First off, PRINT OFF THE RECALL. All 60-some pages of it. It's a Ford document and *where* you got it doesn't matter. You need to have this in hand when you go talk to the service manager, so if/when they play dumb, you have a reference. When I went in, the service writer pulled the "Well, we'll have to take a look before we can say if it's eligible for the recall" and I flipped to the page where the diagnostic flowchart and diagrams were and popped the hood. Five minutes later, he was logging my car into the system.
Second, the book time for the job is 12 hours. I talked at length with the mechanic (who was a Contour owner too) about how the book time and the actual job time differed, and he said that he could do it faster by just pulling the engine. I *was* going to slip him a C-note after it was done, but he quit working for Ford before my car was finished.
Third, the recall doesn't specify how the wiring damage has to happen, just that it does. My harnesses were busted up all over the place...at the fan relay, back by the firewall, at the MAF connection, and along the fuel rail. Location doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is the time/mileage allowance.
