Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Unsolved problem

I'm losing my mind and nobody can help Ford says there is no prob but even my buddy who's driving my car has noticed this change...

I have a 98 contour SVT with 167,000KM. I have occasional powerloss which happens after some time of driving...it can happen on the street or highway. Doesnt matter. The engine will gradually feel more and more sluggish until I feel I've lost at least 25 to 30% power. The secondaries still open and the car still revs right to redline but does so slower and the engine tone sounds a bit deeper. I can also hear a little more 'wooshing' sound through my KKM filter (from the inside of the car). Basically sounds like the motor is straining. Oh and the really strange thing is that the gas pedal will not feel crisp and firm. It will feel softer and more mushy...almost like its attached via a thick rubberband. When the car runs well and fast, the pedal is nice and firm and crips response. I've checked the linkages and cannot see anything wrong there either.

Now the thing is that the car does this only sometimes and almost never when the engine is still kinda cold. Its definitly not heatsoak because its way too much powerloss and even did it today at 12C weather. I dont have any fault lights to telling me anything is wrong. My last dyno (6months ago) gave me 164HP at the wheels but it was not misbehaving then. I also went to the track once and managed 15.4 @ 89.5. It felt ok that day too. I guess I could have showed up without a full tank of gas in the car.


I've got:
-new plugs gapped at .054

-wires are about 1 year old - stock ford ones

-upper and lower intake pulled and cleaned manually with new gaskets installed

-fuel filter is about a year old (I always run at least 91 octane)

-had a motorvac done 6 months ago when I first got a hint of the prob.

-replaced the IMRC motor a while back when it first started happening thinking maybe its not opening the secondaries right.

-the cat is also about 6 months old...I thought the stock car was plugging up. Got a larger 3" catco cat. No change

-ypipe is stock but modded...picked up a few ponies but has nothing to do with the prob

-KKM filter


The only things I can think of are the O2 sensors and maybe a fuel pump? They are both stock units but I get no fault lights. Only thing that I've had is once I got a check engine light but when away in the middle of driving and once or twice I've seen the airbag light flash 3 times then stop and repeat. Turning off the car and then on again stopped that.

Its driving me crazy. Anyone know what the hell is going on? Oh and I always run synthetic oil in the engine as well so I try and take care of it... Even reading the plugs, they are all the same shade of a slightly rusty to brown colour but not too dark.

Anyone can offer any suggestions would be great.

I had a similar problem about a year ago and it ended up being a faulty fuel pump. Fuel pump was changed and it never occured again.

What plugs are you using?

mine was acting exactly like that last summer, it ended up being clogged cats and a bad o2 sensor. It would only be sluggish on longer drives (2 hours or more), and would kind of clear up when cold, or short drives.

There is a know problem with hot air effecting engine performance when using an open element air filter. Some have built an air dam around the air filter intake to block out hot engine bay air. It usually doesn't show up until the weather is much hotter though.

There are several other things that can also cause this. A bad, damaged, or dirty MAF can do it. To much oil on an oil wetted style air filter can contaminate the MAF. A plugged fuel filter or weak fuel pump can cause this. Other sensors acting up can also cause this, such as a bad TP or O2.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I'm going to start from the cheapest to the most expensive. I'll start with changing the fuel filter again and tossing the stock airbox and filter back just to see what happens...If that doesnt fix the problem, then I guess I will change things I have not changed like O2 sensors then fuel pump and lastly the CAT...

Wait...but I dont think the CAT can be a problem because if its clogged, then the car shouldnt sometimes run really strong should it? It should always be bad no? I mean it should just be clogged right? Are there any tests one can do to try and diagnose a clogged CAT?

PS. I was running the Ford AWSF 32F plugs which I run all the time. As a test I tried other plugs but same results...Its just annoying because its so inconsistent.