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There has to be something wrong...

The resonator is basically a pre-muffler... it's a muffler farther up the exhaust line. It's about under where the hump at the end of the center console is, between the rear seats on the floor.
 
AliasJerk said:
you're cat isnt clogged, its fine.

Zetec cat failure is as rare as a honda civic spinning a rod bearing under 100K miles. If your cat failed the car would be throwing a CEL for an inefficient catalyst, plus the car would run like :censored::censored::censored::censored:.
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not true, mine was clogged with only 79,000 miles on mine,i got it with 78K. never threw a light on either, but the car did run like :censored::censored::censored::censored: and could only rev up to 4000, no higher, it'd just stop.
 
I used to get about 35 mpg give or take, now that I drive in the city it has gone down a bit, to what I am not sure as gas is too expensive to fill up a whole tank.
 
zorrex said:
LIES.
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96 miles on 2.3 gallons of gas. I had a problem with the fuel pump cutting out and decided to run about 100 miles between fuel stops to avoid getting stuck on the side of the road. I babied the heck out of it and set the cruise on 60mph and had a level road between Dickens, TX and Seymour, TX with no stops.

I didn't believe it either so I did the math 3 times. It forced me to the side of the road once for no apparent problem as it had 3/4 of a tank of gas. it just started starving for gas, and that prompted me to start stopping more often. It wound up having an extremely dirty fuel pick-up and still starves when it's got less than 1/2 tank of gas.


Even according to the previous owner it got about 35mpg on the road to Minnesota (he's 60 years old). I just filled up the car yesterday and went 265 miles on 11 gallons of gas, which comes out to be about 23mpg all in town.

One thing I learned on the Explorer with it's EEC-IV is it really depends on how you learn the computer. If you learn it by driving it on surface streets it becomes very responsive but not fuel efficient, if you learn it by highway driving it behaves very sluggishly but gets awesome mileage. (12mpg vs. 16mpg on the same route/driver/conditions)

My Contour has the pizza-cutter wheels and tires (the oh so wonderful 14" steelies and monster 195-70-14s) which may be slightly more efficient than the 15" wheels, and it was a Fleet Queen for some rental car/Fleet agency, judging from the options or lack of. I guess since it has no ground effects to catch the air it's slightly more aerodynamic? It's a far sight more aerodynamic than the old '95 Explorer.

As they say, Your mileage may vary. I'm reporting what I get.
 
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Did you actually measure 2.3 gallons of gas :confused:. I'm kinda confused by that part. However, I still call major lies on the 43mpg or whatever it was you said. It just is plain not possible in a Zetec...
 
Here's my latest update to this thread. After replacing the coil pack and plugs, I finally was able to replace the plug wires. BINGO! Number 3 has joined the party. Haven't checked the milage yet, but I drove it from OKC to Hutchinson today, put 283 miles on the clock and still have 1/3 tank left. I'm sooo happy! Now to figure out what to do about the exhaust leak. Looks like it's blown out in front of and behind the steel braid section under the front passenger. Can I cut that section out and replace it with a straight pipe without negative impact? Is this the resonator? (Gees, I feel stupid sometimes... )
 
wushock92 said:
Can I cut that section out and replace it with a straight pipe without negative impact? Is this the resonator? (Gees, I feel stupid sometimes... )
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No, that is the flex pipe... The resonator is practically dead center under the car, and then of course the muffler on the end... I am not sure if you can straight pipe it, why would they have the flex piece there in the first place? I think if you straight pipe it the engine movement could put too much stress on the exhaust, but I am no expert either, LOL :rolleyes:
 
I was just thinking that same thing a minute ago. But can I get just the flex pipe section or do I have to get the whole cat and flex? Those are running almost $585 at O'Reillys! :shocked:

(GOD, I love this forum! I've learned so much. Thanks to you all!!)
 
wushock92 said:
I was just thinking that same thing a minute ago. But can I get just the flex pipe section or do I have to get the whole cat and flex? Those are running almost $585 at O'Reillys! :shocked:

(GOD, I love this forum! I've learned so much. Thanks to you all!!)
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any exhaust shop should be able to weld on a new flex pipe for fairly cheap.
 
striker2 said:
any exhaust shop should be able to weld on a new flex pipe for fairly cheap.
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They quoted me about 85$ for the part and the labor to put in a new flex pipe. It is necessary to have, otherwise you could bend or crack your exhaust piping.
 
Flex pipe is ABSOLUTELY necessary for the Zetec! The engine rotates a rather large amount when put under heavy acceleration. In the V6 I have heard that the slack in the rubber hangers is enough to compensate for the lower amount of movement out of that engine...
 
zorrex said:
Flex pipe is ABSOLUTELY necessary for the Zetec! The engine rotates a rather large amount when put under heavy acceleration. In the V6 I have heard that the slack in the rubber hangers is enough to compensate for the lower amount of movement out of that engine...
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Really? And here I thought it was my bad motor mounts that were to blame for the amount the engine moves... :shrug:
 
Well, just think about it. You have an engine sitting laterally, so when the crank gets going, it needs to resisted by the rest of the engine, so it'll turn.
 
Well, I just don't have anything to compare with. Always thought the engine movement on mine was a tad more than normal.

I really should get on changing those mounts...
 
I find it funny that you guys are in here complaining about your gas milage on your contours. My dad drives an '01 Dodge 2500 Cummins turbo diesel. That thing gets **** milage and diesel is $4.60/gallon. He's been driving the tour (now i don't get to) because it gets awsome gas milage compared to his truck. Also my mom drives a '93 F150 with ford's imfamous five point slow V8. You can see the gas guage going down at WOT. Both them prefer to drive the tour over their vehicle's.

I'm trying to talk my parents into letting me get a motorcycle because gas is so high, but they're not likin the idea, well atleast my mom isn't. My dad picked up a motorcycle's license pamphlet while we were taking my drivers test (got my license, finally) and said I should read up and come get my motorcyce permit so I can learn to ride his 350 street legal dirt bike, then I cang et my license. I'm hoping if I get that far my mom will give in, cause I've been eyeing the new '08 kawasaki Ninja 250Rs ($3500 new). All I'd really use it for was around town, cause I hardly ever go anywhere else so a motorcycle would be perfect.

Well I'm done "venting" about my problems, and I hope you guys have some luck with your's (especially the one with the exhaust leak).
 
Speaking of the Cummins, it's depressing that a 3/4-ton 4x4 longbed quadcab is still more fuel efficient than my Rodeo (4x4, 5spd). Taking mpg a step further to miles-per-dollar (mpg/price), my brother's Dodge travels almost a mile further per dollar than my Rodeo. But the Tour travels almost 1.5 times further than the Dodge!
 
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