I have gotten some good advice and done a few things to try to correct this issue, from a few different threads and FAQ, but I still cannot figure it out. This is for my Contour, which I purchased a few months ago. Ever since I got it, it had a problem accelerating; it would accelerate fine after a half-second hesitation where it would virtually die, which almost caused a couple accidents. I cleaned the MAF and that took care of the hesitation, but now it will sputter and be on the verge of stalling for the first 2-3 minutes of driving, when cold starting. I have replaced the plugs and wires with Bosch Platinum and replaced a power break(?) vacuum hose that had a leak. These have helped me boost the performance noticably, but not fixed the issue. I am going to replace the PCV valve ASAP, but is there anything else anyone could give me to try? Oh, also, when the sputtering occurs, it is accompanied by a new issue where the steering wheel will be difficult to move more than 10 degrees in either direction, not terrbily so, but requires noticable force to get past. Again, within three minutes it goes away. Both of these syptoms do not seem to go away with warming up the car for 15 minutes before driving, either. Any ideas would be greatly apprecaited.
Also, I do get occasional CEL while driving. About five minutes worth every hour, off and on. They used to come on and off quickly, before I replaced the plugs, but I think the old ones were missing, as they were in bad shape. I cannot seem to find anyone to run an OBD1 diagnostic on my car, so I do not know what the codes are. They do not come on until the care has been driven for a while, so I do know if they are related to the above issue. Thanks!
Last edited by PeruvianHighlander; 05/09/04 04:47 PM.
