I feel your pain. my hesitation lasted amost a year and after I couldnt find the problem, I finally took it to a dealer and they told me what exactly was wrong.

See the dealers are always bad.

'95 Contour GL, zetec mtx, drop in K&N, exhaust res removed, 4 10" Kenwoods powered by 1000W Visonik amp, 4 5"x7"/6"x8" Visoniks

"Buy American or apply for Japanese welfare."

www.geocities.com/fordcontour05/contour.html