Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting 1995 ford contour gl zetec auto worst contour ever

1st off this car is so poopie (but not for the money) I got it for $130 it has suspension problems all around the car replaced the front strut assemblys for $22 (snaped coil springs) a few days ago it felt like something snapped off the back end of my car......my range sensor is shot so I have to shift it manually and I have no 1st gear nor overdrive.... When manually shifting the car hits a rev limiter at 45 in 2nd and a rev limiter at 65 in 3rd........cup holder is shot......stablizing bar problems.........cv joint boot is ripped now.....shifts so hard plus it dies out when you 1st start it and put it into gear u gota let it warm up for like 30 secs..... when shifting from reverse to drive you usually get a loud slam..... It overheats hardcore (I have no temp light/gauge dont work) but the fan is on 24/7 the blower motor dont work (keeps blowing fuses one after another) The stock speakers crackle 50% of the time...... No options in this pos (pretty much none not even tilt or cruise) when I shut the car off anti-freeze sprays all over the place cause it squirts out of my resivour cap.....when the transmission had a good range sensor it sliped from drive to overdrive...... quite possibly the worst ford contour on the road

ok...you got the car from some ass who didnt take care of it...fix it up and drive it right, and it will be there for the enjoyment of your grandchildren...

I hate to break this to ya dude.....but when a vehicle is rediculously cheap there is usually a reason. Or lots and lots of reasons. Seriously, I paid more for my tune-up I had last month than you paid for the whole car. A vehicle in good running condition would never ever be sold for $130.

i knew someone who had a 1995 pontiac Grand AM GT. biggest piece on the planet. he bought it used in 1997 with a price tag of a mere 2300 dollars...6 motnhs later (in 1998), heater core goes, flooding the interior with coolant/water...ok so the insides runied. none of the gauges work, the radio shorted out, power seats dont work, Electronic cruise control doesnt work...nothing works. every light in the dash was on (looked like x-mas),the dome lamp caught on fire when he tried to turn it on (i dunno if that was related to water or not...but i cant imagine it was way up there)...anyways:



then he got all that fixed...4000 dollars.

2 transmissions (ATX) (1500 a pop) and 6 months later, hes off the road again with a bad ECU. he replaces that...

(BTW all of this has been replaced under factory warranty...)
soo lets see where are we now...2300+4000+1700+3000=10,500

ok car works great for about a year and then boom...there goes the motor. #3, 4 and 6 rods went. by this time it was out of warranty. to this day, the car sits behind his house, rotting. its not worth fixing, it has a salvage title now. he defaulted on the loan and the bank wont reposess it because they would have to drive from iowa, (he lives in phoenix) and get the car and then have it shipped/towed back. they cant get anything out of it without spending more money on it. this guy had to give up a 1990 Mustang 5.0 foxbody to the bank as collateral...HE WAS PISSED. he defaulted because without that car he couldnt do his job, his wife drove the mustang which was a gas hog to say the least. and as far as he was driving at the time (up to and beyone 100K a year as a nationwide courier) the mustang woulndt of made it. he now owns one of the highest mileage civics on the road...1994 civiv LX sedan, fully loaded...657,000 miles...2nd engine, 3rd trans (MTX) 6th clutch. thats one thing i can say about hondas...they keep on going and going and going and going...


needless to say he will never own a pontiac again...and i will never own one at all...because of this.


what was my point?


oh yea...if ithe price is too good to be true, then it probably is.

So you bought a 9 year old car for $130.
Did you have a good mechanic look at it before you bought it to see if it was in descent shape?
If not it's your own fault not the cars!

I bought my car in '99 with the condition that my mechanic got to look at it.
If he didn't like it, then I didn't buy it.

Buying a used car isn't like buying a new car.
New cars have no repair cost because of warranty.
Buying used means you better put aside $2000.00 just incase!

My car has cost me tons of money, but that's because I want it running like new.
Preventative maintenance!

You may blame the car, but in the end it's your own fault for thinking a $130 car
will run like brand new and will never need repairing!
Hell, even if you put $1000.00 in repairs into it your still ahead!

Instead of flaming the car you could've come here and asked for help on how to fix your problems, but after this who's gonna help you.
Me just ask!

Moderator you should lock this thread now!