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Contour Frustrations -_-

M

mskizzle420

CEG'er
Joined
Jun 8, 2009
Messages
31
Location
Baltimore
Under a month of owning the car, and i want to send it hurling off a cliff.

I wish I could sell it and get what I have put into it, but thats not realistic.

I've been left stranded, had it inspected to find the problem, had to haggle with ford over a wiring harness priced @ 754 bucks, only to get them down to 450. Than another 400 to install that harness, only to find out its missing the "Loom" that controls the injectors, coil, o2 sensor, etc. This "loom" is another 700 dollars.

Anybody have infants to punch?

Life is great. :crazy:
 
two weeks after i bought mine, the flywheel disintegrated. :blackeye:
 
You are starting with the worst year for wiring issues. I have been there and feel your pain. I also have a '95 V6 but had the wire harness recall done just at 100k miles. You should return the harness that you just bought and go to the junk yard and start digging. For the right price I could pull all the harness' you need from a local yard here pending that I could find a good set...... sorry about your issues.
 
If the right price is under 250 bucks -- ill consider it

1995 Contour LX, 2.5L V6, MTX

I need 1 loom its the one that controls:

Injectors
Idle Speed Control
Throttle Position Sensor
Hego Sensor
Oil Pressure Switch
CID sensor
Header Sensor
Ignition Coil
Radio Capacitor
 
:shrug::shrug:Thats nothing of what i have put into mine:shrug::shrug:
 
Mywhip said:
:shrug::shrug:Thats nothing of what i have put into mine:shrug::shrug:
Click to expand...

Im only in the first month of ownership. I haven't even really had time to have problems its ????in retarded.

blu_fuz said:
I know that there are a few '95 V6 MTXs at the yard I go to......
Click to expand...

My offer stands. Apparently its some work involved, but I'm poor and I cant afford any of this. Sorry.
 
mskizzle420 said:
Im only in the first month of ownership. I haven't even really had time to have problems its ????in retarded.
Click to expand...

Too bad you didn't visit CEG first and read up before buying. You would have know what to look for before buying. I looked at about 7 pre '99 Contours before buying. Every single one had wiring issues to some degree. The Ford recall was not used by many owners. Same for the dash warp on '99 & '00. Less than half of the cars I've seen were taken back to Ford under warranty.
 
I put $3k into mine in 4 months and didn't even do anything major. :shrug: It's allllll good now though.

Sorry to hear about your misfortune though. Definitely a major turnoff that short into ownership. FWIW, mine have been incredibly reliable.
 
Folks, throwing good money after bad doesn't make that bad money good

Folks, throwing good money after bad doesn't make that bad money good

Folks

The question must not be: "Can I do it?", rather it should be; "Should I do it?"

Its tough to buy a car for under $3K and not expect it to need some work, and it is even tougher to pour 30% of the purchase price into it and feel good about it.

A 2 or 3 K$ car should be bought with the implicit understanding that once the projected repairs are 30% or more of the purchase price, its simply time to walk away. The purchase price of the car is a sunk cost, treat it as such, not as a rationale to 'invest' more money.

Look at it this way, you spend $3K on a car, the repairs are $1.5k, do you have a $4.5K car? Of course not. And as long in the tooth as these cars are, you WILL spend more money down the road. You would have been money ahead to buy a $4.5K car with less age and miles.

Over your life time a $3k lesson is cheap, especially if you learn from it.
 
andreslobo said:
Folks

The question must not be: "Can I do it?", rather it should be; "Should I do it?"

Its tough to buy a car for under $3K and not expect it to need some work, and it is even tougher to pour 30% of the purchase price into it and feel good about it.

A 2 or 3 K$ car should be bought with the implicit understanding that once the projected repairs are 30% or more of the purchase price, its simply time to walk away. The purchase price of the car is a sunk cost, treat it as such, not as a rationale to 'invest' more money.

Look at it this way, you spend $3K on a car, the repairs are $1.5k, do you have a $4.5K car? Of course not. And as long in the tooth as these cars are, you WILL spend more money down the road. You would have been money ahead to buy a $4.5K car with less age and miles.

Over your life time a $3k lesson is cheap, especially if you learn from it.
Click to expand...

"Some work" is no problem.

When I purchased the car, I had to do multiple things totalling almost 700 bucks just to pass inspections. Didnt include that in my little numbers at the beginning. Its just been thing after thing, and before this I had a Geo Storm GSI that did the same thing [broke down repeatedly, ended up having electrical issues replacing just about every part on electronic ignition]. I dumped a grand or 2 into that pos. Cars keep screwin me, I need a break.. :blackeye:..Or a financial investor? Any offers?


Someone gimme money- its the answer and the problem. Being a struggling college student bloooooooooows. Better pay off in the long run.


Edit: The ONLY reason im investing money into this car is because it only has 80k miles. Being a 1995 + 80k miles = hardly driven = I see value. After these wiring issues it better run like a top.
 
You are better off buying a car with body damage that runs good, than a car with no damage that has a lot of hidden crap to go wrong. For example, my brother's car was $260, I had a bunch of "free" parts for it to get the body much better looking. Not perfect but much better:


When we got it:
Ryans1999SE001.jpg




Now:
free front bumper, free headlight, free 1/4 panel. Car still needs a rear bumper because of a fist size hole.
cc815795f788.jpg
 
blu_fuz said:
You are better off buying a car with body damage that runs good, than a car with no damage that has a lot of hidden crap to go wrong. For example, my brother's car was $260, I had a bunch of "free" parts for it to get the body much better looking.
Click to expand...

Before my purchase, I had no knowledge of Contours, their problems, etc.

Purchased it at an auction, had a problem with it sputtering when first started and googled the issue to come upon this site.

Anybody need escort services? Im goin cheap!:help:
 
mskizzle420 said:
Im only in the first month of ownership. I haven't even really had time to have problems its ????in retarded.
Click to expand...

The first week of ownership that i had the car, the engine fan stopped working. It was not blown at all, the engine just didn't kick it on for it to stop it from over heating. Put 300$ to get it fixed, and didn't even get it fixed. 10$ and an hour later, i got it to worth with a toggle switch. The starter went out a couple weeks later, 400$ to put it i (just labor). So yes, i do know your pain. I wouldn't doubt it if i have put 2-3k into my car just to get it to run, only to have it have another problem. But its a 900$ car, so what can i expect?
 
did you seriously pay someone 400 bucks to do that harness after I told you it was a freaking walk in the park to change it!?
 
Honestly I don’t know how you guys get yourself into these? I have 4 tours now. 2 are 95’s that were in the family since new. SE was always looked after both body and mechanics and had all recalls and service performed according to maint schedule. GL was looked after as well but not so much body wise. In all years of ownership I never had a problem apart from minor things that you would expect with miles rolling past 300000km. Recently, I bought a $150 contour that needed some minor mechanical work and I was still thinking it over and doing math in my head when I was checking it out. I knew getting it to a top notch shape will cost me between $300 and $800 doing all the work myself. Buying a $3000 car with things needing fixing and not being able to do work yourself is just not wise. Recently I bough a $2800 SVT and still think I overpaid. Many people would consider it a good buy as it looks very sharp and clean and goes like stink and only has 140000km. But in my books it looks just ok and still needs crap load of work to get it where I want it. What I’m getting here is buying a used car is not an easy job if you don’t know anything about the car and don’t have experience buying used.

In your case I suggest you try and get some local experienced CEG members to work on your car and pay them. Read on this site and attempt doing things yourself. Don’t go dumping money on it left and right.
 
over_30k said:
Honestly I don’t know how you guys get yourself into these? I have 4 tours now. 2 are 95’s that were in the family since new. SE was always looked after both body and mechanics and had all recalls and service performed according to maint schedule. GL was looked after as well but not so much body wise. In all years of ownership I never had a problem apart from minor things that you would expect with miles rolling past 300000km. Recently, I bought a $150 contour that needed some minor mechanical work and I was still thinking it over and doing math in my head when I was checking it out. I knew getting it to a top notch shape will cost me between $300 and $800 doing all the work myself. Buying a $3000 car with things needing fixing and not being able to do work yourself is just not wise. Recently I bough a $2800 SVT and still think I overpaid. Many people would consider it a good buy as it looks very sharp and clean and goes like stink and only has 140000km. But in my books it looks just ok and still needs crap load of work to get it where I want it. What I’m getting here is buying a used car is not an easy job if you don’t know anything about the car and don’t have experience buying used.

In your case I suggest you try and get some local experienced CEG members to work on your car and pay them. Read on this site and attempt doing things yourself. Don’t go dumping money on it left and right.
Click to expand...
you said all the recalls were performed THAT is why you didnt have issues with the wiring on the 95's. The wiring harness on any 95-97 WAS a recall
 
icysvt said:
did you seriously pay someone 400 bucks to do that harness after I told you it was a freaking walk in the park to change it!?
Click to expand...

No I was showing the mechanic the wiring harness I got, and he informed me it was missing a critical loom i need to purchase separately.
 
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