Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Cold Start Issues

I have gotten some good advice and done a few things to try to correct this issue, from a few different threads and FAQ, but I still cannot figure it out. This is for my Contour, which I purchased a few months ago. Ever since I got it, it had a problem accelerating; it would accelerate fine after a half-second hesitation where it would virtually die, which almost caused a couple accidents. I cleaned the MAF and that took care of the hesitation, but now it will sputter and be on the verge of stalling for the first 2-3 minutes of driving, when cold starting. I have replaced the plugs and wires with Bosch Platinum and replaced a power break(?) vacuum hose that had a leak. These have helped me boost the performance noticably, but not fixed the issue. I am going to replace the PCV valve ASAP, but is there anything else anyone could give me to try? Oh, also, when the sputtering occurs, it is accompanied by a new issue where the steering wheel will be difficult to move more than 10 degrees in either direction, not terrbily so, but requires noticable force to get past. Again, within three minutes it goes away. Both of these syptoms do not seem to go away with warming up the car for 15 minutes before driving, either. Any ideas would be greatly apprecaited.

Also, I do get occasional CEL while driving. About five minutes worth every hour, off and on. They used to come on and off quickly, before I replaced the plugs, but I think the old ones were missing, as they were in bad shape. I cannot seem to find anyone to run an OBD1 diagnostic on my car, so I do not know what the codes are. They do not come on until the care has been driven for a while, so I do know if they are related to the above issue. Thanks!

Not sure about all your issues but get the bosch plugs out of there. They're crap for our cars, you want to use motorcraft or autolite double platinums. I think the pcv valve could help you out a good bit if it's clogged. And with OBD1 you can do your own self test, don't ask me how though, but I know it involves a paper clip and watching how many times the CEL light blinks.

You might want to read the 'Could it be a imrc' thread below. I just got rid of my cold start issue. The imrc module is that metal box underneath the plastic shroud on the top front part of the engine.

How to read 1995 CEL codes

Thank you three for your posts. I did read the CEL do-it-yourself FAQ several times before, but just could not understand what it meant. I did several searches through the forum archives and could not find a good hit, and gave up with the sheer ammount of information. After reading the post suggesting using a paperclip, it just clicked in my brain. I connected a voltmeter to the positive (Red) terminal on my battery, and to the #4 on the large connector and jumpered the #2 on the large connector and the socket on the small connector with a paperclip. I messed up several things, at first, but I finally got everything connected, with the key in the ON position, but I could not get it to work. Before having the key in the correct position, I read a straight 12V, and with it in the correct position, it was less than 1V, with no change in voltage. I am going to AutoZone tonight to have them read the codes, but for future reference (the nearest place I can find with free OBD-I testing services is over an hour away), and for others that may be confused, can anyone guess at what I amy be doing incorrectly? Thank you very much.

I went to AutoZone last night and got some numbers. I say that because the employee that "helped" me, was not very detail oriented. Nevertheless the numbers we got were: 5515511176176
He told me a bunch of BS that I will not get into. After looking at these number and the do-it-yourself guide with codes, I believe that the numbers should be split up as follows:
551 551 1 176 176
The numbers are duplicated because they are hard faults, but I do not know why there is a separator, because, I thought, the separator was only to separate hard and memory codes. Anyhow, the 551 does indicate an IMRC issue (Thanks, Brianiac!), while the 176 indicates an 02 sensor Left/Front issue. I am going to look these up here, I know both have plenty of information on many threads. I just wanted to thank all of you for the help, but ask that you give me any information possible if you think I am on the wrong track. Thanks, again.

I looked over the IMRC FAQ several times before noticing this:
Please note, that 1995 V6's do not have a IMRC box, but instead the secondaries are controlled by vacuum. If the secondaries are not opening, then you either have a vacuum leak or the butterflies are binding.
I also saw this on the CEG Terminology site:
IMRC Intake Manifold Runner Control (vacuum acutated valve on 1995/electronic cable control on 1996+).
I think this may be what I changed already. My cousin called it the vacuum hose for the power break something or other. It was a black vacuum line with a 90 degree elbow going from the engine to a large round black plastic protrusion from the firewall?(separating the engine compartment from the inside of the vehicle). It also has a round metal inline gadget (about the circumfrence of a quarter). Is this the Solenoid? Since I do not have an IMRC, how else can I check the vaccum lines? I cannot find anything in my Haynes manual. Thanks, again!