Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Does This Sound Right Or Should I Sue?

I have a 98 Ford Contour, 6 cyl, 61,000 miles. On 6/18/03 I noticed that my engine fan was running very loud. Upon inspection I found the temp control in the extremely hot position and the fluid in radiator seemed to be boiling. I took it in the next day to a shop who couldn�??t diagnose the problem but tried a few things and charged me $300. They suggested I take it to a Ford dealer. The dealership checked it out and said the problem was blown head gaskets. They said they could make all the repairs for $3200. I said that was too much and they changed it to $2400. They said the repair would take a week. After more like 4 weeks and many calls (to which they responded they were having �??problems�?�) they said the car was done and I owed $2293.29 plus my rental car charge. For this amount they replaced the head gaskets, radiator, thermostat, cooling fan motor, crank seal, water crossover pipe, tensioner, and valve cover gasket (and I think water pump also). I barely got the car home as it was running real rough when I noticed antifreeze and oil were leaking (a lot). I called again to take it in and when I never heard back from the rep, I called again and was informed the rep I was working with and the mechanic who worked on my car had gotten fired, supposedly for poor performance. I took it back in and for $123.13 they replaced the O2 sensor and reinstalled the return spring. They also said they test drove it and all seemed fine. I got about a block and the check engine light came on again. I took it back in for the third time and this time it was another $390.87 for a new canister purge valve. On this occasion the service rep quoted me $200 and when I questioned the $400 amount he said he �??forgot to add in labor�?�. Finally, after $2807.29 I am still having problems. The car seems to run on the higher side in the temp control, on the �??M�?� or �??A�?� in NORMAL. When I was on the highway the other day on 4 different occasions I seemed to have a total loss of power. I hit the gas and nothing, the car seemed to almost die, and the tach went real low. Then the car seemed to jerk somewhat and I was able to go on. In addition its running real rough and sometimes when I start it, it dies multiple times before I can get it to stay running. I have no idea what to make of all this. I need some expert opinions. Do the charges seem excessive? Did I get ripped off? Should the car still be running the way it is now after all that was done and what I paid? Should I sue the dealership to get my money back? Or was I treated fairly Andy and all advice is greatly appreciated!

Sounds to me like they were just throwing parts at it, and had no idea what they were doing. I have a suspicion that your first problem was a failed water pump, but if you drove it long with the engine hot, you could have caused a lot of other problems. I have trouble believing that your radiator, water pump, fan motor, and thermostat all went bad at the same time. Just ain't likely

1) Ask for the service manager and tell him that you're NOT getting the service you deserve. If this keeps up you'll complain to Ford district office and to the media.

2) Complain to Ford's "district office". You are a Ford owner and the hotline is in the owner's manual.

3) I've been told by a tech that the temp needle SHOULD be between M and A during normal operations. Hmmm...