What makes a 1996 Ford Contour stall after you start it?

Answer 1

Check your plug wires where they connect to the plugs. Take a flashlight and look for any contamination near the plug, or at end of plug wire. One of the problems with a through valve cover plug hookup, is that oil contamination from a leaking valve cover gasket can short high voltage from the wire to the block. If this happens with just one of the four cylinders than the engine will stall. This problem can be a hard fault, in other words all the time, once in a while or what I saw once only when the car went around a left hand corner hard. What you find is stanger than fiction sometimes. Honda engines are also affected by this failure in many of the four cylinder cars. If the problem is not electrical then its fuel, check for an easy fix first like fuel filter or bad fuel supply pump, after that then injectors ect... While checking plug wires check plugs for color or fouling, this can indicate a malfunctioning injector, and other mechanically related problems. If the car has over 80K miles then change every thing you can afford to prevent problems in the future. Plug wires should be replace at least every 80K miles along with plugs, fuel filter, and many more parts. See your owners manual or shop manual for periodic maintenance table. Don't forget the timing belt, and while your changing the timing belt replace the water pump, belts and flush the radiator. A little bit of preventive maintenance goes a long way. The engine is only one part of your car everything needs attention periodically. The more you drive the car the faster it will wear out. Also if you run any oil thicker than 5w-30 or 10w-30, it will cause the valves to stick on that engine in cold weather starts. I have 2 contours and both of mine had the problem until i switched to motorcraft 5w-30.