Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Mysterious Feature Failures

Hi.
Lately I've had a rash of inexplicable problems with my Contour.

Lights (interior) coming on and off:
Passenger floor light mainly
Rear left Running Light not working.
Bulb is fine - swapped with working, right side bulb.
Intermittent wiper feature not working.
Slow and Fast speeds (constant on) work fine (washer also doesn't turn on wipers)
Rear Defrost not working
Fuse is fine, and I swapped the 6A relay - still don't work.

Anybody have a clue?
Will reseting the cars 'computer' help clear these mysterious problems?
How do I reset the cars computer?

Thanks a bunch - Tim.

timothy.eggenberger@adtran.com

You don't say what year you have, but on my 95 I can pull two fuses (I believe #11 and # 4), and it will reset the computer. Leave the fuses pulled for a few minutes before you reconnect them.

I wonder if you are having a wiring harness problem. It was a common defect on some of the early contours.

Thanks. I'll try that.
It's a 97 Contour Sport (4cyl) Automatic

Theirs a Timer module that controls all those things. Bet it is going south. Timer module used on intermittent wiper, 12 second light delay, rear defrost timer.

Yeah. I've had some problems with the '12 second dome light' as well.

Thanks.

i had problems with the dome light not coming on, or if I started the car with it on it would stay on, my defroster stopped working as did intermittent wipers. When I disconnected my battery to do fuel filter it went away. at the same time I pulled the relays out to try to check them but I didn't know how to check them so I just stuck them back in. The car has been fine ever since. Mine is a 99 v6 MTX

A bad ground will often cause these mysterious problems. That current has to go somewhere!

Originally posted by Contouraholic:

---

Theirs a Timer module that controls all those things. Bet it is going south. Timer module used on intermittent wiper, 12 second light delay, rear defrost timer.

---

I had the same problem with the wipers a few months back (squooge didn't turn wipers on, int did not work, regular speeds worked). It was a relay that is an output (IIRC) to the Central Timing Module. It's one of the ones in the fuse box above the driver's footwell.

I'm on the way out the door right now, but when I get back later I'll post which relay it was (and a pic maybe). All I did was remove the relay and give it a nice little tap and it's worked fine since.

OK, I'm taking a guess here, but it seems that all of the things you are having problems with have the Central Timing Module as part of their control circuit. This is the item that controls intermittent wiper speed, automatic timed shutoff of lights and the rear defroster, etc. If it is in "perma-off" mode, then none of those things would operate at all, I think.

What I don't know is if the CTM is replaceable by itelf, or is an integral part of the Central Junction Box (the fuse panel that folds down under the dash). The CTM is found on the rear of the Central Junction Box and is the item with the 20 pin connector (2 sets of 2 rows of 5 pins each on both sides of connector) and is labeled "C23" in the EVTM.

Hope this helps. I couldn't grab any pics as I can't find my screen grabber software.

Timer module plugs into interior fuse panel, to the left and above driver's left foot. It's the first thing you see when you look up at the panel (before flipping panel down for fuse/relay access).

p.s. I'm playing the "non-Maytag" appliance repairman on the homefront this weekend, so I haven't had time to review diagnosis on this topic but I'd want to do at least a cursory check of associated relays before committing to timer purchase. Internal relay circuit shown on case.