I bought this car in 1999. After about 1 week I had to take it in because the power mirrors didn't work. I think next time I will buy a Ford at a Ford dealer not at a Saturn dealer.
I had to get the head gasket replaced around 75000 mile.
The car stalled on the freeway once and it got fixed, but I never really understood what was wrong with it.
The car seems like it is going to die a lot of times when at stop signs or stop lights. The idle goes up... and down.
Blinkers and reverse lights quit working then all of a sudden started to work again. (I don't know why)
The trunk popping button on the inside of the car dosent work.
Blower motor needs replacing because water leaks on it!
About 6 fuses at once went out at once.
Transmission had to replaced at about 100,000 miles.
Alternator went out twice. It is very hard to get out and in.
Water pump needed replacing at about 120,000 miles.
The car would not shift into gear... On the stick to put it into Park, Reverse, Drive, neutral, ex... The button would not push in and had to stick a screwdriver under the counsel to get it to shift out of park. Got that fixed though!
The thing that upset me the MOST was, The front coil springs, both of them somehow got broken. Well I seen that a lot of other people have the same complaint about the car. So I went on the INTERNET to do a little research on it and I found this one website saying there was a recall on the car for it. But when I called the Ford dealer to ask them they said there was never such a recall on it. SO I went to a junk yard and got two new struts and coil springs to put on my car and they are on and have been work fine lately.
The trunk leaks a little bit and gets the carpet in the there wet when it gets washed or it rains.
The car use to shut the radio and the lights and everything inside the car off when I would go 70mph or floor it.
That stopped I think when I got the battery replaced.
The back doors also speak! Like a lot of other peoples do, WD40 works for a little while, but not for long.
Another thing that other people have is the cup holders breaking, well mine too.
The seals that are under the windows on the doors are coming off the Drivers side rear door's seal is completely off.
It usually seems like after I get one thing fixed another thing goes wrong right away. It seems like it is never perfect.
I really love this car! I love the way it drives (usually) and the way it looks inside and out!
I wish I would have bought a Contour with a 6 Cylinder though. A 4 just doesn't have that much pick up. I can go at stop light from brake to flooring it in the rain and the tires would not spin or anything, it would just take of as if I tapped it.
I still have and drive this car, but I like it too much to get rid of it!
You should have had your timing belt and tensioners replaced when they did the water pump. That would have saved a ton on labor and would have fixed your idle and stall problem.
You should also take out the mass airflow sensor and blow it off with compressed air. Clean the sensor with a bit of rubbing alcohol. That too will go toward fixing your idle and stall problem and improve your mileage.
Note: A Comments RSS Feed is available. New comments appear in the Members Area before the main site