Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Questions of a new owner - 1995 Contour

Just acquired a '95 GL, 108K miles, 2.0L manual transmission.

Can someone give me a quick orientation?

Where are the best parts sources? (Ford dealer?)

What is a good repair manual (other than Haynes)

Where can I assess TSB's and Recal Notices?

Are you guys using synthetic Fluids? (Mobil 1 oil, Castrol or Valvoline DOT 4, DEX-COOL, etc.)

And some specific questions:

1. My driver of this car needs pedal "lifts" She is all of 5'1" and cannot fully depress the clutch with the seat positioned at a comfortable setting. She needs about 3-4" of "lift" on the pedal. Is there anything like this out there?

2. How can I access the clutch cable grommet so I can put it back into the firewall? Someone pushed it inside the car?

3. What are you all using for splash guards? Is there a brand/model which fits better than others?

Welcome aboard.

The best way to orient yourself is to look around the site, read thru' some of the recent posts and try the search feature for specific topics. The latter is only as good as members take the time to properly title their heading. A topic "help" doesn't help when searching past post topics, unless you search the body of message.

Check out alldata.com for TSBs and recall info. 5w30 synthetic engine oil is preferred by many CEG'rs and there is MTX trans fluid 'cocktail' using a newer oil and friction modifiers that seems to help some difficult shifting cars. Some common maintenance parts are available from your local advance, autozone, or pep boys store, but a lot of stuff is dealer only. Bill Jenkins was providing discounts to CEG'rs on Ford parts, but he is in the process of moving to a new dealership, so keep a look out in the links & reviews section for his new home. Check the classifieds for deals on Ford maint. cd-roms which are a more detailed than Haynes. (Although Haynes is basically OK for common r & r items.) Good luck and welcome to the site!

Hi there. I too own a 95 tour gl mtx, but I have almost 160,000 on mine. I believe that the most recent tsb's expired on dec 31, 2001. I had my blower switch and radiator fan tsb's done a few weeks before the deadline. My ex-wife was also 5'1" tall, but she had no problems driving the car with the seat moved all the way foreward.

Don't know about the best, but some online sources for Ford parts are as follows:
http://www.contour.org/mods/mods.cgi?s=parts_source
http://www.fordpartsonline.com/
http://www.shamrockparts.com/

There are plenty of other sites that sell standard parts (oil filters, air filters, etc.).

Chiltons makes a decent manual. You can also obtain the service manual on CD or DVD. The CD contains a specific year for all Ford models, and the DVD contains multiple years (I believe about 5 or so) for all models. For the CD, go to http://www.contour.org/classifieds/classifieds.cgi?t=1&c=1 and search for the phrase "manual" within the page.

In answer to your question about the splash guards, I bought a set from the Ford dealer when I bought my car 3 years ago. The are the "contour"ed ones which fit perfectly, without any Ford logo. They've certainly helped keep the winter from beating up the rocker panels. The only problem with them is that because they are curved to fit the fenders, they don't "give". I've only noticed this going over speed bumps. The dealer listed them for $40 per pair, but gave me a "deal" at $33. The part nos. are F5RZ*16A550*A and F5RY*16A550*A on my invoice (front and rear, not sure which no. is which).
Good luck with your new aquisition!

Sorry, I meant to mention I had already read the FOQ's, but didn't find everything I wanted to learn about.

Yes, the FAQs are not very up-to-date since the Contique fleet is getting older.
I really meant browse the items on left of home page to know what's there but have a detailed read of current topics and members responses in this and other forums.
If you are setup to have past ten days available for instance, you'd be surprised how many don't realize there are about seven pages of topics in the last week or so. some won't bother to go to page two and repost on a topic covered yesterday.

Anyhow your parts, manuals and mudguard questions seem to be answered. Pedal lifts would require purchase of late model Ford although no doubt someone will try a mod on Contour. Since clutch cable grommet remains unanswered you could repost that one topic since that heading alone might attract a response.

Enjoy your stay on the site.

p.s. You can delete your blank post by clicking on edit/delete icon then the delete box and edit post button on the edit screen. FYI.

My wife had the same problem, and I wanted the pedal higher, too. I took the pad off, drilled a hole thru the metal and attached a 5/16 bolt with a large mushroom head, which I just happened to have in my junk box. I roughed up the head for traction. It stickes up maybe 2 1/2 inches, and we like it just fine. Gets some interesting questions! Now my wife doesn't have to put the seat too close to the air bag.