Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Spedometer jumping, car kills while driving.

OK. This one is strange, at least to me.

Just today, while I was driving home from work, I was trying to get through rush hour traffic, and I am crusing along, at (literally) about 10 MPH. Anyway, all of a sudden, I hear my radio (aftermarket) "beep" like it lost power for a split second, then the engine kills. I quickly put it in neutral and try to start it. It fires right up, however it, as I can best describe it, misfires a couple of times, while the radio beeps off and on again. Then I notice that when I am coasting at about 5 MPH or less as I slow for a stop light, or sitting idle at the stop light, the spedometer is "jumping" from 0MPH to about 10MPH. Kind of like a "flutter". It may only "flutter" to 5MPH, other times up to 10MPH. This is only when sitting. Driving at a little higher speed (say 30MPH) everything seemed fine.

I get home and notice one of the red wires (there is the one with the thick gauge wire, and then a smaller one bolted on above that) connected to the battery is loose.

Could that have caused the problem?

The battery is less than 1 year old, and the alternator is even newer than that.

I am just nervious about driving it to work again tomorrow if there is something more serious.

No Check Engine Light or anything, and it seems to run fine otherwise.

Any ideas?

Oh, 1999 Contour SE with 2.5L if it makes a difference.

Thanks Tony for the quick response. I figured that the loose conenctor caused the "beep" and engine to kill, but the Speedo was what made me nervious as to if it was something else like the VSS. Which I guess it could be, but I'll see what happens and report back.

Everything on the car (including the VSS) takes voltage to run. Thin connections (as in.. very little surface area connected, IE; a loose clamp) means a decreased ability to carry current through those wires. Probably resulting in inneficient operation , or inSUFFICIENT voltage to continue to work.

Agreed. Clean the terminals well, reattach, tighten and watch it for a while. I doubt you will see any other problems, at least regarding the battery.

OK. After cleaning up the contacts and tightening them, I drove it for a test drive that night, then to and from work yesterday, and then around town last night and back to work today. All with no problems at all.

Thanks everyone who helped.