I think my Contour is possessed!

Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives

Really crazy things are happening. Sometimes when the air is on it runs hot, I never let the temp gage get into the red, I can turn the air off and within 5 minutes it is normal temp again. This only happens "sometimes". We have changed the water pump, belts, thermostat, flushed the radiator.

Then, last Monday it started running hot, I turned off the air and when I stopped at a stop sign and went to take off it went crazy, odometer bounced around, radio started scaning for stations and windshield wipers came on. I could not get it to go over 10 MPH and it finally died. Tried to start and she was dead no clicking ...nothing.

We had it towed to a shop, they kept it all week, put it on the scann/scope thing and there was nothing showing except a vacuum line messed up which they fixed. They let it run and drove it and could not get it to do anything wrong.

I get it back on Friday afternoon, Saturday it was great, nice cold air, no running hot, nothing. Today I drive it less than 10 miles it gets hot again and before I could get it home the crazyness started all over just like before.

It is a 1995 v6, any ideas we are at a loss.

Have you done this yet?

Originally posted by projectSHO89:
Check to make certain the electric cooling fan starts up at the same time as when the A/C is switched on. Failure of the low speed fan dropping resistor seems to be really common.
...
Steve

Originally posted by Ladyh29:
...

Then, last Monday it started running hot, I turned off the air and when I stopped at a stop sign and went to take off it went crazy, odometer bounced around, radio started scaning for stations and windshield wipers came on. I could not get it to go over 10 MPH and it finally died. Tried to start and she was dead no clicking ...nothing.
...

In addition, this could be a bad battery or alternator gone bad.

What instrument panel lights come on when the engine is running?

We have checked and both fans are running when the a/c is on. I really believe there is a loose wire or something cause it don't happen all the time.

The yellow light with the fan on it stays on all the time, it has since we got the car a couple years ago.

Check the main wiring harness for the engine. It could have problems with it. Call a dealership service department and give them your VIN# ask to see if the recall 99M03 was performed on your car. It sounds like your wiring for your electric fans has an intermident connect. If the wiring touches ground your drawing a lot of current and you will experiance syptoms of a battery going dead i.e. wipers coming on, radio cutting in and out, tach bouncing around abnormally, etc and since your fans are not running you will experiance overheating issues.

Chances are the recall wasn't performed and you have some wiring issues in one of the four harnesses listed in that recall. Good luck.

Originally posted by Ladyh29:
The yellow light with the fan on it stays on all the time, it has since we got the car a couple years ago.

Try filling the coolant reservoir to half inch above the max line with 50/50 coolant.

Mike thank you for the information. I will call a dealership tomorrow. Do you know if there is any chance of getting Ford to pay for it, if that is the problem?

I did have to have the blower motor switch replaced last year and even tho it was out of the time frame Ford reimbursed me.

For some reason I could not log in under my previous id.

I did take my car to a dealership. After 2 days they called and said they could not continue with diagnostics because my alternator was not charging enough to allow them to do the test. I did have it checked last week and it showed no problems.

Anyway I asked what the charge would be to put a new alternator on and they told me $505. Of course I almost fainted. I can buy the alternator at Advance for $128.

I have not given them the ok to do the alternator. Is it possible that the alternator could be the problem causing all of this?

Oh that recall has not been preformed on my car

Wiring harness recall:

"PROGRAM TERMS:

This program provides extended coverage on certain under hood wire harnesses through 10 years or 100,000 miles which ever occurs first, from the original warranty start date.

AFFECTED VEHICLES

Certain 1995 - 1997 Contour and Mystique vehicles built from Job #1 1995 through Model Year End 1997."

They may or may not honor it. Give it a shot.

Alternator:

I haven't done one yet, but I read that it is a large economy sized bear to do. I probably wouldn't blame any tech that charges for a lot of labor for that job.