Help! My 1999 Contour SE V4, 2L is having some major problems. When I try and pull out onto the highway from a side street or driveway, the car just does not want to go. It sort of chugs along, you have to pull over to the side, brake completely and then try to go again. Sometimes it will work correctly right away, sometimes not. We have replaced the fuel filter, used tons of Seafoam, new spark plugs, changed the oil, new oil filter, had the timing belt checked, but nothing makes a difference. It does this only randomly, so we are having a hard time actually being able to figure out what's wrong. From three mechanics we've heard three different things, the VCT cam timing is bad (expensive to repair), the fuel pump (not as expensive) and a sensor. Only prob I see is we start replacing the smaller things and the cost just keeps going up. Any advice? All the mechanics are a bit uncertain as it only does this sometimes, not all the time. Plus...before I forget...we've had the car run out of gas before, when the guage still states we have at least 1/4 tank. What's going on??? HELP!!!!
By the way...it never actually dies out...just feels like it is going to. I don't know if I kept going if it would die, but I've never pushed it. It doesn't matter if I'm going around corners or not, it just doesn't want to move..put-puts along.
