Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting i HATE my stupid ass contour

Same here. I've had no major problems with my Contour either, and have put a hard 60,000 miles on it.

I only hope my next car can take this abuse and not break down!

Your car probably needs the wiring recall done. Have the Mechanic take the battery out and look at the wires going into the underhood fuse box. I bet he finds some bare wires. I doubt it's the Alternator or the car wouldn't have run on the way to the gas station.

These contours have the same problem as some Mazda's. Check and CLEAN engine to bnody ground straps thoroughly. If you get a bad connection you may get all lights etc on but not enough amps to crank that starter.Remember a starter is a series wound motor and just about short circuits your battery when starting so make sure all battery and ground connections are clean..clean..clean.!!!
Quick alternator check.Run Engine check voltage at battery terminals. Should be about 13 volts or higher.Don't own a voltmeter? Then pay a good auto electrical guy to figure out the problem!!

Yeah, that can happen -- my old Mazda 626 wouldn't start a couple of times and the problem turned out to be simple tarnishing of the end of the main cable to the starter. A little sandpaper on the metal and it was fine.

Unfortunately I'd already paid for a new starter.

I am going to agree with Lee here. There is a recall for the wire harness and I just had mine changed out. Check it out. There were several visible wires and cracking insulation, but then I looked at it once they pulled it out and I was lucky that my car didn't go up in flames one day. I also consider myself lucky that the only "non-maintenance" work done was having to change out the four motor mounts and a belt tensioner. *Crossing Fingers* I notice that so many people here are having A/C problems, and again, I am fortunate since I NEED A/C in New Orleans. I LOVE my car. I have since the first moment I saw it, and I still owe $3k. Yeah, they made a killing off of me. :rolleyes: Good luck!

You can't really blame it on Ford that you went and put in all this high watt stereo equipement in without upgrading the charging system, and expecting it to all work fine forever. You must remember that when you are overtaxing the charging system with the hi-watt stereo blaring loud, then you must turn some of the other accesories off during that time so your alternator isn't full fielding for long periods. Because doing that will burn out the diodes in ANY alternator. If you want to be able to turn all your accesories on high full bore along with your stereo cranked, then you need to put in like a 150-200 amp alternator so your charging system wont be running at 100% all the time. If it wasn't you doing that, then it was probably the previous owner who did. My '95 Contour has 110,000 miles on it, all systems still pulling strong.

damn pricy cars i got a 99lx w/ 65000 miles for 4000 fully loaded minus leahter and sunroof

98 SVT's can suck too ya know...

Each day brings a new challenge with my SVT. Everytime I get rid of one bug, another pops up! I get as pissed as possible with my SVT. I walk away from it in disgust, wondering why I ever bought the used-up POS.
Then, I drive it and fall in love all over again with its' superb handling and superior acceleration. It shifts like a dream, the clutch is positive; it responds to my every desire with all the heart it has.
Ahh, if I could only find a woman to cradle me with the same tender but secure grip of its' seats. Only a faithful old dog could ever match my SVT's desire to please me!
John
98 SVT

My alternator is starting to give me warning signs also.
I got on the throttle a few days ago, and as the RPMs rose up over 5000 rpm,
the battery light slowly went from dim to bright as the RPMs passed 6000.
When the RPMs went back down the light went off and the voltage returned to normal.

Too bad I can't replace just the brushes and regulator.