• Welcome to the Contour Enthusiasts Group, the best resource for the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique.

    You can register to join the community.

100K Maintenance ?

9

96Mystique

CEG'er
Joined
Oct 18, 2007
Messages
192
Well, my '96 Mystique is nearing the 100,000 mile mark, and I plan on having/driving it until at least the 200,000 mile mark. My question is, what are the best preventive maintenance procedures I need to be looking into?
 
Every car is different. Every car has had a different service history. But some typical things to check on are typical wear items. Obviously brakes, tires, spark plugs, air filter, fuel filter. Also, suspension, including sway bar/bushing/end links. Another thing to look for, especially on an older car, is signs of RUST! Rust on my car has gotten a bit out of hand and I regret not taking measures years ago to prevent it.
 
If you havent done it, timing belt and timing pulleys. might as well do the waterpump while your in there. also, while it may not be bad, the upper O2 sensor is worth replacing, espicially if you have seen a decrease in mileage or performance recently.
 
xmbreezy said:
Timing belt and pulleys as stated. Accessory belt should be replaced if it hasn't already. Change your transmission fluid ASAP.
Click to expand...
Also very good points. The serpentine belt is a breeze. Gatorback at Autozone is $20 and it takes ten minutes to swap out. Tranny fluid is pretty cake as well to change if you have an ATX. Seeing as your car is a '96, I'd wager the timing belt was already changed, but it takes less than a minute to take the cover off and check the condition of the belt just to be sure.
 
xmbreezy said:
Timing belt and pulleys as stated. Accessory belt should be replaced if it hasn't already. Change your transmission fluid ASAP.
Click to expand...

Heh if you didn't change the ATF on your CD4E by now, it's amazing that the thing still runs! Hopefully it's been changed at least three times by now, otherwise a transmission overhaul may be in your future.
 
i have over 200k on my car and I've changed the fluid once. Once at 100k and thats it. I drive it hard every day and it still shifts like new. I don't think changing the fluid is that big a deal.
 
pre98zetec said:
i have over 200k on my car and I've changed the fluid once. Once at 100k and thats it. I drive it hard every day and it still shifts like new. I don't think changing the fluid is that big a deal.
Click to expand...

You got lucky. I've known people that smoked for 40 years and didn't get lung cancer. Doesn't mean it's safe or a good idea.
 
Matt R said:
You got lucky. I've known people that smoked for 40 years and didn't get lung cancer. Doesn't mean it's safe or a good idea.
Click to expand...
I don't consider it lucky, i consider it not a big deal. I know lots of people who don't even change the tranny fluid at all and they have over 200k on stock fluid. While it might be a good idea to change it it's not a 'you better do it or you won't have a transmission' issue. :shrug:. I've seen more trannys go bad from changing fluid every 30k then I have seen trannys go bad for not changing them at all.
 
Glad you're not my mechanic!

J/K, do whatever makes you happy. As for me, I drain and fill mine every other oil change and I run an auxiliary cooler. Well over 110k miles and no problems yet.
 
Matt R said:
You got lucky. I've known people that smoked for 40 years and didn't get lung cancer. Doesn't mean it's safe or a good idea.
Click to expand...

W3rd.

pre98zetec said:
I don't consider it lucky, i consider it not a big deal. I know lots of people who don't even change the tranny fluid at all and they have over 200k on stock fluid. While it might be a good idea to change it it's not a 'you better do it or you won't have a transmission' issue. :shrug:. I've seen more trannys go bad from changing fluid every 30k then I have seen trannys go bad for not changing them at all.
Click to expand...

That is kind of silly to me, just asking for it to blow up on you now. I also doubt that the trannys you did so go went because of changing the fluid and more because of plain old mechanical failure. For me, I always drained the ATX on the Mystique once every season and have had zero issues coming up to 200K kilometers now. To me its more of do it and not have to risk it, but hey, if you feel lucky, all the more power to ya.
 
Well if you haven't changed the trans fluid yet, don't do it now. You will more than likely cause more issues.
 
I'd like to know the mechanism that could make a trans go bad by changing to new fluid. Unless you do something wrong, it ain't gonna happen. Ford states in manual to change CD4E fluid every 30,000 miles. If you smell it at that time you will find it's already starting to burn, the color will already be starting to get darker. Older automatics did not do all the super amounts of upshifting and downshifting these new fangled ones do, not to mention converter clutches that go in or out every time you get into or let off the throttle. Just adding the 4th gear guaranteed 25% more shifting. That's why lately all automatics going to synthetic oil to go back to the long distance between oil change. The standard type fluids were burning too quickly. "Lots of people with over 200K on the stock fluid". That's a good one! If that logic structure works, why not stop changing your motor oil? Think of the money one could save. That whole thing about not changing the fluid now if you didn't do it before is foolish too. You're personifying the transmission now, do you really believe it can tell the difference in new fluid to the point where it says "Oh that's it! He just changed my fluid!! I'll show him, I'll just spit out my guts to teach him a lesson.". REALLY.
 
now your just being a :censored::censored::censored::censored::censored::censored::censored::censored:.

Explain this, A former member, here, contourfreak i beleive. Two seperate cars. Under 150k on both. a 99 and a 95. Changed the fluid religiously, every 20-30k. He lost gears in both the transmissions. One of the guys I work with also has a 98 contour. v6, changed the fluid religiously in his, every 40k. His went out at 105k.

They weren't sensor problems either. I've got 200k on two of them. Two fluid changes. One has been through hell, running it low to the point it was slipping, running it with over a gallon of fluid low due to leaking line. 7K shifts, neutral drops. Basically anything I could throw at it. It still shifts like it did when it was new and doesn't act up one bit.

I have my ways of doing things and so do you, 3 different contours with transmission problems and none of them were driven as hard as I drove mine, Yet, mine is still shifting and driving fine while theres are sitting in a junkyard. Thats proof enough right there changing it isn't as important as you guys think it is. I doubt 3 cars in a row would just 'go' due to mechanical faults.
 
This car came into the shop once with 36,000 miles-- it had just been turned in at the end of a three year lease. The oil had never been changed as far as we could tell. The car drove fine, didn't smoke, it seemed ok. Changed the oil and all seemed well. I've also seen cars come in with far fewer miles that had the oil changed every 3000 miles with Mobil1, etc, and the engine had spun a bearing and had a severe knock. I actually see similar instances almost daily.

By your logic, I should interpret this to mean that changing your oil more frequently than every 3 years really makes no difference. After all, that lease return was still running, and those new and impeccably maintained ones were blown!

"That's proof enough right there"

Unfortunately anecdotes don't equate to empirical proof. Changing ATF and doing it often has been proven again and again to prevent transmission problems. Just because you saw four cars that defied this pattern doesn't prove a single thing. If you choose to base your own practices on it go right ahead and be prepared to suffer the consequences.
 
My sentiments exactly. Normal people don't take advice from someone who runs a gallon low and neutral starts. Someone here is showing his intelligence, and it ain't pretty. If he'd check, he'd find that CD4Es can and often do break in major ways many times with very limited miles on them and no misuse at all. Cruise the net for Mazda's LA4A-EL (same as Ford CD4E) trans and find all the complaints, this trans single handedly killed the 626 line because of reputation for breakdown. I'd be damn careful with those neutral starts, trans was notorious for runaway line pressure ballooning converters, some reportedly exploded. Ever seen a converter blow up? I have, it took part of the guy's foot off.
 
amc49 said:
My sentiments exactly. Normal people don't take advice from someone who runs a gallon low and neutral starts. Someone here is showing his intelligence, and it ain't pretty. If he'd check, he'd find that CD4Es can and often do break in major ways many times with very limited miles on them and no misuse at all. Cruise the net for Mazda's LA4A-EL (same as Ford CD4E) trans and find all the complaints, this trans single handedly killed the 626 line because of reputation for breakdown. I'd be damn careful with those neutral starts, trans was notorious for runaway line pressure ballooning converters, some reportedly exploded. Ever seen a converter blow up? I have, it took part of the guy's foot off.
Click to expand...
I only go off what I know. I know I flushed my fluid every 20-30k. I know I added an external trans cooler at 70k miles. I know at 120k I installed a supercharger and added an additional 50 WHP. I know I manually shifted the trans (the only way I could get it to shift at 7500 rpms). I know at 145k when I sold it the trans worked great.:shrug:

It is all about maintainence, plain and simple.
 
Or the luck of the draw, if you happen to abscribe to chaosian theory.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top