3rd Sep 2003, 16:08

I too am starting to have problems with my

'99 Contour. For the past few years my dashboard has been curled back from the windshield. I thought it was the South Florida sun/heat. I never knew until today from your comments that there was a recall on it!!! Thank you! Now, I just got my car out of the shop for the second time in a week. I took it in for "stalling" symptoms - which I encountered similarly last year at about the same time (major trouble there, but fixed). Until now, no further problems. After getting it out of the shop last week Thursday, it was no longer trying to stall... it was actually stalling this time, just out of the shop. A hose fell off and was making noises, so they thought that solved the idling problem. It did - because now it stalls. Back to the shop on Tuesday. Now my mechanic does a throttle cleaning. Runs great, just like new - except for the stalling/idling. Back into the shop, again. My mechanic now is clueless. Nothing comes up as being wrong, according to the system analysis checks. Electronically nothing is wrong!!!? All sensors are fine! What was determined to be wrong with your cars?

24th Aug 2004, 13:47

I have had a few problems with my Contour as well. They are definitely cars that are built for the flat road. Any hill driving in access will cause the bearings to go out in the engine. I live near the ocean and there are large mountains where I live and if you travel over them you will see 2 or 3 contours over a months period, sitting up their due to the bearings going out. I am currently experiencing the stall out when coming to a stop and was curious what it could be. Thanks for the notes that have been written. I will check into the hoses that are or may be loose to see if that won't fix the problem..

23rd Feb 2007, 21:00

Wow, you believed your boy's story about the brick wall, stuck accelerator and failed brakes. That is literally unbelievable.

When my car cranked, but did not start, with good battery, with no check-engine-light or code, the problem appeared to be a marginally bad fuel pump. The fuel pressure was tested and found low and out-of-spec. The car refused to start a couple of times and the pump was replaced just out of warranty, of course.

24th Feb 2007, 09:34

I agree, I'm afraid that your son is making up some disaster story to cover the fact that he was fooling around and trashed the car. The accelerator sticking and the brakes failing at the same time??? What a convenient way to explain running into a brick wall. That's on par with "But, Honey, I was on my way to the job interview, but all of a sudden there was this alien spaceship..."

26th Feb 2007, 09:30

This is a general comment on persisting drivability problems in any car (Check engine light). I think that many mechanics are relying to much on computer diagnostics. Many give up when the computer is not telling them what's wrong with the car. If you ask around you might find a mechanic who uses "grey matter" to find errors that the computer will not detect.

I did a google search about an ignition miss in an older minivan because my mechanic couldn't completely solve it. The search results helped him to find and fix the problem. Consider changing the mechanic rather than lots of parts.

9th Mar 2007, 12:36

The Contour is dirt cheap. It's a poor man's car, and if you believe the car is going to be a walk in the park in terms of reliability, you're kidding yourself. Go buy a Honda, and find out how 'affordable' they are. Furthermore, go find out how 'reliable' they are too. Word of mouth doesn't mean anything. Every time your buddy takes his import for a 'service campaign,' it's a recall. To the average person, they think they're getting something minorly adjusted. No, your car has something dangerously wrong with it.

My only advice to people who are interested in the platform of this vehicle CDW-27 is to be prepared to work on the car. This was my first car (used), and I didn't have a clue about cars in general when I bought it. Since then, I have become more knowledgeable about cars. I have learned how to do all my maintenance.

Known issues: The Auto tranny (CD4E) is known for cooking. However, with simple flushes or draining the tranny pan, cooking the transmission can be avoided. an external tranny cooler can help, but the frequent flushes is a must. Also, the duratec is well known for drinking oil. With a poorly designed oil pan, many add.5qts extra oil to ensure no oil starvation. The waterpump is also a known failure. Ford revised the wp to a stronger plastic impeller on the post-98s. Duratecs prior to this, should think about replacing with a metallic impellar.

Yes, the car demands a lot of attention, but I guess that's the trade off for a car you can pick up for a few grand today. When properly maintained, these cars are quite reliable. Everday my cars starts and get me from point a to point b.

Also, people should do their homework. When you get a check engine light, you can take the vehicle to a local autostore shop (Murray's, Kragen, Autozone) and they will use an OBD scanner tool to diagnose why the car is throwing the Check engine light. They give you a code and you can research what's wrong on the internet. All this can be done for FREE. So next time you go to get your car worked on and they tell you about a $100 diagnostic, think twice.

Just my $0.02. Hope this helps someone out.

10th Mar 2007, 08:56

That is true, however with the Contour no one seems to figure out why those lights keep staying on constantly. Auto Zone could not figure out, the local mechanics could not figure it out, and even the FORD DEALER could not figure it out. I think that is very pathetic in my opinion.