Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting loss of power at wot after secondaries..

first off i did search and think it might be my imrc.. here is the problem... over the last month, once in a while when i am at wot, normally only in second gear, after i reach rpm's where secondaries open, i basically have no power... i punch and the car keeps trying to go, but it just stutters, like i am tapping the gas over and over.. basically like the secondaries start to open but then close... over the last week, it has happened in first gear twice... sometimes the car is a little cold, but normally it is at normal temp..
what does anyone think?? covered under warranty.. not too many mods, they are in my sig...
thanks for the help..

-mike

I am having a similar problem. My car studders when accelerating at any speed, but only when I floor it. This only seemed to start happening after the Ford dealer replaced my dash (recalled). I'm hoping it's just a coincedent.

OK now the strange part. I noticed that it only studders when my tank is less that 1/2, and when it is less than 1/4 it will actually stall. One thing that totally boggles my mind is it always does it when I am making a left hand turn and accelerating. If I'm turning right I can floor it and it runs great!

Rob - 99 Green SVT (completely stock)

same problem guys... i dunno what 2 do

i've never seen anyone else a problem like this but i had the same problem on my old taurusaurus...something to do with the fuel pickup line in the gas tank???....would stutter badly when given alot of throttle with low fuel

maybe for u guys a pump problem or clogged fuel filter???

mine has nothing to do with gas level..it happens when i have a 1/4 tank and it happens when i am full... it also is not effected by turninig.. who knows what is up??

I had this same problem on my '95 Contour SE ATX. The car just didn't want to go when the fuel tank was half-full, and sometimes stalled when empty.

A new fuel pump fixed all problems, plus - the fuel gauge became more accurate.

This is a sneaky problem that happens when the fuel pump starts to degrade. I have a 2000 cougar 2.5L and probably did it to myself. I was down to about one gallon in the tank and was gassing it hard going throug a turn and it stumbled bad, pump sucking air. In the month or so since then it would start to fail at 4 to 5 thousand RPM, at first only in second gear, (figure that one out) then more and more in other gears where it would just float with no accelleration. finally, it would die like you turned off the key if you floored it at that RPM. This was always with less than 1/4 tank of fuel. I diagnosed it myself searching the forum here, then asked my dealer (Excellent dealer in Danville, PA) and he said he had seen it before, and that it made them crazy the first time they had seen it. I was lucky, Car still under warranty at 30,000 miles. This is what you need almost guaranteed, I think pumps are about $160, and on a Contour, you don't have to drop the tank, unlike my Cougar.