Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting surging idle - dang near impossible to drive

Fiancee's car:
2000 Contour SE
2.5L Duratec

Happened suddenly, time coincident with a snowstorm, if that helps... :-), surging idle, then dies if not feathered by accelerator.

Took it in to a local Firestone, thinking it would be a quick fix (suspected EGR after doing a little research), but after their $79.95 diagnostic test (that didn't diagnose anything except an idle problem...duh), they replaced the MAF... with absolutely no improvement.

I took it back from them this afternoon after they told me they wanted to keep it overnight. I live 30 miles away and needed it to get home.

I'm not necessarily keen to bring it back to them if there are a few things I can do this evening. After searching this great site (contour.org... who'da thunk... :-), and finding the tutorial, I'm thinking I might try my hand at cleaning the IAC.

Anything else (that doesn't involve too much dissassembly) that I might try?

Thanks All!

> Jimmer <

Welcome . Besides the IAC valve, also put in a bottle of HEET. Change air filter and check for vacuum leaks. Any CEL codes?

Edit. Is it an ATX? And was the surging idle coupled with a loud foghorn sound? If it is, it could be the "moose".

Thanks, Tony.

Cleaning the IAC didn't help, so I ended up taking it back to Firestone today. After another 6 hours of futzing around, tehy called back to say that it has completely stumped them. Good thing they're not charging me...

They did tell me that they have an identical Contour in with exactly the same problem. I have no way of verifying CEL codes, but they did tell me that instead of the normal 1-2 codes they get for a standard problem, both my Contour and the other one are giving 6-7 codes.

Guess I'll have to take it into the Ford dealer...


> Jimmer <

Edit: No, no foghorm noise that I can detect - just really crappy idle - surges to about 3k and dies. Found that if I lessen the load on the engine by shutting down the heater (!!! in 10 degree weather) that I can get a very crappy sputtering idle at stoplights. At least I don't have to restart at every stop... Not happy, NOT happy... :-(

A clogged catalytic converter could cause your problem.

Though I neglected to add this bit of info, they did tell me that 'vacuum' was not a problem. So it's almost certainly a sensor problem of some kind...

Then again, they couldn't fix it - so what the 'ell do they know... :-)


> Jimmer <

Send it to Advanced or Autozone and scan it for free and then post the codes.

my brother is having a similier problem on his 95 ATX 2.5L. Everytime he comes to a stop the rpms jump from 250 to 1000 rpms constantly and the lights seem to flicker, ill try cleaning the IAC tommorow and if that dosent help im stumped. I dont know what else it could be.

Tony: Autozone does a free scan? News to me... I'll hustle over there and find out...

Looks like I'm gonna inherit this little guy. My fiancee really wants a truck and I think we're gonna trade in my Mazda 6 to ger her an F-150.

So I'm gonna have to get smart on this Contour real quick. Once I get the idle problem fixed, I'll be back with more questions about making her purr...

> Jimmer <

I replaced the seals under the fuel rail and mine started to idle normally. Did the bucking bronco everytime I stopped before. I found tears on some of the seals. I still have one allusive leak. I get a lean 1/2 sometimes after all that work! I found vacuum leaks around the EGR stem, vacuum ports on top of the manifold (o-rings were like a brick!) and EGR to manifold gasket too.
Did you unplug the MAF yet? If it idles normally after you unplug it the system is too lean. The EEC will use default settings when you disable a major part and it defaults to rich.

Off topic, How's the Mazda 6?