Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Zetec Performance 99 VCT

Ok my dad has a '99 with the VCT in it. It sometimes has this little sputter and miss while accelerating. Now I've seen a bunch of people talkin about how bad the VCT technology is. If the VCT is just variable cam timing on the exhaust cam and people dont like the VCT, is it because the timings get off a little bit? I mean the car runs perfect except for acceleration sometimes and we've done just about anything and everything we could think of to it and still havent fixed the miss.

Are you getting a check engine light?

Well it could be the VCT, but you would have a CEL.
It could be the camshaft position sensor, you would also have a CEL.

It may be a plug/plug wires. Wouldn't necessarily have a CEL for a bad wire/plug.

Something else to think about....does it do it all the time or at a certain point of the gas gauge? If so it may be a clogged fuel filter or bad fuel pump.

I pulled codes on a car at work. It didn't have a CEL but had a pending CEL for the vct, so you won't necessarily get a CEL for the vct.

But there are a ton of other things to check, especially if you haven't touched the timing belt.

There is no check engine light, but it usually misses at the lower RPMs. It can be fairly quick if it doesn't miss but it just has a kind of slow start. It basically has problems with acceleration. And it has new plugs and plug wires so that isn't the problem.