Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting before start grinding...

this is a problem on my girlfriends car (99 se sport, ATX)
every now and then, when she goes to start the vehicle there is a very loud grinding noise, like she is grinding the starter..i tell her to take the keys out of the ignition, then put them back in, hold them in the on position, and then start it, works fine.

its like the vehicle thinks that it is on, and the starter grinds..or could it be something else?

This is called 'milling' & is caused either by a 1)faulty starter which starts to spin before fully engaged in the ring gear 2)A faulty pinion on the starter itself (worn teeth) or 3)which is common on ATX Contours, the ring gear on the 'flex-plate' teeth worn out.Expensive fix on 3)...trans out...good luck.

This happened to a friend of mine with a 99 Cougar. He took it to the dealer and they told him that there were some bad flywheeles cast for the 2.5 in 99(they said about 1 out of every 100 ), and that 1-3 teeth were missing from the flywheel . They had to pull the motor out to replace it it took a week, at least it was covered under warranty. BTW, when this happened this car was less than 3 months old. Sounds like there was some bad casting that was not caught at ford. All I can say is that I cant imagine how it got past production/installation like this (I saw it after they pulled it out).

I am afraid this is bad news for you. I suggest you try to live with it, because sounds like you will have to pull the motor to fix it.