Ghost II

[gwm]

Ok, I've got a weird electrical problem. My wife told me a few days ago that her '99 contour went crazy on her. She was in traffic communting to work and lights started flashing, the radio turned off, and the windsheild wipers intermittantly turned off and on. We rented her a car and I've been driving her car to work since then. For two days nothing. Then on the way to work this morning there was an accident on the 94 which slowed traffic. As soon as I slowed the radio turned off. While it was off the dash lights were flickering. The speedo went up to 80-85 then back down. And, of course, the wipers went on and off. As soon as I sped up, it stopped. Then, when I got downtown it started again every time I stopped for a light.

So . . . If it's something simple I'll fix it but I talked to Kevin Graves and exploratory surgery seemed like it would cost more than the car is worth. Anybody have any idea what gremlin might be wandering around in my car.

[movindirt]

Check out this thread on a Contour BBS:

http://www.contour.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=trouble&Number=1093725&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=7&fpart=1

[hammer down racing]

My girlfriend had a 94 Cougar that did the same thing. The problem ended up being a bad alternator. Have yours checked it might be the problem.

[gwm]

Ok, I never would have thought of that but it's easy enough to check out. Thanks, George.

[sickrick]

I think it is a low voltage problem also. Try hooking up a volt meter while driving the car. I bet the voltage is dropping under 11 volts and causing problems. Alt and battery would be the first suspects.

[DougM]

all of that stuff is connected to the multifunction switch( I think there was a recall on it) check with Ford- it may be a free fix