Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting prossible problem of my 98 contour se,please help.

today i was climbing a steep long ascent,i found the car was very slowly and seems did not have enough power like usual.after that,a green light on the left bottom of the panel was on,i guess it says OD/OD(?),and i can smell something inside the car.i pulled over and shut down the engine.i checked around,but nothing strange.then after a while,i started the engine,and everything looks OK,the light was off.i just bought this car 3 weeks ago,its mileage is 155400km.i am in vancouver,canada.i was wondering if it is a possbile problem of my car?please help.thanks a lot.

Yes, transmission issue. Whas it a sweet, rotten egg or oil smell? Check for codes (OBD port) at Autozone or purchase a cheap scanner. How does the fluid look, smell, and is it full? Check in park, engine on, after driving 15 minutes. Also, did the engine overheat? If so, waterpump is the culprit there.

yeah,it smells like rotten eggs.tomorrow i will dive about 50km to the airport.can i do that?i mean if it will break on the road?is it a serious problem that i should go fix it right away or can do it later?

Rotten eggs is from the catalytic converters, you're not burning up transmission or engine oil, nor coolant. I have smelled that a couple times from my 1998 Mystique. Is the 50 km the long hill? If not, you will probably make it. As a test let your car idle till the M on normal is reached and the radiator cooling fans come on, the temp should then drop, that verifies the engine is not overheating. If OK, then take a drive, put in park, check trans fluid level see if it's ok, and not burnt smelling or brown. There is a sharp smell and red color to the trans fluid normally. The engine radiator cools the trans as well, so making sure the engine cooing is OK relates to the transmission.

The green OD light on the dash is (most likely) on because you pressed the over drive disable button on the side of your shifter. (That's where this button is on my Contour. My green light is on the right though.) When that is on, the trans will drop out of over drive. Sounds like it down shifts one gear. That may be desirable on a long upgrade (hill) or pulling a load. That takes some of the load off your transmission. Makes it's easier on the engine too.

If you were smelling rotten eggs, that's often the smell out of the catalytic converter when it's over loaded or the engine is being worked exceptionally hard and the cat converter has a huge job to do. (Cleaning up the fuel the engine did not need in the first place.) Not that uncommon. I often smell it when someone is pushing their car hard and passing me.

Might not be a bad idea to warm the car up and check the transmission fluid level. Don't run it low. Not a bad idea to have the trans fluid changed. Don't think I ever heard of a fluid change hurting anything.

thank you guys very much!i really appreciated all the replys!ok,i will go check and change the trans oil if necessary.

today after about 60km's drive,i checked the trans oil,it is between the min level to max level.everything seems ok except two:one is i feel the car is not as powerful as before especially when upgrade a long way;another is it seems oil efficiency is down.

Was the fluid red, not burnt smell? Then it should be OK. Do you have a Duratec V6 or Zetec 2.0 4cyl? By oil efficiency what do you mean?? And is the check engine light on? Try code scanning next, or a tank of premium gas.

i did not smell it burnt,the color looks brown.it is a 2.5V6 engine.Oil efficiency is down means the same kms and route i drive everyday today cost more gas.i always use #87 regular gas from a chevron gas station.check engine light was not on.everything seems ok today.