Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Bad Idle and poor performance

I have an automatic, 2.0L, 1999 FORD CONTOUR LX.
Last year I floored it on the freeway, broke something, and had to have the cam and idler pulleys replaced along with the timing belt. Since that time I have had problems with the car's pick up and idle. It seems that the car has no torque anymore and is prone to stuttering.

When I took it into the Mercury dealership the car was knocking badly and the check engine light was on. After they diagnosed it they said the problem was with the pulleys and it was running rich. After they fixed it the knock was gone, but it was running rough. I took it back and I suspect the richened the mix and disconnected my check engine light. They said I probably had a bad environmental sensor and discouraged me from trying to find out why my car was running rich to begin with.

I now want to sell the car, but what was once a great running vehicle looses power when I accelerate fast and altogether doesn't have the power it once had. I lifted the hood to check the idle and found that it will idle fine for a couple of minutes, then it seems to miss, I hear some knocking, and then it goes back to idling fine. I have had the carb cleaned and now I don't know where to go. Please help! Where should I start? I live in NW Arkansas and all the dealers here seem to be sharks. If need be, I will film the cars idle and post it for people to see.

I just found the problem for terrible performance in my 96 Zetec Contour... a plugged catalytic converter. You can read all about it here:

http://www.contour.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=trouble&Number=1302130&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=7&fpart=1

Tony2005 hit the bullseye suggesting that I pull the upper O2 sensor and drive it and see if performance improves... it improved BIGTIME! Now I just need to figure out if I'm going to gut the cat and leave a big hollow void and create an environmentally unfriendly car, or if I'm going to shell out nearly $300 for a new cat.

Gut the cat!!!!
I did it on my '98 V6 SE. Its so easy... Dropping the cat is a cinch. To gut it, just slam a metal pipe down there and hit it with a good sledge until you start pushing your way through it. Took me about 10 minutes to get it all emptied out. Free performance and you'll still pass emissions completely fine! Keep in mind on the V6s you still have 2 primary cats, one on each manifold. Those are the ones that are monitored by the 02 sensor anyway...