Thanks, Tony.
Cleaning the IAC didn't help, so I ended up taking it back to Firestone today. After another 6 hours of futzing around, tehy called back to say that it has completely stumped them. Good thing they're not charging me...
They did tell me that they have an identical Contour in with exactly the same problem. I have no way of verifying CEL codes, but they did tell me that instead of the normal 1-2 codes they get for a standard problem, both my Contour and the other one are giving 6-7 codes.
Guess I'll have to take it into the Ford dealer...
> Jimmer <
Edit: No, no foghorm noise that I can detect - just really crappy idle - surges to about 3k and dies. Found that if I lessen the load on the engine by shutting down the heater (!!! in 10 degree weather) that I can get a very crappy sputtering idle at stoplights. At least I don't have to restart at every stop... Not happy, NOT happy... :-(
