Well, I finally broke down and had my car towed to my local for dealer. They traced the "no spark" issue to the wiring harness. Apparently, when they did a harness replacement under warranty 18 months ago, they only did the cooling fan harness. After pointing out that the recall specified that all harnesses should be replaced if even one is faulty (using the ONP 99M03 document in the
Common Problems section of contour.org), they have agreed to replace the other harnesses, even though my car has 115k miles on it.
I think this is a good example of how not all dealerships are out for the quick buck, and many are willing to do what is right for the customer. I still won't be buying a Ford again in the near future, but I'll be happy to give them my future service business and refer friends.
If anyone is curious, this was at Universal Ford, in Glen Allen, VA.
One other note: Given that this failure was in the wiring for the ignition system, and that I previously had the hesitation problem common in V6's from 95/96, I suspect that this widespread hesistation issue may be wiring-related. Just a thought, and I'll post more info once I get my car back and can test it.
Geoff
