Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Lights flickering and engine jerking

Hi all. I've gone all the way back to January looking for solutions but have not found any, and I do not recall reading about these problems up to late last year, when I frequented the site almost daily.

By the way, I own a 99 v6 ATX w/ 73k miles

1) Less annoying of the two problems. At idle and when driving, the headlights and the lights in the instrument panel "flicker." At first I thought it was the 9005's that I had put in place of the 9006's.... but the problem did not go away when i went back to the 9006. The battery is new, so that is not a problem. Any ideas?

2) When accelerating (slowly to moderately) and when cruising, the car jerks at certain times. It is the same feeling as hitting the rev limiter, except the frequency is much more, say, 1-2x per second. My sister had the same problem on her Escort a while back, but when she brought it to the shop, she didn't ask the guy what he did, so I have no idea what was done. I do know that with the Escort, it usually happened at about... 40mph.... on the Contour, there is no specific speed/rpm at which this is happening. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

wk217

1.) Check your alternator. If you have a multimeter handy, use it to check the voltage of the battery with the car off. If the battery is good, you'll get about 12V. Start the car and check again. With the alternator charging the battery you should see about 14.5V. If that's a lot lower, chances are your alternator may be crapping out. There's also a chance that there's a bad wire that's not allowing the alternator to charge the battery properly. Autozone can do a diagnostic test, as well as a few other places; you might want to go that route.

2.) There are a lot of possibilities here. Most common are plugs (and plug-related things like wires and coil pack) and fuel pump. Fuel pump will usually show problems when the tank is at 1/4 or less. If you fill up does the jerking stop? As far a plugs, they may be worn. The plug wires may be brittle and cracking; if you run the car in the dark you might see sparks from the engine. At 73k its possible the plugs and/or wires are failing from normal wear and tear. I had a stumbling problem at 80mph that was due to using non double-platinum plugs. I switched to OEM Autolites and the problems went away.

Item 1 could be indicative of faulty contact or connection at headlight switch. There was a recall on my cars re this switch, not sure if applicable to your '99. Checking VIN at dealer best way to find out.

For the lights flickering - I had the same problem. The instructment panel lights (speedo, tach, etc.) and headlights flickered as I drove. Then they had a hard time coming on, I had to switch on and off several times before they would come on. Now the they're all off.

The problem is a burnt wire in the connection at the back of the headlight switch. There's a recall that may fix this, 99mos3 I think. However, it's only covered for 7 years/70000 miles. Mines is at 81K+, so the estimate for the recall is $390 at a Ford dealership. I'm trying to get the part number to have a local mechanic change it out.

My car did the same thing to me. The dash lights would flicker, only the speedo would light up sometimes, and when I opened the door the tach would light up. On day when I was driving the car started to jerk, and the it died. The car would not take any electrical load ot all, not even the reverse and brake lights would work at the same time. Turns out that I had a loose ground in the dash. If your alternator is putting out well, most likely a loose ground.

Well, the plugs are the Autolite Double Platinums.... w/ about 10-15k on them.... I went to the Bosch Platinum +2 for 15k then went back to these Autolites when I read all the posts. I've installed and reinstalled the spark plugs many times.... and they all seem to be wearing evenly. It might be the wires, I don't know, but the problem isn't constant, its like every few minutes...

About the lights, all of my lights are working, the switch and all that are fine. I've suspected that it might be a loose wire somewhere, but I haven't found it yet. Maybe a hot coming in contact with a ground intermittently. Guess I'll just have to keep on looking.

Its nice to know that what I was going in the right direction with what I suspecting... Thanks all.

wk217

Try this...

Think back to what was the very last thing you did under the hood.
If it was plugs and wires, could you have crossed two wires ?
I know you said the battery is new, but that doesn't mean anything.
If a cell in the battery shorts out, it can cause all kinds of weird problems.
I had a battery that was just over 2 years old short out.

If you think it may be ignition, while the engine is running, hold a portable AM radio under the hood area.
If any of the wires are bad, you'll hear it in the radio.