Grinding at startup and other odd things

[Whamola]

Here's my problem(s). When I start up my contour (99se), I get a horrible grinding noise almost sounding like if I were to try starting the car while it was already running. Usually when this happens, I stop trying to start the car as soon as I hear it, swear at the car, then try starting it again and it starts fine. I believe this to be the starter.

Then once I get going, I get about 20 feet or so then the car stutters, like a loss of power. My gas gauge goes to zero, e-brake and abs lights come on. Then everything goes back to normal. And a similar thing happened when I was going to a friends' house, went to turn on my brights and all the interior lights went off and the normal lights stayed on outside. I quickly turned them off and finished my journey.

Thanks

 

[fordman302]

Well the starter problem i had when i owned my SVT..Didnt worry about it but im pretty sure its just the starter sticking..
Next as far as your gas gauge going to zero etc does everything shut off like your looseing power?..If so you have a electrical problem..During hard acceleration my car would do this the main power coming off my ALT was grounding out on the PS line..
When you say you turned on your brights and all your interior lights went off are you talking about your over head lights or dash lights?.

 

[diviniti]

My SVT had the same starter problem. It's just a bad starter.
Autozone sells one for $119 - Murrays (if you have one) has one for $89.00
And ebay has them for $85ish shipped. Everywhere but ebay has a core charge. No big deal though, after you yank yours take it back to get the core refund.

 

[Tony2005]

Here's my problem(s). When I start up my contour (99se), I get a horrible grinding noise almost sounding like if I were to try starting the car while it was already running. Usually when this happens, I stop trying to start the car as soon as I hear it, swear at the car, then try starting it again and it starts fine. I believe this to be the starter.

Then once I get going, I get about 20 feet or so then the car stutters, like a loss of power. My gas gauge goes to zero, e-brake and abs lights come on. Then everything goes back to normal. And a similar thing happened when I was going to a friends' house, went to turn on my brights and all the interior lights went off and the normal lights stayed on outside. I quickly turned them off and finished my journey.

Thanks

Welcome . Your a/c compressor is binding (or your a/c clutch is about to go). Turn off the a/c. Does it still happen? No, then it is the A/c clutch.


If it continues, test the a/c compressor by removing the serpentine belt. If the problem goes away, you confirmed it.

 

[Big Jim]

It is most likely a flywheel and starter problem. There is a TSB about this. The ring gear on the flywheel is slightly too small in diameter. There are new part numbers for both the flywheel and the starter to resolve the issue. IIRC this applied to V6 auto trans 99 and 00 models.

 

[TourDeForce]

It is most likely a flywheel and starter problem. There is a TSB about this. The ring gear on the flywheel is slightly too small in diameter. There are new part numbers for both the flywheel and the starter to resolve the issue. IIRC this applied to V6 auto trans 99 and 00 models.

<=== (* victim of TSB *)

The week after I got my Mystique home, these things started happening. Turned out to be the flex plate (flywheel for you MTX guys). It was a $700 fix, but the dealer that I bought the car from reimbursed me for the cost of repair under the 30 day warranty.