Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting why does my car suck so much?

Originally posted by MysticFreak:

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Originally posted by TourDeForce:

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Originally posted by PeruvianHighlander:

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... now I have an issue where my car will be on the verge of stalling for the first two minutes of cold starting. I am going to replace the plugs and wires this weekend. I will let you know how it goes.

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Before spending money, you might consider changing the air filter, & cleaning out your idle control valve - I assume there is an equivalent to the IAC on the 4 cylinder cars.

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And also change your PCV valve. It needs to be done anyhow....Haynes manual says every 30k and its not expensive. My car would run pretty frikkin wierd on cold starts and act like she wanted to stall, with rpms sometimes dipping as low as 200. Stealership told me that a clogged PCV valve would not cause those symptoms but as soon as the PCV valve was replaced the trouble was gone. I know more about my car than my stealership! Hahahahah! Funny.....and yet sad.

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A dealership will tell you anything, the service department makes their money! I agree on a few things. 1. Change the PCV, it's only a few bucks. 2. Replace the plugs with Bosch not Autolite (Autolite Are To cold). 3. DO NOT USE Regular Unleaded, use at the very least Plus. And 4. Dump a bottle of GUNK injector cleaner in a half tank of gas. Do all of that and your car should be tip top within a few days - as long as it's not timing.

One other note of interest. Every so often you should flush out your crankcase with GUNK engine flush before an oil change, this keeps the sludge build up out and old oil smell gone which can be detected by your various sensors. I've used GUNK engine flush for decades, it works! The injector cleaner does too.

Thomas