1998 Ford Contour SE review from North America

I now know that there have been many recalls on this car, but I have never received any letters from the dealership. I have the same address now as I did when I bought it. The dealership ignores me and doesn't volunteer any information. My brother got the recall info off the Internet.

He is a master mechanic at his Chevrolet dealership and this is what he did.

Heater fan didn't work- replaced the resistor and the plug.

Coolant level sensor- the dash light was on and off all the time.

He replaced front pads, rotors, tie rod ends, 4 new tires and gave it a 4 wheel alignment.

He fixed me up pretty good, it took over 3 hours, but at home I ran into some problems.

The car pulls to the right. I watched the dials he had on the alignment computer and told him when they were "perfectly at zero." I thought he did good because the needles all went into the green part.

One time, I tried to start it and it made a horrible grinding. He said it might be the "flex plate." It hasn't done it since. I wonder if it will do it again?

A new battery and alternator went in it, which he said, "figures" and the check engine light goes on and off all the time. He says wait till it does go out and he'll see what it is then.

I'm nervous about the car now. He is doing stuff that maybe Ford should have done a while ago.

It bothers me that I don't have the recall letters from Ford. It is hard to keep up on this car all by myself.

Please comment on my potential flexplate problem and I'm concerned about all this transmission failure and timing belt talk.

Three family members drive camrys and they never do anything to them and my brother drives a Toyota truck (he gets picked on at the Chev dealership for that, but he never has to work on it).