Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting hesitation when accelerating from stop on 2.0L - 4 cyl

I had a CEL, rough running and hesitation. I pulled the codes. Need an O2 sensor. I also replaced the spark plugs and fuel filer while I was at it. I checked the EGR valve to make sure it was clear and working and it was. The car runs pretty smooth now but still has a terrible hesitation when starting from a stop. It almost seems like it is going to die. If I continue to push on the accelerator it will surge until it can recover. If I let off the accelerator it will try to recover if I slowly press the accelerator. The check engine light did come on once after doing this, but I haven't checked the codes yet.

Don't know if this is related, but my last car did this for about 4 months and then out of the blue the crankshaft broke.
I had the car in the mechanic about a month before it happened. They could not find anything wrong.
I took the exact same steps as you (plugs, fuel filter, basically new ignition system). Nothing helped, but I was able to lighten my wallet.
I'm not bitter about it, though...If it hadn't happened, I wouldn't have bought the Contour!

I hope you aren't going to need a whole new engine!

anyone else have any ideas?

I'm having the same problem. I washed the engine right before it started doing it real bad today, but it was doing it just a little bit before that. I'm doing my fuel filter and o2 sensor tomorrow.

unplug the mass air flow sensor and see if the hesitation goes away if it does buy mass airflow

Did you reset the computer after putting in the new sensor?

Might also want to clean your intake manifold/throttle body.

Same problem here too. I've only had one CEL for it and i actually had the chance to check it out. It ended up being code P0352:Ignition Coil B Primary Circuit Malfunction. I'm gonna take a ride out to the junk yard to get another one when i get my car back from carlisle. I'll let you know how it goes. By the way i notice the problem happens more often on my last 1/4 tank.

I have th esame problem with hesitation, surging and rough idle when stopped in drive. I took it in and recieved a call today from the Ford dealership telling me that they would need to 'reprogram and upgrade the computer' at a cost of 120.00. Seems like they wouldnt charge for that. Anyway, hope that helps!

Same here, took my car to the ford garage and they replaced my 02 sensor and my fuel filter and upgraded and reprogrammed my computer.... Actually didnt cost me much, they also didnt charge me anything to reprogram my computer. My problem went away.