Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Problems with car..........

I would be interested to know if there was a "Check Engine Light" as well. Is this an automatic or manual shift?

I am not 100% on this, but the other things sound like they could cause this, but most of the time bad plugs will show signs that they need to be changed by a rough idle, stumble in the idle every now and then, stumble at "high speeds", so on and so on.

Honestly, if it is an automatic, I think it is your Torque Convertor Clutch or possible a bad/worn band in the transmission.

Without getting into a ton of specifics, you may ask yourself, "But how and why?". Poor maintaince practices by the previous owners. Our autos require some rather aggresive maintaince practices when compared to most others. Just remember in the future, that you should have your tranny fluid changed at least every 12,000 miles. Most of us here have found that this is the easiest way to fend off these demons. Don't worry about the filter, it is not serviceable. It is located deep within the transmission case.

Since you are going to be calling the shop/dealer this morning, I will save you the worries of testing things yourself.

If it is the tranny, don't panic! The dealer will not rebuild it. They will have to replace it. Most dealers will not rebuild these units. If the tranny is your problem, just be glad that you have that warrenty. Good luck!

if its an MTX, im leaning toward a bad clutch or shifter linkage. seems like thereis a delay between the time you put it in gear and the time it actually goes in gear.

My contour is a 2000 V6. Not sure if that helps any...(I failed to mention that on my first post on this thread).

I finally got a hold of my sales guy from the dealership, and he said that he was going to talk to his manager, and see what he could do to get my car in. He said he would call me back in 30 minutes (it has already been an hour). I am giving him until noon, and then I'm calling back.

The jerking in my car does seem like a hesitation. That's a good way to explain it. It only seems to do it when you first start driving, for the first few minutes, and then goes away. I hope whatever it is, they fix for me.

GO GET 'EM!!!!

The guy from the dealership called. He wanted me to tell him *again* exactly what my car was doing. Once I told him everything, again, he said that he would look up my warranty, and see if it covers "it". He said he couldn't promise me anything, and said he would call me back shortly.

How in the world can HE determine if they can cover "it" under my warranty, if he doesn't even know what "it" is, that is going on??? They would have to LOOK at it to determine if my warranty covers it or not! I wish I wouldn't have gone to this dealership. Nothing but crap from them since I bought the car. It's like once you buy it, you're on your own!

If he calls back and says no, I'm taking myself up there, and I'll be SURE to have a nice talk with the OWNER of the dealership, and if he's not there, I will go there EVERY DAY until he is there!

Grrrrr....this is so frustrating!!!

Karilyn,

Start documenting your interactions with the dealership. List names, times, dates, and summerize what was said in conversations. This could become extremely useful in the future. Additionally, did you buy the car from a Ford Dealership?

No - I bought it used from a Pontiac Dealership.

I also just wrote down all of the things that have gone on so far, and I am saving them. Each time something happens, I will add it on, and print it out if necessary. Thanks for the idea.

lol - and the longer I wait for this jerk to call, the madder I get! He called at 12:00 p.m. and it is now 3:30 p.m. I am just ITCHING to call him, but I want to see how long it actually takes for him to *remember* to call.