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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 21
New CEG\'er
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OP
New CEG\'er
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 21 |
hey, im in the market for a new car, and i was looking at a 98 contour sport se. , i was wondering how it performs in the cold weather, and if it should have anything replaced right off th bat, it has 38k miles
thanks for the time
finally:
04 focus lx
5-speed manual
sangria red pics soon hopefully!
spi engine one mod- resonator tip found in road lol
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 388
CEG\'er
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CEG\'er
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 388 |
My 96 did fairly well (although those had heated mirrors), Look into replacing the water pump, try to change it to a metal impeller one instead of a plastic one. If you can wheel and deal a coolant. Only other thing I could think of would be a block heater and a good set of allseason/winter tires.
'03 Protege 5
MTX
'02 Mazda Protege LX
MTX
former owner of: 96 Contour GL
2.5 ATX
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Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 22
New CEG\'er
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New CEG\'er
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 22 |
I happen to be driving a 98 SE myself. Mine has 102K now.
I bought it at 89K and the water pump failed almost instantly. Many people have had trouble with the water pump but if the car in question only has 38K, then you should get another 22K to 60K out of it. When you do replace it, by all means, look on the parts/mods section of this site and get the unit with the metal impeller. The stock unit has a plastic impeller. When it goes, the plastic shatters.
Mine runs just fine in the dead of winter.
PS -- this is what that part of the alphabet would look like without Q and R.
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Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 300
CEG\'er
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CEG\'er
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 300 |
Where do you live? And welcome to the site.
SVT 99 #526 of 2760
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Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 1,049
Hard-core CEG\'er
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Hard-core CEG\'er
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 1,049 |
when i baught my 98 se mtx first thing i did was put in n ew oil mobile 1 full synthetic 5w-30 that everyone here recomends and a k&n oil filter. i also changed my tranny fluid to mobile 1 my car is stick but uses atf fluid. on my car the dpfe sensor went real quick but my warranty covered it. i baught mine at 29,000miles in december of 2002. i just follwo th emaintenance schedule in the booklet but i plan to replace the waterpump for the metal impeler pump as soon as possible i heard a lot of bad stuff about the plastic ones.
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Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 41
New CEG\'er
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New CEG\'er
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 41 |
Originally posted by jlanger:
My 96 did fairly well (although those had heated mirrors), Look into replacing the water pump, try to change it to a metal impeller one instead of a plastic one. If you can wheel and deal a coolant. Only other thing I could think of would be a block heater and a good set of allseason/winter tires.
I have a 96 GL that runs fine in the winter. May start and stall, once or twice, on very cold mornings (-25 C) but other than that runs nicely considering the maritime winters. One other thing to note, these cars handle poorly in snow. I've had 1 or 2 white nuckle events so far this winter that I don't care to remember. I find the rear tends to break traction very easily in the slushy snow.
But I still love my Tour 
____________________
96 GL Sport
2.0L Zetec ATX
Custom Focus Intake
MSD Blaster DIS Coil
____________________
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Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 2,580
Hard-core CEG'er
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Hard-core CEG'er
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 2,580 |
The 1999 and 2000 V6 cars have white plastic impellers that are better. The older [95-98] black plastic ones shatter.
2005 Nissan Sentra 1.8 SE, Code Red. '00 Tropic Green Ford Escort SE [Contour's little cousin]
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Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 3,709
Hard-core CEG\'er
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Hard-core CEG\'er
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 3,709 |
I havent had any weather related problems with my tour and I bought it with 30K a few years ago.Now she has about 74K and all i have done was replace the h2o pump early with the metal one. I didnt want to deal with the plactic pieces.
Originally posted by Chickens:
Religion can't do much for ashholes (unless you are an alterboy)
98.5 Se w/SVT mods
98 E0 SVT~ sold
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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 227
CEG\'er
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CEG\'er
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 227 |
I don't know where you live, but here in VA I don't have any trouble with my Contour in the snow. We normally get 1-4 inches for a typical snowfall, of course much higher and ground clearance becomes an issue.
Like most front wheel drive cars goes goes pretty much where you point it. I suppose the V6 might be heavier over the front wheels than a typical 4 cylinder, and that might help with traction. I acutally like driving unplowed virgin back roads more than the slushy highways. You didn't mention whether the one you're looking at has a manual transmission, I think that helps too by letting you control the traction better.
98 Contour V6 MTX, T-Red, 150k mi. Pic
SVT Dual Exhaust, KKM Intake, Donnely Mirror, Dension DMP3 Player w/80GB of MP3s, Wheelskin
95 F-150
91 Mustang GT
06 Honda Shadow Aero
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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 21
New CEG\'er
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OP
New CEG\'er
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 21 |
thanks for the help i lie in central oregon, so i hae ery different weather conditions, summer about 95
winter.. down to 0
finally:
04 focus lx
5-speed manual
sangria red pics soon hopefully!
spi engine one mod- resonator tip found in road lol
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