Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Car is stalling at traffic lights/stop lights. AH!

I have a 1996 Ford Contour GL.

My car's timing belt broke last week while driving home from school. As you guys know, this car has a non-interference engine, so the engine was luckily not damaged. It cost $400 for the timing belt and pulleys to be replaced.

When I drove it again for the first time yesterday night, it stalled a couple of times. Once, when I was at a stop light and one more time, when I was just sitting idle. The idle is not smooth at times, jumping up a bit and then down a bit. To insure that it kept running, I pressed the gas pedal a bit when the car was stopped.

Now, I know my battery is dying, I am getting it replaced tomorrow. COULD THIS BE THE REASON though? I thought once a car is started, the battery will get recharged by the running engine. Can it ever get too weak? My is so weak in fact, when I got gas before my timing belt broke down, I left my lights on for 5 minutes when I refilled my tank, and I couldn't even start it until I had my car jumped.

I just hope that is the case, and it's not something else.

1. You could have a dead cell in your battery.
2. Your alternator may not be putting out enough to keep
the battery charged.
3. Your starter could be pulling to many amps. Have a
starter draw test performed.

They can test for these symptoms at your local garage if you still have the problem after replacing the battery.

Pending upon how old the battery is, I would almost definately say yes.

Dead battery can and does cause poor idle and stalling... especially noticeable in manual vehicles due to the slightly lower idle speed.

Ok, I went to Sears and bought a Die Hard Gold Battery. $74.99. Meh...

I'm going to replace the battery and see if that helps.

BTW, the battery is about 5 years old.

let us know if that fixes your problem

IF it doesn't, I would look at the IAC (even though this happened right after the belt replacement...)


I mean.. if it can be a battery (nothing to do with the belt) then it can be the IAC...

Idle Air Control valve..


Ray