Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting 99 SE stalling at idle position

Hi folks. I checked around in forum archives and couldn't find anything on this, so pls forgive me if I missed it.

I have a 99 SE (118,270 miles) in what I believe is good mechanical condition. I just got it back from the dealer after they held it hostage for nearly a month. My problem is that when I would come to a stop either at a stop sign or a light, the car would not idle properly and would stall as I hit the gas to go again. It had also been idling and downshifting a bit roughly; not a ton, but enough to notice and I couldn't tell what my rpm's were b/c of the lack of a tac.

The dealer tech that worked on it told me this morning that despite having a portable scanner on it, they were unable to pull any codes on it and apparently tried swapping out a mass air flow sensor, an air bypass valve, recorded acceptable fuel and oil pressure levels, etc. What they told me they suspect is that it is the "timing harness" or some sort of electrical failure in the timing system, which to replace would be around $900 for just the part. But they couldn't be sure that was it b/c of the lack of codes and that the stalling was infrequent.

Does this sound about right to you all? I am debating whether it is worth it to pump another $1000+ into the car with the mileage being that high and worrying about what will be next to go on it. I love this car to death but my wallet is not that thick.

Any suggestions? Any and all are appreciated.

Thanks!

4cly or v6

I'm sorry. 4cly.

I would be most suspecious of the TP sensor. I'm sure that the tech has already checked it, but being an intermittant problem, it may not show up.

For as little as a TP sensor costs, I would be tempted to change it for drill before continuing with a lot of other things.

Were they talking about the cam timing. they do have some issues with the control solenoid. Maybey that is sticking intermitently. that is pretty expensive and labor intensive. the cams have to come off to change it because its a sleeve arounf the end of the exhaust cam. You could try doing an engine oile flush and see if the cleans out the passages through the solenoid. No codes though huh. It will eventually get worse and set a code or two.

Do you think it could be poor fuel injection? Maybe the sprays are off?

I was fortunate today...drove it 350 miles from Wash. DC to NY with no problems, despite being stuck in stop and go traffic.

The dealer told me they changed the oil and the filter, so it has been flushed; in fact, they changed the oil right before labor day too so that's 2 times in about 5 weeks. Oddly enough my horn went today too, so perhaps there are coroded electrical connections somewhere in the circuitry. It's just so frustrating and really mind boggling that they couldn't pull any codes.

" Oddly enough my horn went today too, so perhaps there are coroded electrical connections somewhere in the circuitry."

Try cleaning the connectors first. Sometimes that is the reason for the horn not working.

"It's just so frustrating and really mind boggling that they couldn't pull any codes."

Try going to Autozone or Advance (free scanning).

Horn issue
http://www.contour.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=trouble&Number=1033127&page=&view=&sb=5&o=&fpart=1&vc=1

Originally posted by Goonz SVT:

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