Ok, well--I purchased my '95 Contour GL A/T a month or so ago. It had an issue or two when I bought it, but I don't drive the car much and I got it for real cheap so I've kind of been putting it on the back burner.
When I first got the car: From a cold start, you'd need to keep your foot on the gas for 10 seconds or so--or else the car would stall out or try to stall. After that it seemed to idle on its own, not feeling like it was misfiring or anything. Also, I noticed that I'd get a CEL flash every once in a while in the 30-55mph range. I was told this was most likely EGR, so I didn't worry about it much. The last issue was a major hesitation. Whenever I got off the gas and got onto it again, there would be a good 1 second delay before I'd go anywhere.
NOW:
The car still has every issue it had before, with the addition of the trans going cookey. If I go WOT and the trans kicks down-I don't go anywhere. Also, while I'm driving randomly I'll feel an immediate loss of power where the trans just goes gimpy and won't hold into a gear. (NOT fun when you're on the highway!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) After several seconds, or if I put it in neutral, give it a little rev (let the rpms drop back down), and put it back into -D- it will go back to normal for a while. This trans issue has been happening ever since last week when I was driving home and the small coolant hose (like 4" long) off the tstat housing blew, spewing coolant around. When I was replacing that hose, I noticed the larger rad hose above it was getting soft and expanding so I replaced that aswell. I've also noticed the car doesen't exactly get great gas mileage. (I'd expect this thing to get almost double the mileage my RX7 does...)
I tried to pull the ecu codes today... I was a little confused at first because I swore it kept flashing 5-6-3 over and over, but I can't find that as a valid code anywhere, or understand why it would of repeated again and again (all the rest of the codes came one after another, then repeated in a large loop).
After the 563, I got the following codes.
112
117
118
157
171
172
181
214
461
646
I'm going to reset the ECU sometime today, and take it for a spin and check the codes again and post my results.
A friend of mine told me over the phone that the cold start issue had to do with a coolant sensor? And the trans issue is being caused by a sensor off the trans in the one wheel well. However he told me this just based on the symptoms I described, and his experience with his 'tour. I don't plan on running out and buying these sensors (which I assume aren't cheap) without knowing they will surely solve the problem.
A little history on the car--it has approx 140k on the clock... New belts, air filter, general maint. kept up--etc.
Thanks in advance for any help.
