I recently purchased a 1997 Contour GL with 80,000 miles (no idea of any mechanical work done previously) and am extremely pleased with its' overall performance. In fact, the only real complaint that I have with it performance-wise is that it is extremely rough when idling.
It only does it when idling in Drive while I have the brakes applied, like when at a stoplight. If I let off the brakes momentarily it will stop but start back up again the moment I apply them again. I've idled in park for hours without any vibration whatsoever. It's not just a little vibration either, it's rather jarring and of course particularly loud. It's enough that you can noticably see the dash and steering wheel move at least 1/4 inch up and down, and enough that at particularly long lights I will just put it in Park.
Note that it doesn't sound like it wants to stall at all. The engine itself sounds perfectly fine. It's just very very rough and goes right back to feeling normal the moment I let off the brakes.
Any ideas on what it could be? I'm new to owning a car, and while I have worked on cars with my father in the past, I've never had to actually diagnose the issues, I've just fixed them.
Appreciate any help,
-Mark
