Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting DURING 60K Service... Engine BLOWN?! Help Please!

Did you get new plugs and wires as part of the original service? If they got the wires out of sequence I'd guess it could explain the troubles. Bucking and backfiring noises from firing out of sequence (could maybe explain the "engine trying to start backwards" comment they gave you ), and the gas soaked plugs from the tech unsucessfully trying to start it?

Or did they maybe do an oil change and try and start it with no oil (I've seen that before when I worked at an Instant Oil Change in college). Would sound VERY bad with no oil pressure, but wouldn't really explain the gas soaked plugs.

I, for one, am interested to know how the car runs when the shop is done with it. I hope you get the Ferret II back in good order!

Hooray for Janos keeping his cool! I woulda whipped out an F.U. on the spot and challenged them to explain how an oil change could have done what he described. Situation deterioration from there....

Hi!! Ferret II runs great!!!! Very perky. They think the engine flooding occurred because the key was left turned while the brakes were flushed. Still no real idea about the racket a mechanic supposedly heard, although they mentioned the TSB on the hydraulic tensioners as possibly related to it, but that shouldn't approach the sound of an interference engine blowing a timing chain or tensioner. Anyway, my car doesn't have the telltale rattle of tensioner wear. Somehow *it seems* they mistook a flooded engine for a self-destructing one. However, after I left today I realized that one of the mechanics reminds me of a mechanic at a Ford shop involved in another big repair bungle on Ferret II a couple years back... I'm going to try and find out if it's the same mechanic - probably just my overactive imagination being paranoid.

They didn't charge for the 60K service (flushed/filled four systems, new Ford plugs due to the flooding, thorough inspection) which made me a lot better (though not nearly as good as knowing I was going to drive my car home!). I also am sure they did a good job. On the positive side, I gained knowledge about the tensioner TSB (in fact I now have a long list of all '95 Contour TSBs), though I need to check if the tensioner TSB applies to my '95, i.e. if it's an early enough '95 model. In any case, knowing to listen for a telltale tensioner rattle could some day save Ferret II's engine (and life)! On the shop's end they're getting a new service manager this week. I guess the old one stormed out after being fired yelling that he was the greatest; only been there two months and didn't seem to have any experience at all they said, despite sterling references; he'd been generating complaints.

I like the Chrysler spec ATF+3 oil in the tranny; the shift feels cleaner, at least in third and fourth; not sure about first and second yet. I need to drive more.

Today's mechanic gave me details about his inspection (he seems to have done a thorough one) and said Ferret II is in very good shape, except I have a bent left rear wheel and the bolt is off my rear exhaust heat shield. I'm too embarrassed to say what I drove over a while back, but I was really happy afterward that my car drove at all. I'm a good driver but it was the first day on a job and I was pretty nervous and distracted... okay, it was a concrete parking strip, front and rear left wheels. The car's been aligned since. I have directional tires so they couldn't rotate that tire, as they didn't want to take it off the wheel and rebalance it - hm.. - and didn't want to put the wheel on the front, saying it would vibrate. Wish I hadn't bought directionals!

They also put the balance weights back where they belong, on the inside of the wheels, so my pretty SE wheels look nice and clean again.

I do need to buy a good '95 SE wheel though, so if anyone knows of a good used one for sale please let me know. I'll check out the CEG website ads. I think they run $250 - 300 used. Maybe I can find my old Cherry Ferret, my first '95 SE, totalled by a teen while parked. State Farm bought her for the junkyard .... but would never tell me where they sold her.

It's fun knowing a little about mechanics (just enough to be dangerous). Today the mechanic that worked on my car, who I thoroughly liked, told me it has four oxygen sensors, and I said the '95 Contours have two oxygen sensors while the later models, '96 on up I was pretty sure, have four. He also said the only two things they didn't do for the 60K were the air filter and the passenger compartment filter, and I said I do those myself (nothing at all to crow about; I even broke a plastic bolt changing the pass comp filter).

I'M SO GLAD TO HAVE FERRET II BACK!!!!!!!! It's almost worth all this to feel even more appreciative of such a great little rig. Ferret II got a full tank of premium on the way home in reward .
Lynn &
'95 Ford Contour SE (V-6) MTX, 60K, electric red, "Ferret II"

Wow! A true female Contour enthusiast, you are almost as rare as a dodo bird.
Welcome to CEG. What took you so long in finding this site?