a dinger or slow way down to allow suspension to handle quietly.

In Michigan we just call them Public roads or goat trails(the same). The oil you see could be brake fluid or engine oil. The brake fluid problem will not correct itself and adding fluid will not remove air in the brake lines. The engine oil pan will not fix itself either, but adding oil may get you to a nearby repair place.

There are other leak points like the transmission, transfer case, and differential. Hard to say how far you can drive with any of these leaking.

In most cases, a tow to a Repair garage is a way to save money unless you repair yourself where it stands. A $75 tow bill is cheaper than an engine or transmission.

if this is happening when the foot is on the brake, then it is possible that the brake booster is leaking air and running the engine too lean.
check by idling without the foot on the brake

This sounds like the Inertia switch is tripped. This switch is either in the trunk or behind one of the kick panels. This is a resettable switch that cuts power to the fuelpump in a collision. Often a bump of the correct frequency will trip this.

You also have a fuelpump relay in one of the Powerboxes. The sequence is such that power goes to the relay and the wire from the relay goes rearward to the inertia sensor in the trunk(Or kickpanels) which acts like a breaker and then the power goes to the pump.

have the fuel pump pressure checked, if you think you have a vapor lock,, and your going to think I'm totally bonkers, But an Old man told me this years ago so I tried it, clip 6 or 7 clothes pins on the rubber section of fuel line, I have no clue how this works or why, But it does

check brake fluid level if LOW good indication brakes are due.

the serp belt is driven by the crankshaft pully and also has a tensioner may i suggest you check the crank pully it mayhave parted at the rubber damper and is spinning off line/back and forth also check the tensioner that runs on belt it may have failed or come loose

YOU WILL NEED TO GET A NEW BRAKE LINE MADE FOR YOUR WHEEL CYLINDER THIS WILL HAVE A THREDED NUT WHICH WILL FIT INTO A HOLE IN THE WHEEL CYLINDER, IF THE BRAKE IS AT THE MASTER CYLINDER YOU WILL STILL NEED A NEW ONE MADE FOR THIS , GO TO A MOTOR SHOP WITH YEAR OF CAR AND GET A NEW ONE , OR GO TO A CAR BREAKERS YARD FOR USED ONE .

I would say that you are on the right track , I think that maybe when the work was done on the fuel pump assy the mechanic may have pinched the power wire and hitting the bumps has caused it to short.you will have to take the seats out again (sorry).You need to look for a damaged wire or evidence of arcing .Hope this helps.

if it is just the steel line you can cut it and reflare the end

Its about ESP function. normal. Remember sprinter is very fast van but not rally rated.