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Restoring Horsepower?

L

lunatic

CEG'er
Joined
Jan 29, 2005
Messages
64
Location
Baltimore area, MD
This may sound like a wierd question, but do I need to do anything to restore the power in my Contour? I have a 1999 automatic 2.5 Non-SVT. It has about 105,300 miles on it. At this milage, is the car starting to wear out, or is it just being broken in? I have replaced several parts on the car that aren't engine related. Is the engine starting to wear out on me, or is it still strong. If it is wearing out, how would I go about restoring the horsepower in it, which could have been lost with age and milage.

Thanks.
 
Thanks but that didn't really help. I was taken to a thousand different links. Hell, I don't even know where to start. It sucks to be unmechanically inclined. :)

I will browse through it some more, and see what I can find.

I noticed my gasoline milage is worse than it used to be. Do you know directly what is causing me to get poorer gas milage?
 
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if you wish to restore power you ,you must first clean your throttle body , upper and lower intake manifolds, new spark plugs ,fuel filter. new plug wires if needed. use preimum gas 93+ octane 89 makes the car run crappy. lube all throttle linkages ect. change your oil if its been more than 3,500 miles since last you changed it.

that should make your car run 100% better its truly a night and day difference.

i don't think these engines wear out . if just slacking on the mantiance due to the owner . you can only let your car slide for so long. i have a 2000 csvt and notice a performance difference around 60K miles, now its at 80K miles and it even worse. once i clean the upper and lower intake manifold it will run like new since i replaced everything else already.

also you might want to look into optimizing the factory y pipe in the exhaust its a big restriction and is good for at least 5 hp to the wheels never had mine dynoed but it made a big difference that i could notice.
 
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00SVTGA said:
if you wish to resote power you ,you must fist clean your throttle body , upper and lower intake manifolds, new spark plugs ,fuel filter. new plug wires if needed. use preimum gas 93+ octane 89 make the car run crappy. lube all throttle linkages ect. cange your oil if its been more than 3,500 miles since last you changed it.

that should make you car run 100% better its truly a night and day difference.
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concidering he has a non-svt he would want to run 87, it isn't worth it to run high octane gas ...
 
Okay, I was going through all of my paper work on things I have had done to the car. In March of 2006, I had a Fuel Injection and Air Induction Service performed on it at a BP Service Shop, where I get all of the work done at on the car. At this time, they cleaned the fuel injectors, throttle body and replaced the fuel filter. Would this have included the upper and lower intake cleaning that you were telling me about? I think the spark plugs were replaced at a Ford Dealer when the car was under warrenty in the summer of 2005. What are signs of the spark plugs needing to be replaced? My car seems to run fine and doesn't studder or idle rough.

edit* I went through more paper work and only the plug and wire that was replaced was for the 1st cylinder. How can I tell if I need to replace all the other plugs? Also, why is my gas milage worse than it was. I used to be able to go 280 miles before filling up. Now, I go 260 miles and I need to fill up. (city driving; starting and stopping)

Thanks
 
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you can pull the plugs your elf to see it they are coated either white or covered in black . copper plugs are the way to go and need to be replaced every 20-30K miles. they do make platinums but there real not all there cracked up to be and tend to be a waste of money. i'd avoid them like the plague honestly.

93 high octane fuel will burn cleaner no matter what car you use it in and will improve gas mileage , performance , throttle responce , hessitation and will keep the inside for the motor cleaner since it burns more efficently.

the little blow by intake cleaning you got from BP will help a very little bit but you really have to take it all part and clean it very well . you will be surprised once you get in there how dirty it is and this will pretty much answer your question of why your car runs like it is. they get real dirty and theres no superman in a can that will clean them as well as taking it all apart and using beryman B-12 chem tool this stuff is great but be careful it will eat you paint .

anyone got pic of a dirty intake manifold to show this guy what i'm talking about ? i know their out there.
 
00SVTGA said:
you can pull the plugs your elf to see it they are coated either white or covered in black . copper plugs are the way to go and need to be replaced every 20-30K miles. they do make platinums but there real not all there cracked up to be and tend to be a waste of money. i'd avoid them like the plague honestly.
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what are you talking about, the spec is a double platinum plug you need to run a double platnium plug, motocraft being the best .... last 60k miles ... search for the part number ...

00SVTGA said:
93 high octane fuel will burn cleaner no matter what car you use it in and will improve gas mileage , performance , throttle responce , hessitation and will keep the inside for the motor cleaner since it burns more efficently.
Click to expand...

this has been covered before .... a higher octane gas take more energy to combust therfor it will decrease your milage ... ... if the car isn't spec'd for it you don't need to run it, also all gas has cleaners in it that very by manufacturer ... this isn't the days of old ...

00SVTGA said:
the little blow by intake cleaning you got from BP will help a very little bit but you really have to take it all part and clean it very well . you will be surprised once you get in there how dirty it is and this will pretty much answer your question of why your car runs like it is. they get real dirty and theres no superman in a can that will clean them as well as taking it all apart and using beryman B-12 chem tool this stuff is great but be careful it will eat you paint .

anyone got pic of a dirty intake manifold to show this guy what i'm talking about ? i know their out there.
Click to expand...

I agree with you here ... have to take the manifolds off to clean them right ...
 
WTF?!!!!!!!!! Ignore everything this 00SVTGA is saying. Some of the worst advice I've seen. I think my g/f knows more.
 
00SVTGA said:
also you might want to look into optimizing the factory y pipe in the exhaust its a big restriction and is good for at least 5 hp to the wheels never had mine dynoed but it made a big difference that i could notice.
Click to expand...


What do you mean by this? Dual exhaust? I'm not mechanically inclined, I really wish I was so I could make my Contour fly. It must be great to know alot about cars, and work on engines, mod them, etc. You all make me jealous! :) Hell, is there an easier way to change the sparplugs in these cars? The description in the how-to section seemed almost as if you need to be a rocket scientist to understand it. I bought one of those Haynes Automobile repair books from Pepboys. I will look through it later and try to read up. Are they helpful at all? I can change an air filter, but thats about it!
 
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lunatic said:
What do you mean by this? Dual exhaust? I'm not mechanically inclined, I really wish I was so I could make my Contour fly. It must be great to know alot about cars, and work on engines, mod them, etc. You all make me jealous! :) Hell, is there an easier way to change the sparplugs in these cars? The description in the how-to section seemed almost as if you need to be a rocket scientist to understand it. I bought one of those Chilton Automobile repair books from Pepboys. I will look through it later and try to read up. Are they helpful at all? I can change an air filter, but thats about it!
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first if you want to work on these cars get a Ford service CD, todras sells em ...

second this is what is meant by optimizing the y-pipe

stock
729294_12_full.jpg


optimized

729294_13_full.jpg



if your not mechanically inclined and do not have a welder you can't do this yourself ....
 
When it comes to changing the spark plugs, I don't understand what the how-to section states for step 1) Remove the plastic cover from the front cyliner bank, four 7mm bolts. What are they talking about? I thought all I need to do is remove the old spark plugs, then replace them with new ones. Where is this "plastic cover from the front cylinder bank" at?
 
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lunatic said:
When it comes to changing the spark plugs, I don't understand what the how-to section states for step 1) Remove the plastic cover from the front cyliner bank, four 7mm bolts. What are they talking about? I thought all I need to do is remove the old spark plugs, then replace them with new ones. Where is this "plastic cover from the front cylinder bank" at?
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To access the front bank of spark plugs, you need to remove the plastic cover that sits in the front centre portion of the engine bay. The how to is very easy to follow. Have a look at it while you are in front of the car and it should all make sense. I just changed my plugs using the how-to so I am speaking from experience. You can buy all the tools you need to do the change for less than it would cost to pay a mechanic to do it as well. And spend the money to get some double platinum plugs. You probably want to change your plug wires at the same time. You will definately notice the difference if the plugs and wires haven't been changed in 100k miles.
 
I definantly want to do this myself. I didn't think the plastic thing in the front covered the sparkplugs. I thought the sparkplugs were plugged into the distributor cap/coil in the back. Thats where I noticed all of the plugs going into. The plastic thing in the front only had 3 bolts I thought. Do you have a pic you can post so I will know if we are talking about the same thing? I'd appreciate it.

I'm fed up with paying mechanics to fix things on my car, therefore I want to learn how to do these simple things myself. The Haytons Auto Repair isn't much help. I've been looking through it and can't find a clear in "Basic English" steps description of how to change those.

Thanks
 
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Hey man.

You are right.. all of the spark plug wires DO run to the coil pack (firewall side, in the center)

THAT end is just a boot on the end of the wire, and it clips on to a prong that sticks out of the coil pack. That is where the spark originates.

It travels through that wire and to each respective cylinder (3 on the firewall side, uncovered, you can see the tops of the spark plug boot and 3 on the radiator side, underneath the plastic "duratec" cover.
 
Ray said:
Hey man.

You are right.. all of the spark plug wires DO run to the coil pack (firewall side, in the center)

THAT end is just a boot on the end of the wire, and it clips on to a prong that sticks out of the coil pack. That is where the spark originates.

It travels through that wire and to each respective cylinder (3 on the firewall side, uncovered, you can see the tops of the spark plug boot and 3 on the radiator side, underneath the plastic "duratec" cover.
Click to expand...


I remove the plastic thing in the front that says Duratec 2.5 DOHC, (which has 3 bolts not 4 BTW) I change 3 spark plugs there and the other 3 spark plugs are near the firewall, which is toward the back of the engine compartment? (near where the distributer and coil is?)
 
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