Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting AC makes car jerk every few seconds

Every time I have my AC on(That's everyday in humid ass Louisiana)the car makes a humming sound and jerks. It really pisses me off.When it jerks it will pick up speed by about 1 to 4 miles an hour by itself and it is really annoying. Can anyone help or give suggestions. By the way I see two other SVT's(both black and one of you guys are always flashing your lights at me when you pass) in town all the time yall need to give me a halla so we can get together sometimes.

98 T-Red SVT #2472 of 6535
Mods: Removed resonator,K&N air filter,Removed hood liner,removed ding guards
Future Mods: KKM intake, Borla cat back,sho y pipe,suspension kit (don't know which one yet),and many more

welcome to discovering one of the Contour's greatest pet-peeves - nothing to fix it either

Yes I know, it's a ripper. I too find it annoying. I gave my airconditioning a good workout the other day - cycle on cyle off - constant. It really bogs the car down, it is a real power drain. Someone did mention that changing the pollen filter can make a big difference to the HVAC(?) What is HVAC?

Rob

Get used to it, the AC draws a lot of power from the car making jump. Can't fix it.

HVAC = Heating Ventillation Air Conditioning

Get used to it, the AC draws a lot of power from the car making jump. Can't fix it.

HVAC = Heating Ventillation Air Conditioning

Does anyone know where the instructions are on the web site for changing the pollen filter? As well, thanks for the HVAC information.

Thanks,
Rob

hmm, now I'm thinking - what about an aftermarket AC unit? I know my Dad was telling me about the A/C compressor in the Ford Probe was only supposed to remove less than 2% of the horsepower due to it's design, and I believe it - his '89 Probe drove identical when A/C was on or off....

Ford Techies - got any data for us???

Check out the HOWTO's section in the FAQ. It's one of the topmost topics.

Regards,

Thanks everyone, I just wanted to know if there was something to fix the problem. The jerking is really aggrevating and I am thrilled to know there is nothing I can do to fix it. Yall think if I went to Ford and told them the problem that they would beable to fix it or has that already been done? Also anyone knows exactly what causes the jerking? (Compressor maybe)

OK, I'm going to contradict everyone on this A/C and surge problem, because mine was fixed.

I took my 98.5 Mystique in just before end of warranty on this very issue. The surge caused the revs to jump by about 250 RPM every five or so seconds and caused uncontrolled acceleration when it happened if I was at slow speeds (pulling up at a stop light). Over the course of six (!!!) weeks my dealer recharged the system and replaced everything.

The "replace everything" was prompted by a hard-to-find leak in the refrigerant starting during the first repair (recharge and replace accumulator). Over the six weeks of trying to fix the leak the following was replaced: all hoses, o-rings, accumulator, evap core, and compressor.

The two pluses from this are that I got to drive an Escape for most of the time for free and that the surge is completely gone. OK, there is still a very slight hiccup every once in a while at a stop light when A/C is on, but no surge.

So it is fixable, but I wouldn't want anyone to go through what I did.

Oh yeah, the leak turned out to be in a pressue switch behind some electronics, which was why it was hard to find - no-one looked inside the switch.