1996 Ford Contour GL from North America - Comments

Oh, where shall I start? Reading through the other reviews makes me chuckle as I fondly (?) recall all of the same frustrations that other contributors have experienced with this vehicle.

-The alignment has *always* been wrong, no matter how much money I pay to try and fix it. Tires wear prematurely and the vehicle shakes above 60MPH.

-The check engine light no longer scares me. I know that it is meaningless.

-The fuel door never ever worked, even after trying the ridiculous remedies listed in the Ford technical service bulletins.

-The engine running temperature has continued to creep upward inexplicably. Visits to the repair shop and thermostat replacements have done nothing. Is the engine going to melt down soon or what?

-The rear doors make a truly horrific squeaking sound... really embarrassing in front of the neighbors. I replaced the hinges once, but the problem re-emerged after a couple more years. I'm not laying out more money for yet another set of new hinges.

-The left front speaker wiring shorts out. A good kick to the quarter panel usually fixes this.

-The windows fog amazingly easily and develop a mysterious "film" on the interior surface that can only be removed with Windex.

-The car is constantly stalling in damp weather within the first five minutes of driving. I worry that my girlfriend is going to get in to the car one rainy morning, try to turn left out of our street, and the car is going to stall out in front of oncoming traffic... I seriously worry about this... I have already lectured her about not using the defroster or air-conditioner while she is trying to make this left turn...

-The front coil spring broke (!) Now, folks, this is just downright bizarre. How is it possible for a giant metal spring to just break? The mechanics were all convinced that I must have run head-long into a curb at 45MPH. I didn't. Trust me. Ford issued a recall. Of course, they only replaced the right coil spring, they won't replace the left one at the same time. So the car lists to the left a little bit now...

-The front wheel bearings made grinding noises and self-destructed after only about 50k miles.

-The drivers side door lock freezes up constantly in cold weather.

-I have re-glued the rear-view mirror onto the windshield two or three times now.

-The heat will only come out of the defrost vents sometimes. This usually happens on really cold days. Fortunately, I know where the little vacuum valve is under the dash, and can climb under there and fix it myself when this happens.

-Headlights developed condensation behind lenses.

-License plate attachment uses dis-similar metals that react with one another and corrode. Can be darn near impossible to remove license plate from vehicle. This is actually a Ford Technical Service Bulletin, too. They'll even send you a little kit to "fix" this problem. (Note: the "kit" employs double-sided tape)

-Muffler gaskets wore out and caused vehicle to fail emissions.

-Changed brakes many times (too many? don't know for sure...)

-In cold weather, first thing in the morning, timing belt makes horrific clattering sound as it bangs against the plastic guard. I guess the belt has stretched. This is also really embarrassing in front of the neighbors...

-All kinds of other "normal" maintenance items have needed attention, too. But I figured I would just list the weird ones above. I mean, every car needs belts replaced and brake pads once a while. But how many cars require the replacement of a giant metal spring?

And finally...last, but not least...

Transmission self-destructed last week...

Good riddance to my Contour!

Here's the funny thing...

I LOVE the way this car drives, LOVE the way it looks, and LOVE the interior design! Love it! I am truly going to be sad next week when I trash this car. Why, oh why, couldn't it have been more reliable? So sad...

Dear Sir:

I used to own a 98 Contour LX (strip down). I had a couple of the same problems you have mentioned. The engine running very hot. I would be sitting at a traffic light in the dead of winter. 23ºF outside, and the damn thing would try to overheat. Never could figure out why. The minute you got going again everything was great.

The stalling. Boy let me tell you, that got really old, really fast. The first week I had the car, I was screaming down the highway at 80mph and it craps out. That is not funny when you are in the middle of a turn, the steering wheel locks up because the car is now off, and the turn is ending and you can't get the car going again to fix the wheel. I really annoyed the guy next to me that day. Also stalled in rain, and I noticed it REALLY liked to stall below 1/2 tank of gas. I also worried about my wife driving the car and it stalling on her on the highway like it did to me.

Also, could never run the defroster while idling, car would stall. Could not run A/C above speed 2.

When the fan came on it would suck every bit of energy out of the car. I used to joke and say they should have made the engine fan to power the A/C & defroster. Perhaps we could actually use them...lol.

Glad I went with the manual. At the time I wanted something fun to drive. Later to find out, like I thought when I bought the car, the automatic was very bad.

I ditched that car once I got my 18th (no joke) recall. Drive a Jeep now. Glad I switched. I also wish I had seen this website before I bought my Contour.

I am laughing like crazy. I bought my Contour new in '96, loved the way it handled (I still do..) It drove me nuts though and I have just bought another car. The manifold is cracked, I have had all the big springs replaced and the tranny failed 3 months off warranty... I will have to re-educate myself to pay attention to engine warning lights since mine was on for the last 4 years. I finally gave in and bought another car when the car started to voluntarily slow down from 75 mph to 40 mph while on the highway... my driver's side window hasn't worked since 2002 and one never knows if the gas tank will open or not.. my kids have their friends get in the back seat from the left side since the right side squeal is so disconcerting...crazy, but I still love driving that car when all is working...

Owning a 1995 Contour with pretty much the same problems, this gave me a good laugh as well. As a music fanatic, it drives me crazy when my speakers decide to crackle/short out/play games with me. I've got the window film problem, as well as the back door squeaking. The panel with all the radio equipment and fan dials and whatnot moves around a lot, too, lots of fun. The passenger side window crank was broken last week. I think my brakes squeak now, too. When I'm putting the brakes on at a light or stop sign, the car shakes and I don't know why. And did I mention I have wonderfully irritating manual locks on top of that?

Aside from all this, though, I really love the car. It's very responsive (I drive manual), runs smoothly aside from the shaking, and it's a very cute teal color. This was my first car, and aside from the above complaints, it's been great driving it.

I too owned a '96 Contour - and loved it most the time. Unfortunately, it's just those little maintenance things that get annoying - and lead to the larger ones. I had my transmission overhauled 9,000 miles ago and then on my way to work it caused the poor car to break down. Come to find out from the AAA tow man, the Zetek engine was NEVER meant for AUTOMATIC transmissions!! Why does Ford do these things??

I owned--let me emphasize this--owned a 1996 Contour. What a piece of garbage. From day one (bought it used with 60,000 miles on it) the check engine light was on. I spent nearly $1400 dollars trying to get it shut off. No luck! at 90,000 mile I had to replace the motor and transmission. Got them out of a salvage yard and had them gone thru completely before installing. Once installed, the check engine light came back on. Spent another $800 dollars once again trying to get it turned off. No luck! Well to make a long story short, I spent thousands of dollars trying to keep it running. Last month it started up again. Couldn't keep it running... Check engine light started flashing at me. I took it to the Ford dealer who tried to sell me another car (LOL). I had enough of this money pit. Towed it to the local junk yard and got $25 bucks for it. Buy Ford and get what you pay for!

The crackling speaker can be caused by the speaker wires getting caught by the window glass. This is really only likely if aftermarket speakers have been installed and the installer didn't tie-wrap the wires to the speaker.

I hate to be the one that finds all of this funny, BUT I myself own a 1998 Contour and I am having some of the same problems every one else is having. My check engine light has been on intermittently for the past 2 years, I've had my alternator replaced twice, wheel bearings have been replaced, both front and rear brakes along with rotors have been replaced twice, I had to replace ONE spark plug for $125...go figure! I had to replace original Firestone tires because they were crap and unsafe, I have bought 2 new batteries that both had 7 year warranties and somehow my contour figured out how to drain those, my windshield had to be replaced because a rock hit it while I was driving under an overpass, and I was rear ended a couple of years ago and my entire rear fender came off along with the entire right side panel of the car. I could actually see my gas tank. Just this past Monday I got stranded on the west bound I-90 just outside of Elgin, IL because my car decided to loose acceleration and come to a complete stop, and of course, the check engine light was on. I had to pay $100 for the tow back to Madison plus $2.00 a mile totaling $320.00 just so I could get home. And guess what else?...today, my brother had to drive behind my car while I was in neutral in efforts to literally push my car to the dealership (for more repairs) because I refused to pay another dollar for a tow truck!!

I love the way my car handles the road when it is drivable, but if you ask me... I think FORD Motor Company should give every owner of a Ford Contour a brand new vehicle of their choice because believe it or not, we have already purchased new cars just from the cost of repairing our contours.

Just buy an old Mercury Grand Marquis or Crown Vic for a few thousand dollars and forget the Contour and all of its kind. (Intrepid, Mystique, Taurus, Sable, Neon, etc. etc).

You'll pay a little more for gas and parking is not so easy, but in the long run you'll get greater driving pleasure from better reliability and a more comfortable ride.

Just make sure you get a well-maintained one, preferably from someone with money who is trading up to a new car.

I own a 96 contour. I had the same problems with my Ford. The worst of all was while going on a speed of 45 mph I turn right to switch lanes to avoid a parked truck on left lane and the wheel locked, brake locked,car turn off and couldn't get it to start and came 2 feet away from hitting a double parked truck with my child in car plus end up getting it towed. I would never buy an american made car again.

I have a 98 contour which is now a lawn decoration. After the 7th battery, 6th alternator, wires, fuses and such, the dealer, alternator shop and Pep Boys all asked me to kindly not bring it back and suggested yet another "expert" to fix the electrical system. This was only one of the many many issues this car has had. Brakes, headlights, noisy hinges fried radios and speakers, yada, yada, yada, etc... I would love to get rid of the thing, but I'm afraid that selling it would entail me paying someone to take it off my hands.

JTO-Chattanooga, TN.

"I own a 96 contour. I had the same problems with my Ford. The worst of all was while going on a speed of 45 mph I turn right to switch lanes to avoid a parked truck on left lane and the wheel locked, brake locked, car turn off and couldn't get it to start and came 2 feet away from hitting a double parked truck with my child in car plus end up getting it towed. I would never buy an american made car again."

Don't you think it's a little extreme to "never buy an American made car again"? Don't you even care why it happened? Your brake locked up because you never had the brakes serviced, and the front disc brake caliper piston was so corroded that it couldn't retract when you let off the brakes. It was a 10-year-old car! Your new Toyota will do the same thing when it gets to be 10 years old and you've never serviced it. Another case of "I never took care of my car, and now it's a piece of junk!"

I agree with the previous comment!

I "OWN" a 1996 Ford Contour GL 2.0 and yes I have had several problems with it:

I have had to replace all the upper gaskets due to a blown head gasket caused when overheated which happened because of either a faulty thermostat or ECT (Engine Coolant Temperature) sensor. About 2 weeks after I bought the car I spent $800 dollar on a timing belt, serpentine belt, plugs and wires repair, I have replaced an alternator, and will soon be replacing the water pump. I "had" the crackling in one of my speakers, but found out it was due to the previous owner not knowing anything about stereos and speakers and blew them out.

My point is, the car is at 150,000 miles and I can bet that the previous owner didn't take care of anything and I am now paying the price, however me on the other hand, in 15,000 miles that I have driven it, I have had the coolant flushed and filled, 3 oil changes, 4 tires, all the needed repairs and generally I take care of maintenance and repairs at my first sign of trouble.

My contour "check engine" light was always on when I got it, but through codes and diagnostics it is now off after my latest repair. Any car can be junk if it's not cared for and serviced when needed. Plus over time they just start to break down, but to say that one car is crap over another, I cannot do that. I see all the negative posts about every car, so should we just walk and do away with cars all together? It's just nobody bothers to post the good comments, if everything is running fine and you have no problems, why take the time to post.

So I will be the one to post, yes I bought the car for $1200 bucks and have put into it $2500 or better, but the car is a great car. Was voted Motor Trends top car in its class for 3 years. Independently rated and reviewed by professionals on the years they were released and got rave reviews.

Just remember it's old and it's like you grandmother... It needs TLC and every now and again you have to scream at it so it can hear you :)

Enjoy.

My Contour is a piece of junk, but I love it. On the outside it looks OK, but the headlights are this yellow color and are as bright as the sun at night. The main brake lights decided to stop working after a rainy day and the only way I could fix it was to run a wire from the European light. Water pump cost me 800 to fix. The check engine light will not turn off. The back doors screech like a barn door. On snowy days the fuel door won't open. The engine overheats constantly if driven in traffic. Anyways.. what I like about the car is it can easily obtain 90 on the highway to Denver. Its bubbly shape seems to cut through the wind fairly efficiently. I also picked it up for about a thousand dollars so even if it poops out no big deal. With the money I'm saving I am getting a Toyota corolla.

I don't know, it sounds like your Contour is doing awfully well with virtually no maintenance. Isn't that some kind of testimonial? Does it make you want to consider another Ford as opposed to a Toyota? Just curious.

You could fix the Contour up pretty easily. You could solve the overheating by flushing out the coolant and refilling it, and making sure that the fan comes on. You can easily fix the screeching doors and fuel door by spraying them with WD-40. If those are the major complaints, this sounds like a pretty good car.

Also, the yellow headlight lenses can be cleared with finest wet sanding paper and "plast-X" from the parts store or "rubbing compound".