Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Parts Question

I recently bought a 1995 Contour and the transmission went out about a month after the purchase. A local garage wants 2500 to do the job which I am not willing to pay. There is a neighbor who has a wrecked 97 Contour. What years of this car can we exchange parts?

Thanks

PWC Express

Welcome to CEG!

They should interchange if both cars have the same engine...

Ouch, a month after you got it, it went out! I've been through things like that. I feel ya, you must have been driving like a race car driver or just got unlucky. Good luck and sorry i can't answer you question. Just wanted to relate.

What do you mean the transmission went out? What are the symptoms? Sometimes it�s just an easy fix.

jeff

The best way to describe the problem is this way. The car was unsure as to when it was going to shift. In other words, it would hang in the lower gear for a long time and then jump into the higher gear. This could be controlled somewhat by using the overdrive button on the gearshift. When it did jump into the next gear, it shifted vrey rough. If you jumped on the throttle, this shifting was rougher than if you just throttled normally. It also had some trouble starting from a dead stop. You would give it gas and it slowly started to move. It was like the gears were slowly engaging.

Once it got to a set speed, it drove great. In fact I took it over a mountain pass and it was fine.

So, it went to a shop because one day it decided that it was going to only go in reverse. When you put it in drive, it was like it was in neutral. If you put it in reverse, it would go no problem.

The repair shop charged me 300 bucks to tell me what was wrong. Basically the transmission blew apart and several pieces were damaged beyond repair. They also gave me a list of parts needed to fix it and it fills up a notebook size piece of paper. The frustrating part is that when I declined to have the car fixed, they charged me another 200 to put it back together again. If I would have know that I would not have had it looked at in the first place.

PWC Express

As long as the ATX on the 97 is in good shape you should be alright. There are some difference between the 95 and 97 so before you start to swap you need to check them out. The first thing I can think of is the VSS on the 97 and Speedo cable drive used on the 95. I would suggest you move this post to the transaxle section for more info. Also, if you do it there are some mods that you should do to the 97 before install to prevent failure (see trnsaxle section).
Both cars have the same engine right?
One last thing, you should pull the engine and tranny out together from the top. Do not try to do it from the bottom. Also install a shift kit and new Torque converter.

jeff

First, thanks for all of the information as it is much appreciated. The ATX on the 97 is fine, however the rest of the car is not such great shape. Also, I am moving this post to the suggested section.

I have talked to some other people about this car and their response was pretty much the same. However, they suggested doing the work fom the bottom. Lift the engine and transmission up together, block the engine and then remove the transmission.

Thoughts???