Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Is this moosing? What?

I had my 98 Contour SE Sport, 2.5L V6, ATX, for 6 months now. Lately I will sometimes get a loud humming noise from the engine compartment when I start it up. If the noise starts, it appears to continue until I shut down the engine. Noise doesn't vary with engine speed if I rev when in Park. AC has no effect. Noise will drop when accelerating, but comes back when cruising at steady speed. If the car sits for a bit, will be fine the next time it's cranked.

Since moosing listed as a problem with earlier models and affected by AC load in the FAQ, I guess not, but any ideas?

Along with some of the other symptoms, moosing is usually more common in colder climates, so this is strange time to get a moose visit, especially one that stays around. This may be some form of intake noise, (or IAC) but could be a belt or pulley noise Next time it makes noise try popping the hood and feeling / listening around to try to isolate the location and cause of the noise.

on my 96 contour it started one day in the heat of last years summer.. in parking lot with a/c on and all of a sudden the noise(moosing).... opened the hood and felt the air filter box.. it was vibrating pretty bad.. well we were across town about 20 minutes away going to one shopping center after another... when i got home later that evening i went to auto zone and got a new air filter and tightened down the air box... and the moosing did not come back...
i think it was starving for air and was trying to suck the plastic box apart to get it.... but there were alot of talk about the IAC, idle air control module casuing moosing, but i have never dont anything to mine.......

It may very well be the moose.

If you can keep it sounding off when parked with the engine running, open the hood and see if the noise seems to coming from the air filter box, the hose running to the IAC valve, or the IAC valve. If it is, it is the moose. It sometimes helps to clean the throttle body and the IAC.

It is not uncommon for the noise to happen with weather changes. It is more often when the weather turns cold, but it also sometimes happens when the weather changes for the warmer as well.

A couple of other sources of whine are the power steering pump and the serpentine belt idler and tensioner pulley bearings. The sound is different, but the description of the sound is often similar.

Thanks for the suggestions Scott and Jim. The problem is intermittant so I will be waiting for the next time it shows up to try and isolate it.

dbird, I took a look at the filter and it looked ok. May go ahead and change it anyway because the paper is brown instead of white (but not really dirty) and no telling when the orginal owner last replaced it.