So, my care hasn't started in 5 or 6 weeks. Won't start, won't crank. I can make the new starter crank by directly applying juice... I worked on it myself for basically a month, and with the help of the New England crew, made a good run at troubleshooting and repairing it. But it was unsuccessful. I replaced the starter, crankshaft sensor, camshaft sensor, both clutch switches, and other stuff I forget.
I paid to tow it to a garage we know. They traced wires and tested... No luck. They said it must be PATS related.
They then towed it a few miles down the road to a Ford dealer. They have had the car for over a week. They couldn't establish any connection with the PCU so ordered one. They ordered the wrong one so that took a week. The tech that is working on it is an older experienced guy. He has replaced many Contours wiring harnesses. He brought to their attention that if they just popped a new PCU in it might also fry, depending on why the first one went.
He spent an hour ($80) today checking wires and is pretty confident that the problem is not the harness. He is going to put the computer in and see what it can tell him.
Computer and labor is going to be about $800 plus the hour or so today. So we now owe them about $900, and we still don't know what is actually wrong.
If it comes up as anything expensive, we are done. We will cut our losses. We will know tomorrow afternoon.
So, long story... What do I do with my Contour? Part it out? ebay? Classifieds? Is there anything worth the trouble? It does have 120k miles. Body is good, no rust. Paint not great. Interior OK, 8 years old. Motor ran fine 6 weeks ago.
Do I just sell it on the side of the road, and make sure they know it won't start... Would that even be worth the trouble? Donate it to some charity? Is it worth towing it back home (more $$) and slowly messing with it? I have no idea what is wrong or where to start now.
I can't afford a replacement car right now. Maybe I can borrow something in the family or something.
This just sucks. Any ideas? IF this is the case (and pretty sure it will be) what do I do with my car. I love that car. We've owned it since it was new, July 1998.
