Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting 1997 V6 Contour-FAQ dont seem to have answer

Hello. I have a 1997 Contour sport (V6). I've been having a problem with my car for a few months now and I've been documenting whatever i can remember.. okay here goes:

In the Michigan fall (octoberish...) occasionally when I drove at night (in the cold) I heard a constant tone medium high pitched noise coming from under the hood. It wasn't a squealing like a belt problem.. more like a sorta humming noise. I can say it occurs at two times. 1) When the care is idling. I would say 50% of the time my car is idling at a stop light I hear this noise and it is accompanied by my RPM's fluctuating back and forth from approxmiately 500 RPM to 1000 RPM. While this is happening my car will jerk forward with the rise in RPM and stop with the fall in RPM but of course if i hold the brake down hard enough the car wont move. At night when my dashboard lights are brighter i can often times see the lights get brighter and dimmer with the fluctuation in RPM and humming noise. Two times now the "jerking" of the care due to the RPM changes has caused my car to stall. One at a stand still, one turning into a drive. On very rare occasions something peculiar happens.. the "O/D" (overdrive?) light will blink at a constant medium paced rate on and off. Another odd thing I have noticed that may be totally unrelated is that my right blinker flashes twice as fast as it should sometimes.

As far as I can tell the symptoms seem to happen moreso when its very cold outside. I have taken the care in for repair of a check engine light.. the cause of that was a leak in my intake gasket.. so i had that replaced and the hoses replaced and that made the check engine light go away. Also, the guy said my fuel injectors needed cleanly badly so i had them professionally cleaned. My mechanic does good work.. a friend of mine.. honest guy. So I'm not questioning his integrity. I just want to have some ideas of what could be wrong with the car next time i bring it in. If anyone has any ideas of what could be wrong I would really appreciate your input. I really cannot remember what recalls if any I have gotten on the car. I think i took it in once for a recall but cant remember why.

Also.. unrelated.. i have some other quirks wrong with the car. The heater/ac blower shuts off if i put it all the way on the highest setting. My left taillight fills up with water over time from rain.. Any tips please?

*EDIT*: Oh yeah.... the noise comes from a black box (yeah i dont know much about cars). If you're standing in front of the car.. pop the hood and look under.. the black box is in approximately the Upper-Right corner.