Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting To those who have had bucking....

I had the same trouble that I've heard described here-missing under light to moderate acceleration. I tried many different things to try to stop it. I eventually found that one plug wire was shorting to ground past the spark plug. I bought some silicon grease at the local auto parts store and lightly coated all the plugs and boots with it and haven't had any trouble with missing since. You can check for arcing plug wires by removing the boot from the plug and carefully looking for a white residue in a stright line down the inside of the boot. Hope this helps cause its a cheap fix (under $5).

I just purchased a car with a 2.0 Zetec with the same Bucking problem. My problem happens mostly under 3500 RPM with light throttle, usually when letting off the gas. Did anyone ever solve your problem permanently? I read the post in this thread about changing the plugs being the fix, but I am wondering if anyone has had sucesss with this or other solutions? If so what did you do??

thanks very much Jeff A., West of Boston

New Plugs, wires, and silicone grease in the plug boots to keep water out is the most common solution. I had a carbon track on the side of a plug, gray streaks. Carbon track is gray stuff on the ceramic Is your engine in the Super Seven, that's different!

Welcome Keith39 and livetoshift.

Is it possible that the Variable cam timing Sensor is Bad?? I talked to a Ford Tech who indicated the 98 zetec's had an issue similar to this??