Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting A neverending headache

I am writing this in a very very upset state . I have a 96 mystique zetec which is running slow, and at times poorly. First off, the car is now slow, not that it was ever fast, but its really really slow now. Second, I was driving down the street and got on it, the car wouldnt go past 5100 RPMS then when I let off the gas it dropped to 0 and stalled. Third, When Im in gear and I am driving, past like 4000 RPMS there is this rattling sound coming from my engine bay area. The fixes I have tried are....new fuel filter, recharged k&n, put Fuel injector cleaner in vacuum line and cleaned out the injectors real good, and replaced spark plug wires. I do not think the problem lies with my spark plugs so for the moment I will not bother with them. Since they got replaced 14k miles ago and they are supposed to last for a long time. The car seems like it isnt getting enough fuel at these higher RPMs and so it isnt accelerating like it should be. How would I check to see if there is a fault in my fuel system somewhere. Also should I take it to my local ford dealership to see if they can see whats going on...I want to make that my last attempt seeing as how it costs 70 dollars an hour to have them check my car out...Thank you for any solutions you offer up

If you checked your fuel injectors....then...duhhhh i'm lost! that would have been my guess! have you had any problems with it overheating? Cause when i had my old truck and i blew a head gasket, i was running on three cylinders(sp?) and that's y i was lossing power and i couldn't get any power at all, not that a 4 banger truck has power...but less than what it started with, kinda sounds the same as your problem...

Your comments about a rattling around sound in the engine bay and loss of power made me think of pre-cats. This is exactly what happened to mine, even though it was a v6. The pre-cats crumbled and blew debris down the exhaust and clogged up the main cat. The remaining chunks of pre-cat catalyst were bouncing around in the exhaust manifolds. Not sure if the zetec is prone to the same failure, but try listening to the pre-cats with a stethescope while someone revs the engine to see if that's where the sound is coming from. You should here something like BBs in a coffee can when 'listening' to the handle of a big screwdriver with the blade held to the exhaust manifold. (Old indian trick...)

Do you have a CEL?

No, it has not given me any CEL's which is really making me wonder about what my problem could be. Where can I find my pre-cats...I wasnt aware that my zetec had them.

I went to the local dealership and they said my problem is probably the timing belt. It is probably stretched and would cause the rattling sound in my engine area and also reduce performance. This seemed to make sense, I am going to do it myself rather than spend 260 dollars on it. ALso I have no information on where the pre-cats are in my car?

Originally posted by 96mystiquezetec:

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they said my problem is probably the timing belt. It is probably stretched and would cause the rattling sound in my engine area and also reduce performance.

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huh??? I can understand the timing belt causing a noise, as a loose belt can slap against the top timing belt cover. I suppose if the belt has stretched so much that it 'jumped' a notch, and allowed the cams to get out of alignment, it could reduce performance...Otherwise????