Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Prototype Parts on 95 Mystique

Hello All,

I was wondering if anyone else is having the same problems I am.

I have a 95 Mystique with the 2.5L / auto. Heater Core needed to be replaced two months ago. Important here in Michigan. Anyway, pulled the old one out, went to the parts store and got an aftermarket replacement, and the hose connections were 3/4 in. The old part had 5/8 in hose connections. The parts store contacted the manufacture of the part as well as other manufactures that make the same replacement part. When all was said and done they said the part must have been an early production part and that a aftermarket replacement part was not available. Soooooo....I had a radiatior shop fix the core for me. I did not try to get one from the dealer due to the cost and knew absolutly nothing about the issue (of course).

So, last week the starter goes out. I get a replacement from the same parts store (bendix part). I pull the old one (boy was that fun) set it on the tool bench, set the new one next to it, and low and behold, the solenoid had the contact for the ignition wire on the opposite side. If any of you have done this repair, you know the wireharness is molded to fit the solenoid. I contated bendix, they took the numbers off of the old starter and told me that I had the correct replacement but that I might have had an early production run part. Soooo...I cut the wire off of the harness, crimped a new lug on the wire and put the starter back in.

I used to work in the auto industry (not Ford). There was no way we could get away with using parts on a production vehicle that was not a production part. The used to call it PPAP. Prodution Part Approval Process. And the parts needed to be fully PPAP'd to use in production.

Sorry for the long post, but has anyone else run into this issue? I did buy this vehicle new. It was delivered in January 1995, ordered in November 94 (seat maker went on strike which delayed the build)

Anyone have any idea what's Ford's responsibility would be in a situation like this? Being the car is so old now, I would think that they would disown any liability. But I only have 80 K on the car and really like not having a car payment. I understand that parts start to break after that long...but when you can't get the correct replacement parts!?

Thanks in advance for any advice or suggestions.

well my car was built in 9/94 and I haven't run across anything like this yet, there are somethings that were changed during later production like the calbe to electric speedo so I would chaulk it up to a change

So, how does one find out about the "Changes" you speak of? The aftermarket community does not seem to know about them. The Dealer is clueless. And the factory shop manuals that I bought to service the car makes no mention about them.

Thanks in advance.

i guess you don't, that is why it is often best to take parts and match then before buying


another thing is to look at the 98.5 cars that have the 98 features that were suppose to be taken out, like the clock

i think alot of it has to with what Ford has on hand when the car is built, but I don't think prototype parts would be used on a car

how to fins out about the changes, compair to others and try to determine by build dates when a change might have happened
can one see there heater core connections easily? I cna try to take a look and tell you what I have

It would be tough to tell by looking at them. The heater core comes through the firewall down low. There is "VERY" little room to connect the molded hoses to the core tubes. If there was more room I could have used some type of transition connector and the 3/4 tube core.

That problem is fixed now, so I'm not worried about it. I just find it frustrating that the aftermarket parts are different. Especially when, after talking to the part manufacture they tell me, "Well, we show that part number as the correct part." When it isn't. That's the whole point of after market parts....getting a good replacement without getting robbed by the dealer.

True, had I pulled the replacement part out and took it with me, I would have known before purchasing it that it was different. Either way I would have been left with the decision to cut the harness and "rig" the repair. Something that I just don't like to do.

Thanks anyway for the comments. Something I'll just have to live with I guess.

I been through all this with my car as well...mine is a 95 Mystique, and it does make a differance. There is two productions a 94 early and 94/95 late production on the 95 cars. I found this out from the dealer and your vin# will varify what yours is. I wanted to get the egr tube and the guy asked me is the thread ends male male or male female...I said duh what??? He said well some are male male and some are female male....ok I said why two types??? He said that there is two dif production styles and I asked well how would I know? He said vin# tells which one yours takes. So there you have it....we all know that every car is not built the same...including the two items you describe and add the one I just described thats three we know of for sure. So yes...match it up or run your vin# with the dealer to see if there is more than one choice for your car before you buy something. You can still buy aftermarket but if there is two styles...then at least you'll know for sure.

Its not uncommon for ANY car maker to change parts while a model is in production. That's why, when you go into the parts store, and they ask for your VIN number, they are trying to narrow down when your car was made. Additionally, at the time of model turn-around, its not unusual to find parts from two different model years incorporated into the same vehicle. For example, I have a 1998 Explorer, and it was made during the week Ford was going through the 1997-1998 changeover. Some features of my Explorer are still 1997 model year, but it has some 1998 year upgrades too. The dealer told me that these "hybrid" vehicles are usually reserved for "executives" or lease vehicles, since they're definitely not 100% correct for the current model year.

i ran into this with my 96se. i needed a throttle post. sensor, so i ordered it from adv. auto parts i get it and it has a rectangle connection my car has more of a oval shaped one...so i went to ford waited a week for one to come in...you guessed it same square connection...so he pulls my vin i give the old part#20 mins later he has two in stock and they cost 18.00 more