First time poster, glad I found this forum.
I have a 1995 Ford Contour LX with 127,000 miles. Last year the O2 sensor and then catalytic converter went bye-bye (usualy cats have porous holes, mine is now a fused solid block - which tends to impede exhaust flow) and apparently the engine has enough damage with the fuel running so rich for so long that the three mechanics that have looked at it said it's not worth fixing.
Found a deal on another vehicle for the wife so this Contour became our third vehicle, waiting patiently in the garage until the lease on my current vehicle was up. Now time is up and I get to drive the Contour instead of my wife.
So, now I'm "fixing" it by dropping in another working 2.5L V6 Duratec, the same engine but with 100,000 less miles (24,000 miles on the engine.) The price for this is $2,600 US. This price is actually less than two out of the three estimates for repairing the vehicle, so this is the way I'm going for the moment.
My question is this: Is there a better engine to use than the 2.5L V6 duratec? And since I'm the second owner of this vehicle, I don't know that the rated HP should even BE on this engine. 150 HP? 180HP? Has anyone replaced an engine in their Contour/Mystique/Modeo and have any advice for me?
BTW I'll also be looking at a new cat system / exhaust system. Apparently these engines combine the exhaust manifold AND the cat into one piece, that's why it's so expensive to fix? Any hints on this topic?
Thanks in advance for any help.
