Car: 95 Contour SE V6 Auto
Well here are the problems:
-Car runs incredibly rough, like really rough
-its not misfiring or running rich
-engine shakes at idle
-car has no power at all
-i can hear a whirring noise at when i give the car gas, it comes from the passenger side by the engine.
-I noticed a lot of black fluid around the passenger side of the car, it seems a lot like power steering fluid.
-when in gear the car runs so rough i can hear the car shaking..
-rpms are about 600 at idle
Please help me here. I need this car fixed ASAP
If you find out what it is, post here for the rest of us.
My car does that, too, just started out of the blue one day. It runs fine when cold, but runs like yours once it warms up.
Your power steering may be dumping some fluid, check the reservoir and hoses for leaks. Are there any cracked wires or does the connector to the power steering switch look damaged?
That switch is the one on the passenger side, it's in the power steering line, has a connector sticking in it right near the top of the engine.
Check the hard vacuum line to the brake booster. These cars love to rub holes in that line right where it goes under all those hoses down under the throttle body.
We found a huge vacuum leak in mine when we were looking through the lines. I was hoping that would fix it, but it didn't make a bit of difference.
Looked at it again last night.. Couldent find anything in the oil so the engine is pretty good.. I drove it around a bit, and i noticed that when i put the car in gear it runs REALLY rough, i got my dad to put it in gear while i listen from the engine bay, and it clicks when in gear.. Its not rhythmic tho, its random.. It also smelt like burning plastic in the engine bay. Could this be something with the power steering gears/pump? Or could it be transmission related. The Car only clicks when in gear, in park or neutral it runs rough (not as) but no clicking.
Anyone got any ideas?
Our Contours are so overengineered in terms of electronic controls and the electrical system is so badly put together that this problem could be anything, and is probably many things. If I were in your shoes and I would read through as many posts as possible and take all cheap pm actions like tb and egr passage cleaning, new air/fuel filters, new plugs, wires, iac, dpfe, use liquid elec tape to shore up your wiring throughout the engine, of course clean the maf, replace cracked/weakened hoses and even consider a new battery (this is the first car I've owned where a 100% charged battery is better than a 90% charged one - on most cars its binary, either the battery is good enough or not, i.e. 90% and 100% are equal). Once you feel like you have put in the same extreme effort on this car that has everyone else here, then your problems become fewer, and though you will never get this car to run like almost any other car of the same age and miles since it is just a much more poorly built car, you will at least be generally happy with it since you are just trying to rehabilitate it a little, and have succeeded at that. That may sound harsh but to have a more positive attitude is to set yourself up for chronic frustration.