More pictures
On January 10, 2001, I traded in the Mystique for a 'new' 2000
Mercury Sable
LS Premium (it was a demo with just under 6000 miles.) This page
will stay up for awhile since it still has some good information
on it.
The reason I traded it in was because of a sudden rash of problems.
In early November, the water pump failed. This is a known problem
with the 2.5L Duratec, so I wasn't too surprised. In getting it
repaired, the dealer also replaced the cooling fans because they
were not working right. He also did several recalls (seat belt
anchor [95S31], throttle cable [97S95], and exhaust manifold [97E61])
that I had been procrastinating on. The total for all of this
was over US$1000. Luckily, Ford has since announced a recall on
the cooling fan, and I've applied to get my money back on that
(probably close to US$400 with labor.)
Even since all that, it never worked right. During warmup, right
about when the temperature gauge would just start moving, it would
have a rolling idle problem. The idle would keep bouncing up and
down, and occasionally stall. Once warmed up (and initially when
cold), it idled fine. I brought it in, but they found nothing
wrong initially. Just before Christmas, it got much worse, and
would idle properly at all. It was brought in, and the Mass Air
Flow sensor (MAF) was replaced, along with cleaning the injectors
and new spark plugs. That was another US$650. At first that seemed
to fix it, but after a few days, the warmup idle problem started
up again. I decided to give up and got rid of it.
If anybody out there has bought 1MELM66L3SK632678, I'm sorry!!
Click here to return to my home page.
Click here for instructions on modifying
the fog lights to act like Daytime Running Lights (DRL's.)
Click here for a review of the Contour
SVT from the February 22, 1999 edition of AutoWeek magazine. (AutoFile.ZIP, 1.1M, 4 JPEG images, 150dpi
greyscale.)
My car is a 1995 Mercury Mystique LS.
It has everything except leather and sunroof. This includes:
Body: 4-door sedan, with a small, wing-style spoiler (the
LED's corroded, and have been removed.)
Color: Exterior: Champagne Clearcoat Metallic (a
metallic tan) Interior: Pumice Cloth (tan)
Engine: 2.5L Duratec V6, 24 valve, dual overhead cam, 170
hp@6250, 165 lbs-ft@4250 Picture
(160K)
Transmission: Electronically controlled automatic 4-speed overdrive
Tires: Dunlop
D60A2,
P205/60R15 90H
Safety: 4-wheel ABS, all-speed traction control, dual air
bags
Unique Goodies: MicronAir Filtration system (for us humans,
not the engine)
Sound System: Originally was the so-called Premium CD system.
It didn't stay long! :-) It has since been replaced by:
Receiver: Eclipse ECD-414 Picture
(48K)
Equalizer: Pioneer EQ-6500 Picture
(53K)
Main Amp: Pioneer GM-X84 Picture
(102K)
Sub Amp: Sony XM-3021 Picture
(70K) Manual (397K)
Main Speakers: Pioneer TS-A6805
Subwoofer: SAS Bazooka II, 10" Picture (71K)
Alarm: Audiovox Prestige
Other:
| Modified fog lights to act like Daytime Running Lights (DRL's). Instructions |
| Replaced Low Beam headlights with PIAA SuperWhites. They are whiter, but not really much brighter, and are not blue!! |
| Replaced rear-view mirror with Donnelly ECT mirror |
Here is a listing of my gas mileage .
Want to know more about the
Contour, Mystique, and Mondeo? Check out the Contour
Enthusiasts Group. There is even a mailing list. Everything
you need to know is there.
If you are in the
Chicago area, there is now a web site for Chicago-area Contour/Mystique
owners! Check out CEG
of Chicago .
E-mail
me if you have any comments or questions.
(This page was updated June 30, 2002.)
