Hi!! Ferret II runs great!!!! Very perky. They think the engine flooding occurred because the key was left turned while the brakes were flushed. Still no real idea about the racket a mechanic supposedly heard, although they mentioned the TSB on the hydraulic tensioners as possibly related to it, but that shouldn't approach the sound of an interference engine blowing a timing chain or tensioner. Anyway, my car doesn't have the telltale rattle of tensioner wear. Somehow *it seems* they mistook a flooded engine for a self-destructing one. However, after I left today I realized that one of the mechanics reminds me of a mechanic at a Ford shop involved in another big repair bungle on Ferret II a couple years back... I'm going to try and find out if it's the same mechanic - probably just my overactive imagination being paranoid.
They didn't charge for the 60K service (flushed/filled four systems, new Ford plugs due to the flooding, thorough inspection) which made me a lot better (though not nearly as good as knowing I was going to drive my car home!). I also am sure they did a good job. On the positive side, I gained knowledge about the tensioner TSB (in fact I now have a long list of all '95 Contour TSBs), though I need to check if the tensioner TSB applies to my '95, i.e. if it's an early enough '95 model. In any case, knowing to listen for a telltale tensioner rattle could some day save Ferret II's engine (and life)! On the shop's end they're getting a new service manager this week. I guess the old one stormed out after being fired yelling that he was the greatest; only been there two months and didn't seem to have any experience at all they said, despite sterling references; he'd been generating complaints.
I like the Chrysler spec ATF+3 oil in the tranny; the shift feels cleaner, at least in third and fourth; not sure about first and second yet. I need to drive more.
Today's mechanic gave me details about his inspection (he seems to have done a thorough one) and said Ferret II is in very good shape, except I have a bent left rear wheel and the bolt is off my rear exhaust heat shield. I'm too embarrassed to say what I drove over a while back, but I was really happy afterward that my car drove at all. I'm a good driver but it was the first day on a job and I was pretty nervous and distracted... okay, it was a concrete parking strip, front and rear left wheels. The car's been aligned since. I have directional tires so they couldn't rotate that tire, as they didn't want to take it off the wheel and rebalance it - hm.. - and didn't want to put the wheel on the front, saying it would vibrate. Wish I hadn't bought directionals!
They also put the balance weights back where they belong, on the inside of the wheels, so my pretty SE wheels look nice and clean again.
I do need to buy a good '95 SE wheel though, so if anyone knows of a good used one for sale please let me know. I'll check out the CEG website ads. I think they run $250 - 300 used. Maybe I can find my old Cherry Ferret, my first '95 SE, totalled by a teen while parked. State Farm bought her for the junkyard
.... but would never tell me where they sold her.
It's fun knowing a little about mechanics (just enough to be dangerous). Today the mechanic that worked on my car, who I thoroughly liked, told me it has four oxygen sensors, and I said the '95 Contours have two oxygen sensors while the later models, '96 on up I was pretty sure, have four. He also said the only two things they didn't do for the 60K were the air filter and the passenger compartment filter, and I said I do those myself (nothing at all to crow about; I even broke a plastic bolt changing the pass comp filter).
I'M SO GLAD TO HAVE FERRET II BACK!!!!!!!! It's almost worth all this to feel even more appreciative of such a great little rig. Ferret II got a full tank of premium on the way home in reward
.
Lynn &
'95 Ford Contour SE (V-6) MTX, 60K, electric red, "Ferret II"
