I have a new more significant problem, but maybe this will point to a more definate issue/solution. After a week or so of a sudden and major driveability change where engine rpms ran high at all speeds/gears(automatic), tempature guage ran near/under the cold mark I can no longer keep my Contour running.
Yesterday while driving home from work the temp guage started to rise back up to the midpoint at the "R" in Normal when I was unable to restart it after stopping at a store. A person had to give me a jump to start and I was able to get back across the road to my home but now it won't stay running.
Removing the battery and placing it on a charger shows its fully charged, but the car constantly needs a jump to start. Once started, reving the gas in park in an attempt to charge the battery only results in a stall once I lift the peddal up. Even when I can put it into drive and start moving, as soon as I use the break and turn a the same time, the car will stall.
What should I do to get it running long enough so I can take it in to a shop to fix or even drive it to a dealer as a trade in? What could cause such a major change in the behavior of the vehicle when it ran fine a week or two ago?
