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To all the new and existing members I want to extend a warm holiday greeting. We are in that season of holidays and even though the Facebook group gets more use than this forum I still support it and pay for it out of my own pocket. Next year marks 23 years this site has been up and helping owners. We've seen cars and members come and go, and lost some people along the way. At the end of the day, this community used to be like a family - Well before MySpace and Facebook really took over and changed the game. As much as commercial sites that aggregate people are popular - The grassroots sites like this are where the actual dedicated and passionate people visit. Free of the ads, marketing and algorithms. Unfortunately these sites are no longer popular... And I get it. There's no distractions with TikTok videos or Instagram posts from celebrities and other "influencers". The fakeness of a lot of these so called "influencers" is unreal. They only believe in fame and attention... not helping people - Just remaining popular. I'm not an "influencer" or a YouTube star... Don't want or need it. At the end of the day, looking at all the statistics and traffic... This site is really showing it's age. Traffic alone doesn't allow me to judge how worthwhile keeping this site alive really is.. But "Nothing lasts forever" is a real thing. I'm opening up the floor to all members to give me feedback. Post a reply and let me know what you think. I'll leave this open till the end of the year and I'll read all the responses. Good, bad.. it's all feedback. -Dominic

Scrap yard is your friend these days.

Hey all. I have a 1998 E with 241k on the clock for sale. Its been a fun car but theres a short in the hvac system and its gonna need a new clutch. Its silver frost. I have a box of spare parts including door moldings and jack point covers. Im just ready for something different is all. Im in Titusville Fl.

I hope you find the trunklid and quarter to match as that's about twice the size of the existing lamp. Again, not an easy task as the USDM Contour/Mystique was purpose built for our regulations. You'd be better off selling the car and buying a Mondeo that is already equipped for that market and has the same features. -Dominic

Thank you for your reply. I can deal with the bulbs in Spain, all I need is the tail lamps in red and white/orange. I found one, attached, but no idea about where to find the second one.

Nothing in the United States unfortunately as all the Contour lights were single bulb (just like the Mystique). Unfortunately overseas vehicles have a different rear clip with drastically different rear tail lamps that are bigger and multi-function. Sorry, no easy suggestions on this one. -Dominic

Good morning, I have a 1998 2.0L Mercury Mystique LS Sport, with build date before 12/17/97, bought from Canada and I would like to register it in Spain, see attached. The car has the original rear lights, all red. I need to change them to European lights, with two lightbulbs. I think they are like this one: https://www.ebay.com/itm/274156810024 To comply with European lighting regulations and convert my 1998 Mercury Mystique LS Sport's rear lights to the European-style configuration, I will need to replace the existing all-red tail lights with units that have separate sections for red and orange (or clear) lights. Since the Mercury Mystique is essentially the same car as the Ford Contour with minor differences for different markets, there might be compatible parts from the Ford Contour. Can you please help? Dan

Thanks...at least it's a lead. Knowing that might help my mechanic know where to look. Mike

I've used Chrysler bushings before , don't have the part number off the top of my head (it's been years!)

Contour's don't have a distributor. They have a coil pack. They have a ground wire that goes to the bracket where the DPFE is mounted on the side of the head.

I'm looking for the wiring harness under the hood coming from the firewall on the passenger side going towards the driver's side there is a big red wire going from the passenger side under the throttle body towards the starter and under the throttle body there is a copper or brass T and the hot wire is bolted to both sides of the top of the T and it looks like it had a plastic piece that slid on a bracket on the bottom of the T

I've had a lot of work done on my '98 SVT Contour. About the only thing still needed are shifter bushings. I have searched, but I can't find any. Does anyone have a source for them? Thanks, Mike

2000

Check online for a cougar reservior. Ive seen those in the aftermarket and they look like they might fit.

I posted this over 21 years ago! Please read the thread as it will have as much information as you could possibly need. -Dom

Do you know what that ground was connected to? I believe it was an exhaust ground. I know it was connected to the abs bracket but mine got removed to where it was attached.

Age, care (or lack thereof) and people passing them down. Keep in mind they were only produced from 1995-2000, and they weren't exactly hot sellers in the later years. Most have ended up in scrap yards. Alot of them were cheap first cars for kids. You can imagine how that worked out.

Mine was bolted through one of the ABS bracket bolts.

Does any one know where the ground to the abs bracket goes? Mine got disconnected

Is it the transmission or the wiring harness?

This is probably a stupid question, but for years & years seeing several Contours or Mystiques on any given day on the road was the norm, but about 2 years ago, quite suddenly they all disappeared. When I post pictures of my Mystique, I get multiple comments to the effect, “Wow haven’t seen one of those in ages.” Recently needed a new alternator and the Ford dealer commented that they never see these cars anymore. So why?

I'm doing the dreaded Bosch abs swap. Do the labels on the outgoing lines look correct? If correct I thought it may be helpful for future reference given that I had an enormously difficult time searching for the correct diagram online.

Honestly never required me doing an ABS bleed procedure on the Bosch unit. I never had an issue with air being trapped in it like the newer units on the Edge and Taurus models. Those are no fun to get the air out of and actually require multiple activation and even doing panic reverse stops to bleed the air out of them. Should be pretty straightforward with the Bosch.

'99 Mystique, here. My temperature control crapped out- definitely not the actuator (got a new one first thing, was a waste of time). So, a potentiometer.. which is all it is... I know I can go to a yard and get the whole module, but it's going to be just as old as the one that crapped out on me. To be precise, I took the control knob for the cool/warm blend apart, saw that it was a simple potentiometer with a fancy clicky arrangement for the knob, hosed it down with electronic cleaner which washed away all the broken bits of resistive material- basically, all of it, it turned out. Anyone happen to have rigged up a plain old pot in its place? I was wondering what the optimum resistance would be. I mean I could go with a really high one, but I figure that'll restrict the fineness of control- less motion on my part to create the full temp range from cool to warm. So as close to the original as I can get would be a better solution. Oh, and a neat little factoid- noticed (with the new actuator hanging free) that no control, the actuator goes to the middle of its range... which still isn't enough warm air... been driving around with the old actuator jamming the door all the way to 'heat', which gets a little too warm, I'm ready to get some dashboard control back. So I'm bouncing between trying to rig up any old linear taper pot, or taking a chance at the u-pull-it on a module from a junker. Meh. Thanks in advance!