Originally posted by Will Keith:
First time user - site is fantastic. Bought my 96 'tour for $1.00 Cdn. 178,000 km, no rust - no one wants them up here in Alberta! I was scared to buy the car at any price, hearing about reputation of 'tours, but looking over your website changed my mind. 3 questions, if I may: starter on my V6 when first starting on cold mornings sometimes doesn't engage (but does spin), but then engages on 2nd or 3rd try. Engages fine once car has been started for the day. Suggestions? Where can I find an owners manual, the kind you find in your glove box? I bought a workshop manual, but would like to find an owners manual, condition unimportant as long as complete and readable. Lastly, where can I find more details on my particular model of Contour: it's a '96 GL, but with the V6, auto trans, and disc brakes on all four corners. The color (apparently stock) is a bright slightly metallic turquois blue-green - any ideas what this color is called? Many thanks. Will Keith



Ok take this from someone who knows this problem first hand.
I would be willing to bet that your problem is not starter related...however...a good place to start. Remove your starter in any case to fix this problem. Look carefully into the hole your starter comes out from, and pay close attention to the flywheel on the engine. Shine a good light into the starter access hole and look for teeth on the flywheel missing or rounded off. You may have to have someone hand crank the engine very slowly as you inspect the gear. If in fact the ring gear has any damage at all...there is one fix, and one fix only....its replacing the ring gear.Its a major job to do and a real pain in the butt. Ford has a new and improved ring gear. I did mine myself...but expect alot of work, as the tranny has to come out. Your symptoms describe it perfect...sometimes it starts and sometimes it won't. Thats because the starter will sometimes catch the edge of the rounded off teeth and other times finds a very bad spot and fails to engage and just spins. Check it out, from the access cover to the flywheel to torque converter bolts under the car...there is a little cover you can remove. If you need advice to do the job PM me or search these forums you should find more info on it. EXPECT MAJOR WORK !!!