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A video that I found

My old Zetec had such a loud tick that some people thought it was a diesel :shocked:

I bought it with a slapping timing belt at 114K miles, put a new timing belt/tensioner/waterpump on at about 118-120K.

Drove it with the loud ticking (which was coming from around the #4 valve gear) up to 159K miles when I traded it in.

I know FOR A FACT that that thing would have gone way over 200K miles!

Oh, and the ATX was doing the overheating/bang shift thing after long periods of driving up until the 150K mark when my brother hooked a tranny flusher to it and flushed it with over $100 worth of ATX fluid :crazy:

EDIT, just saw the vid... mine sounded just like that, but louder!
 
pre98zetec said:
POS engine.. lol.. engine makes noise like that and STILL last's longer then a duratec.

I can't stand people who rag on zetecs
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I think you might have jumped to conclusions here, no where did he say all Zetecs are POS. If that contour had a Duratec in it he might have still made the same comment if it was making a noise.
 
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pre98zetec said:
I knew something like that was coming.. mad because I stick up for the zetec? I could care less. people stick up for Duratec's when someone rags on them.

I'm tired of people bad mouthing the zetec because it's 'slow'.. Ford didn't intend for a 125hp car to be fast so I don't understand why people rate the car on how fast it is.
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The problem arises when someone actually thinks it is fast and wastes money trying to make it more so.
 
BlackE1 said:
I think you might have jumped to conclusions here, no where did he say all Zetecs are POS. If that contour had a Duratec in it he might have still made the same comment if it was making a noise.
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he may not of but other people over the time i've been a member here make it very well apparent they think so. And besides.. all zetecs make that ticking noise after 100k, if his ticks and he called it a POS, why not call them all?


PurpleMystique said:
The problem arises when someone actually thinks it is fast and wastes money trying to make it more so.
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people who actually do think its fast may have never driven a faster car. I don't think my cars fast, i don't even think its quick. But it's not as bad as people make it out to be
 
pre98zetec said:
people who actually do think its fast may have never driven a faster car. I don't think my cars fast, i don't even think its quick. But it's not as bad as people make it out to be
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i agree. my zetec isnt by all means fast. but it is deffinatly faster than people give it credit. i know of several times back in school when i would give people rides who thought it was just a slow POS contour. they changed their views of it afterwards.
 
striker2 said:
i agree. my zetec isnt by all means fast. but it is deffinatly faster than people give it credit. i know of several times back in school when i would give people rides who thought it was just a slow POS contour. they changed their views of it afterwards.
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Bah. Riding in anything could seem fast or scary. Put it up against a 'mundane' Grand Am SE V6 like 1 in 4 girls owns and you'll get blown away.
I'm speaking from experience here. I drove an ATX Zetec Contour for a couple years, then an MTX Probe SE (pretty much the same as an MTX Zetec Contour), and now I have an ATX Duratec Mystique, and my sister has a newer ATX Zetec Contour. My friend's Grand Am absolutely blows them all away (on...the...drag strip. yes. drag strip) If I launch my Mystique just right I'll hold him til about 50, but he still just pulls right away and it's just a plain jane stock Grand Am.
My car was getting repaired so I had to drive my sister's for a week, and it was torture. Almost nothing happened when I hit the gas, I could barely merge, and getting up to speed was horrid.
I'll be the first to admit my car is slow. But the Zetec has nothing on it. My sister agrees, she wanted to keep my car longer because something actually happened when she hit the gas!
 
Anyone on here with a 250k+ mile Zetec Contour? I know Big Jim and Parkecar are both well over 200k miles on their Duratecs, and there was a girl in the troubleshooting section with over 250k miles on her Duratec.

I suppose you would see more Duratecs blowing, as those are the cars that get more abuse. Give me a brand new Zetec, and I'm sure I could blow that motor up as fast as I did my Duratec(52k miles). ;)

Mark
 
i've got 230xxx miles on my 97 zetec MTX. still has the factory clutch and it still grans just fine. i did just replace the water pump last week. finally started leaking after 10 years and 230k miles.
 
PurpleMystique said:
My car was getting repaired so I had to drive my sister's for a week, and it was torture. Almost nothing happened when I hit the gas, I could barely merge, and getting up to speed was horrid.
I'll be the first to admit my car is slow. But the Zetec has nothing on it. My sister agrees, she wanted to keep my car longer because something actually happened when she hit the gas!
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With the right kind of technique and skills, it will move better than you think. I'll admit it's still slow though, but it's not that bad.
 
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My zetec mystique could never go fast, if some one wanted to merge in front of you from behind there was NOTHING it could do, they would get buy. My SVT on the other hand will have none of it.

To me the Zetec was just too slow specially with the crappy auto trans 0-60 in what 13 seconds.
 
theres your problem you had an ATX. my MTX puts down at least 125hp to the wheels (only rated at 125 at the crank) and it has 230K miles on it. the only things ive done are intake, exhaust, UDP, and FPR (set to factory so doesnt do much, yet)

know i now 125 hp is nothing to brag about but considering ive put maybe 200$ into performance wise (way more in the suspension) and i can almost gaurantee that my compression is down so im losing some power there. add a nice set of cames and it should be about 140-150 hp. when i get the turbo finished with a built block it should be about 220 hp or more. that coupled with less weight cause of the zetec will make an extremly fun street car. and nobody will suspect anything out of it.

Theres lots of power to be had out of the zetec. has anybody done it yet? no. why? my guess is cause most zetec owners step up to the SVT (mostly cause of CEG i suspect) or move on to something else altogether. not trying to basj CEG. tons of excellent info and great people here but its extremly SVT/duratec oriented. theres very little zetec enthusiasts here.

so say what you want about the zetec but dont be suprised when one SZ (maybe soon) a zetec shows up alot of SVT owners.

/rant:laugh:
 
PurpleMystique said:
Bah. Riding in anything could seem fast or scary. Put it up against a 'mundane' Grand Am SE V6 like 1 in 4 girls owns and you'll get blown away.
I'm speaking from experience here. I drove an ATX Zetec Contour for a couple years, then an MTX Probe SE (pretty much the same as an MTX Zetec Contour), and now I have an ATX Duratec Mystique, and my sister has a newer ATX Zetec Contour. My friend's Grand Am absolutely blows them all away (on...the...drag strip. yes. drag strip) If I launch my Mystique just right I'll hold him til about 50, but he still just pulls right away and it's just a plain jane stock Grand Am.
My car was getting repaired so I had to drive my sister's for a week, and it was torture. Almost nothing happened when I hit the gas, I could barely merge, and getting up to speed was horrid.
I'll be the first to admit my car is slow. But the Zetec has nothing on it. My sister agrees, she wanted to keep my car longer because something actually happened when she hit the gas!
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See there you go again, Rating a car on how fast it is.

Does the zetec contour do what it was intended to do? be a reliable daily driver that gets you from point a to point b?

Yes, I think it did. Enough on how 'slow' it is. EVERYONE already knows.

You drove a ATX, ATX are dogs compared to a MTX.. Take a ride in a MTX contour and it's a whole different story.


If you think driving a zetec is torture maybe you should walk instead.
 
Nezerconezer said:
My zetec mystique could never go fast, if some one wanted to merge in front of you from behind there was NOTHING it could do, they would get buy. My SVT on the other hand will have none of it.

To me the Zetec was just too slow specially with the crappy auto trans 0-60 in what 13 seconds.
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A man after my own heart.

striker2 said:
theres your problem you had an ATX. my MTX puts down at least 125hp to the wheels (only rated at 125 at the crank) and it has 230K miles on it. the only things ive done are intake, exhaust, UDP, and FPR (set to factory so doesnt do much, yet)
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pre98zetec said:
See there you go again, Rating a car on how fast it is.

Does the zetec contour do what it was intended to do? be a reliable daily driver that gets you from point a to point b?

Yes, I think it did. Enough on how 'slow' it is. EVERYONE already knows.

You drove a ATX, ATX are dogs compared to a MTX.. Take a ride in a MTX contour and it's a whole different story.

If you think driving a zetec is torture maybe you should walk instead.
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You two bring up the same bad point, that I already addressed. I had an MTX Probe SE. It had 118hp and weighed 2700lbs, so it was very comparable to an MTX Zetec Contour. Yes, when people rode in it they thought it was fast, but so does anything else when it's roaring like that. Put up against any average V6 family sedan it got blown away.
And you have a very good point pre98zetec. The Zetec was designed as a daily driver. As I've already mentioned, my issue only arises when people do not treat it as such and dump loads of cash into it, only to barely get to SVT-level performance and looks.
Nezerconezer said:
Theres lots of power to be had out of the zetec. has anybody done it yet? no. why? my guess is cause most zetec owners step up to the SVT (mostly cause of CEG i suspect) or move on to something else altogether. not trying to basj CEG. tons of excellent info and great people here but its extremly SVT/duratec oriented. theres very little zetec enthusiasts here.
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Yeah, and most performance-oriented Mustang owners step up to the GT or the Cobra. Duh. It's an all around better starting platform. Why start with 120hp, a crappy suspension, awkward bumpers, and stupid hubcaps when you can start with an SVT? You make it sound like CEG pressures people to move to the SVT. It's not CEG, it's common sense.
 
I also have the zetec lifter tick at 114k. This is a fast car to me only because it's the only car I've driven a lot and owned. When it keeps up with a cavalier that someone paid 4x more then my contour, and my car looks just as good, it's well worth it to me. I love this car, I learned to drive on it, I learned to do mechanical work on it, and I've done little things that make me appriciate it even more.

This car has never stalled, never not started and has never had any other mechanical problems in the year that I've owned it. I can say I've made it do some weird things with a very dirty MAF and a crack in the oil pan, but that was me, not the car. :rolleyes:

I believe a member of CEG has a lot of things up his sleeve for his high performance zetec. I hope he finishes it soon, and for the record, I'd rather walk then drive an ATX Zetec :blackeye:
 
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