Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General General Gripe list....

I do these once in a great while and it seems everytime I fix the problems more come.

- front door now squeaks when opened, havent applied lithium grease in like a year so maybe its time to do it again
-car now dies if left sitting for more than 4 hours, need to hold gas pedal for like 5 seconds before it goes below 1200 otherwise its going, think the IAC valve need to be repalced but $190 damn got to save up
- sometimes the windshield fogs up when the defrost is turned on sometimes it doesnt
-doesnt seem to have a lot of power, I know its a Zetec, but it doesnt seem to "go" if you will like it did when I first got it
- dont know what is going on with PO171, it has been a while since I have seen it, maybe the O rings did fix the problem!!!!! hell yeah
- the "unfixable" rough idle it has been slighty rough since day 1, and I can live with slighty rough, I hate it with the A/C on or defrost, the car shakes pretty bad you can fell it in the seats, and the RPMs go up and down 500-700, Belle Tire said recharge A/C it will fix it, nope didnt fix it afterall
-if your going down the road and go up a hill, the exhaust seems to drone, or get louder, but otherwise it is fine, if you release the gas pedal for a second then reapply the sound is gone
- serpentine belt less than a year old squeals already, what a piece of junk, oh wait it cost $26, should have brought Motorcraft for $41


I understand cars need stuff done once in a while but damn just cant seem to keep up with this Contour, thankfully I send in the final payment next month and then I can focus on the problems, or ones I want to fix, mainly just want to fix the dying problem it has, and the belt squeal, as long as the CEL stays off I'm fine with 24/25mpg.

Anyone else want to do their gripe list?

Gripe list:
- Leak coming in to settle as a puddle on passenger floor. (Finally located and potentially solved problem, we'll see next rainstorm!)
- All my lights flicker slightly (dash, dome, headlights, trunk light, etc....), becoming more apparent as I turn on a/c or defrost ... and a whine from the engine bay ... probably alternator
- scratches abound, no thanks to my sister who drove the car for a year paint chips on hood
- tranny clunks a bit, especially when cold
- dome light fixture piece broke - very easy fix but I haven't gotten to a junkyard yet to replace it, and I like to complain
- steering feels loose, last time at Sears the mechanic commented "Required Replacement: L.S. Stabilizer link - loose and worn" .. probably the culprit but no money to fix

probably a few other things, definitely options I don't have (intermittent wipers, fog lights, fold-down rear seats, rear armrest) are high on the list of non-problematic items, too ... the SVT comes standard with all these ... figures

gripe list....

1. blk paint scratched all over no thanx to 1st owner and punk kids

2 interior noise form the rear sounds like there is no insulation against sound there. trying to think of a way to muffle it

3 just fixed a few problems before this ? was posted but now my gf car

gripe list...

1. electrical prob abound can't seem to stop them...
battery light comes on under hard accleration..

2. dash board is loose..

both contours withing 2wks of each other died from a bad battery and my car had a clogged tb which made it run bad

hers had a bad range sensor

all my contour batterys have died on me as well as my ford tempo battery to

i think ford cars have electrical issues

My Turn...

1. Passenger side front seat squeaks

2. Transmission make clicking noise when in firts or second gear

3. Lights dim, when rpms go low, (bad altenator)

4. Rear roll restrictor is shot

5. Trunk lid wiring groung deciced to get pinched, now have no third brake light, back up lights, or license plate lights.

6. Power Radio antenna doesn't go up all the way

7. Painted Headlights fog up constantly (my fault)

8. Rear struts sound bad, could be the lack of sound deading problem..

9. Gas milage is like 20 MPG, due to heavy right foot

10. Tires are old and get [censored] snow traction, again heavy right foot


Car is still covered by Fords ESP what do you guys think will be covered?

That's all I got

Gripe list:

--Squeaky creaky back doors, need to oil 'em up, door handles are a bit sticky too.

--94K miles, have Autolite double plats and Autolite professional series 96644 wires, ready to go in any day now.

--Shift knob all frayed, but I've been a good boy while Santa was watching, so we'll wait on that.

--small tear in preforated padding insert in passenger door. need to figure out a way to patch that up.

--driver's side floormat ridiculously worn out.

--Battery terminals all gunked up.

--need subwoofer (car came with nice amp, but previous owner kept woofer).

--need to finally get going and get the cupholder upgrade if dealers around here still have any.

...All in all, small details. Everything else has been great, particularly since the new tires, brakes, control arms, and rear struts were put in more than a month ago.

Yep...

• not enough $ to finish my computer setup right away
  
  
• CEL on, lean mixture both banks (possible o2 sensor, which I have yet to put on)
  
  
• Bent rear control arm... going to fix today
  
  
• Stiff suspension/wide tires makes it look like I'm drunk if road has tire grooves in it. Especially with alignment off due to above.
  
  
• Keyless entry works only up to 2 ft away.
  
  
• Antenna started grinding one day while going down, broke something so I just disconnected it.
  
  
• No floormats so I'm worried that I'll get the carpet all messed up since I work outside all the time.

...otherwise an awesome car

The things I haven't been able to fix:

Cooling fan works when it wants to. It runs when the engine is cold, and runs intermittently when the engine is hot. Figure that one out.

I have a vibration that I've had for 50K. Can't get it stopped.

Otherwise, I'm a happy old geezer. Good power and 34 mpg.

Almost all of my problems are my fault due to my boss buying this car on the spur of the moment and what I had to have done to it, before I would consider driving it.

We bought the car a month ago, and instead of stringing out the mods, I decided to do it all at once.

1. Ordered two intakes (weapon) and CTA. Preferred the CTA, but it was missing parts and instructions, so had to do a bastard job between the two of them to come out with something cool.

2. Autometer tach install was a nightmare, took forever even with Kai's instructions, just because I had one wire that wasn't were he thought it would be...(works great now)

3. Installed the indiglo reverse guages and stainless insert...(that went fine) but spent three day's and two alternators to find out that why my car wasn't charging...It's a big wire loom and dang it all if it wasn't a loose wire.

4. Car came w/ heated springs to lower it. Changed those out to B&G lowering springs....didn't like how high it was, so am cutting those right now, to drop it another inch....

5. Car had really nice wheels on it when we bought it. But when we took off the lug nut covers, we found out that the dinkus previous owner had redrilled the bolt pattern....Car shook so bad at 50 that I thought my jaw would come apart....so $1000.00 into new rims and tires.

6. Huge ass double layer fin on the back,,,,with 18 yes 18 holes drilled in the trunk... Brought it to our body shop and had them weld in the holes,,, do the body work, cut the fin way down....(still obnoxious) and then paint the whole thing included the trunk black.

7. Installing the Zex Dry system as we speak...(should have got the purge kit) looks cool. (looking forward to the residual problems that I will get w/ that)

8. Can't find a dang chip that will match my ECU code...

9. Ordered a Carbon Fiber Cowl hood off E-bay, but not sure if it will fit...car says it is a 98 on the title, but the door build date quotes it as built in 3/97, so where does that leave me??? Hood will only fit a 98 and up???

10. I realize this isn't all gripe,,,but it still applies, because I have owned the car for a month and still haven't gotten to drive it yet! (laughing) Another week and I'm good...I hope.

Wijn

here's mine:

1) snow limits traction at 120 mph.
2) still can't beat an enzo.
3) car invisibility mode still inop.
4) upcoming court date (see #'s 1-3)



that's about it. other than that (knock on wood) my car is absolutely perfect. i love it.

Gas Mileage. 151 miles on the trip and less then 1/4 tank.