Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General General a few questions from a new owner!!

hello, my name is brian, i'm from michigan, just turned 20 years old, and also just purchased a used ford contour sport, stick....i have had it for about a week..anyway this is my first post..a few questions, some may be dumb, but this is my first stick shift, and my friend taught me how to drive it, (he's not the smartest) but i can now drive it fine!! anyway, the first question is..when i come to a light should i put it in nuetral, because right now i just push down on the clutch and the brake, but i was wondering if thats bad or not..second question is what exactly is burning the clutch? lol...i know it prolly sounds stupid, but like i said first stick...third today after making a sharp turn my check engine light came on, checked under the hood(not a expert by far...lol) andnothing was wrong, i did a search on google and found alot of things about the check engine light acting up in some contours, is this a problem for anyone else? also if anyone has any tips or suggestions for me being a first time stick user, please go ahead....not just my first stick, but also my first car!! thanks for reading and i will be posting and hanging around on this site for the rest of my contour life, they truly are great cars!!

There's nothing wrong with holding the clutch and brake at the same time, I wouldn't put it in neutral.

You need to be a bit more specific on this, are you smelling it burning? Make sure you're pressing the clutch in completely.

Go to your nearest Advance Auto and they can tell you which code your Check Engine Light (CEL) is showing. This can be one of numerous things. The alternative would be to pay your local Ford dealer $45 or so just to tell you which error code it's showing. Mine just came on today coming to work, and I'll be heading to Advance Tuesday to have them check it out.

thanks for answering my questions...the whole clutch thing was, i dont smell burning, i just want to know what exactly burning the clutch is, so if it does happen or has happned i can know, and know what to do or what not to do to try and prevent it..thanks again

one component of a clutch is a friction plate; it is a disc coated with a material akin to brake linings. This allows a moving object (your engine output shaft) to smoothly become one with another object moving at a different speed (your transmission). The clutch 'burns' when you hold it at that engagement point for too long and the friction lining overheats and you smell that acrid odor. It's a durable component and as long as you don't abuse it, say by using it hold the car at an incline, it'll last a long time.

Incidentally, when I'm at a traffic light and I know I'll be there for more than a few seconds, I put it in neutral and just hold down the brake. Less wear to the throwout bearing this way too...

When sitting at lights I would put the car in neutral and not keep it in 1st with the clutched press'd in. I wore out the throw out bearing on my 1st car this way because no one told me not to do it until I took it in to have the the throw out bearing replaced.

sooooo u would be at a light with the car in neutral, and the clutch not pressed in or pressed in? Which one wears out the throw out bearing. I'd really intersted in knowing, thanks

Any time the clutch is pressed in, the throw-out bearing is spinning. As much labor as a Contour clutch job takes, I leave the clutch out and gear in neutral at stoplights. Right now in another car of mine, I have been milking a bad throw-out bearing for 5k miles. I'm just waiting for it to snap.

BTW, welcome to CEG. Check out the SE Michigan forum.

I put it in neutral, saves a bit of wear and tear. Also prevents your foot from cramping up in stop and go driving.

The worst thing about manual - Traffic Jams. 1st -2nd - 3rd - 2nd - 1st - stop. Over and over. I hate traffic jams with a passion in a manual (which I've driven for the last 6 years...

I got into the habit of putting mine in nuetrel (unless it's just for a really brief stop), just because when you are holding the clutch in, the throwout bearing is always spinning like others said, but also because when you let the clutch out while in nuetral, it allows all the gears to spin inside the tranny's case so they will constantly slosh around in the oil, and be well lubricated for when you engage gears and take off. If your sitting there with the clutch pushed in, all tranny gear movement stops, and you allow a chance for all the gaer oil to drizzle back down to the bottom of the case, making some of the bearings, sycros, and gears get 'dry'.

It's when you slip the clutch for too long, like when some people do when sitting on a steep hill waiting for the traffic light to turn green, and they are just using the clutch (halfway out) to hold them from rolling back when they should be using the brakes, and so they are hence: 'cooking the clutch' as can even be smelled sometimes.