Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General General LONG list of repairs for my Tour...Sell or keep???

Our Contour has served us very well over the past 4 years. Our family has grown and that back seat seams to get smaller every day. We now have a 4 door crew cab F 250 and a AWD GMC van. So we don't really NEED the Tour anymore. My wife keeps asking my are you driving the Contour and not your new truck?? That is hard to answer but I think some of you no why.....Don't get me wrong, I love my F 250 and to bang through 6 gears with the whistle of the turbo at 300 hp. I also enjoy driving the contour. I like most every thing about it....the way it handles, drives, sounds and look's. And mine is still stock! It could be sooooo much more!

Here is my question's

Main one first.....Is it worth keeping around? To keep it simple read the list below and let me know what you would do???

Codes (6 total) P1151, P302, P304, P306, P153, P151. I have looked all of these up and think they are related to the recall with the manifolds or just O2 sensors needed??

Needs heater fan recall

E brake has only 2-4 clicks (needs the tsb 98-5a-17)

Also e brake/sway bar related...the rear end clunk sound

fuel door hard to open. Yes, I read the common problems

MTX hard 1st gear. Needs red line or cocktail

Throttle hang needs fixed

Sometimes get the Moose, but not much

Power steering makes an hooting sound (comes and goes). Posted that here before and most thought it was air in the lines BUT that's one more thing.

Needs some of the under hood wires replaced under recall. I think???

One of the two fans is dead but I think the dealer will fix under recall because they said it was fine this summer when they did the recall on the fan wire/relay thing and now its dead.

Side skirt is missing a jack cover....Went to dealer for fan recall and come back missing jack cover!!!!




If I keep it I will do all the work myself minus the recall stuff. If I paid a shop to fix all that it would cost more than the cars worth so I will do the work myself if it stays.

One more thing that is interesting.....The Ford dealer(not the one that lost the skirt cover)that put in a racing clutch in my F 250 when my stock clutch went said that he could MAYBE put Headers and y pipe on when he does the Catalyst recall (97E61) at no labor. Just give him the parts and he will put them on just like he did with my truck. I did have to supply the racing clutch last time and would have to buy the headers and y pipe but free labor!!! I am still working this out so we will see.

I did not mention the condition of the car, a loaded 96 SE 5 speed. Inside is tan leather and looks like new! Outside is black and has got a few door dings and is just ok. I did put in a Metal Water Pump. You would think with that long list it would be a hunk of junk put it runs great and gets over 300 per tank. Revs good and pulls hard! Wait, that pulls hard thing is my truck. This car is Faaaaast!

Thanks

Unload it, it's 9 years old, and only worth $2000 tops. Time to move on, IMHO.

Since you don't need the car this may not really apply, but the question to ask is--could you get a better car for the money you could sell that car for? "Better" will have to be defined by you, since some people place more value on reliability, others handling and acceleration, etc.

As I see it, the fact that it's not worth a lot of money is even more reason to hold on to it. If you get rid of it, you get a few dollars....so? If you hold on to it, you've got something fun to drive, and will probably give you a lot more miles at a fairly low expense. Most of the problems listed with the car are not all of that expensive, if you do the work yourself. You can do a lot of repairs for the same amount as a couple of payments on the F 250. On the other hand, you have what in my opinion was one of the best contours made. An early model, SE, Duratec, MTX is top of the line, as I see it.

I suppose the answer also depends on how much the insurance, taxes, etc will cost for the car. If you only carry liability, it shouldn't be too bad.

The bottom line is that only you know what you really want to do, and the decision should be made based on what you want to do, not on what the rest of us say. Have fun.

I guess it comes down to this....I don't need the car but would like to keep it. But are all those repairs worth it? I am still on the fence?? If I keep it I would like all of the things on the list fixed. I am thinking just to sell the car I would have to fix some of the things on the list. So I am going to start there. Fix The major things and see how I feel about it in a few days. Wish me luck!

If $2000 is all I could get I would KEEP IT!

BTW Truck payment is $1,029 a month!!

You are F_CKING kidding me on the payment amount?? That's more than my house payment...

Most of the repairs are small. The cooling fans are part of one unit. You just need to replace the unit. Salvage yard.

The O2 sensors are not too bad, and you can put on yourself if so inclined. That killed my CEL woes.

The clunk is just bushings that any shop can put on. Struts may be needed all around too for good measure.

The throttle hang is designed into the car. It's not a flaw, but for some reason Ford thought it helped with emissions & drivability... Don't ask me why...


Clean the fuel door opening and I'll bet you'll have a better time opening it. (the seal the door makes contact with)

Side skirt, salvage yard

Emergency brake... does it work, just not pull up to much?

Heater fan, dealer fix

The wiring recall is the biggest PITA. I had two problems with my recall, but they've been fixed. But many others have had more. I think it's like 50% successful on the first attempt....

First gear hard,... not sure on that..

I suppose it depends on what you want. It's not really worth a lot anymore, but it still drives... Hard to answer really.

If you enjoy working on and driving the car, then keep it. It is just a toy now and you don't have to depend on it as a daily driver. With the truck payment, how many months did you finance it? Having a $1,000 monthly car note is waaaaay too high, unless it is for like 36 months or something. How much did you put down? APR?

I would say keep it, Contours are nice cars! Year doesnt matter for me

Truck payment is 36 month at 0%(NO money down)....Nice deal and saves lots of money but the payment will kill you! I have 11 payments left!! BTW it is fully loaded Lariat with leather, Crew cab, 6 speed turbo diesel. 300 hp and 17-21 mpg out of a 7200 lbs truck. Real sharp and due for 35" tires real soon. Triple A pillar gauges too!!

The Contour is up on jack stands in the garage. I have been going through it. Working on the list of repairs. So far so good.

One thing that I noticed is that the rear sway bar seems fine but the fuel tank straps are rubbing the sway bar. This may have been the clunking sound I was hearing.

I thought there may have been a rattle coming from the rear muffler so....I cut it off and straight piped it! Sounds great!

Trany cocktail done, just waiting for Ford parts to open on Monday (friction mod). I hope it shifts better??


Any good way to flush the power steering out completely? Like remove a line and flush and fill?

Thanks